#water-tasting

#water-tasting

The reusable water bottle transformed from a humble utilitarian good into a status-signaling piece of arm candy, with consumers coordinating colors with their activewear sets.

Along with the challenges of operating any new business, making good bourbon takes time and expert craftsmanship. It's for this reason that many new "distilleries" aren't distilleries at all (non-distilling producers, blenders, rectifiers). Instead, they source bourbon and then sell it as their own. That's not inherently a bad thing, as some expertly blend whiskey or add extra maturation to create a genuinely impressive bourbon, but there is a clear difference.

We've become accustomed to fruit-flavored foods tasting nothing like their fruity counterparts, from artificial banana essence to cherry-flavored things tasting more like medicine than fruit, but what specifically makes artificial watermelon taste so off-base from its authentic fruity muse? Well, it's simply because we don't yet have the capabilities to synthesize watermelon's complex flavor, which includes compounds like (Z)-3-hexenol, citrulline, and amino acids.

Sonic seasoning is the phenomenon where specific musical elements: tempo, pitch, instrumentation: can influence how our brains perceive the five basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami. High-pitched tones can make dishes taste sweeter. Bass-heavy tracks can enhance umami and savory notes. Even the crunch sounds we hear while eating can make food seem fresher and crispier. It's not just about mood: it's about fundamentally altering taste perception through sound.

Kaleidoscopic seems a fitting word to describe the assemblage of drinks curated by Sparkling Ice. The brand has some serious range. Each vibrant flavor of sparkling water is denoted by its trademarked fruit-caught-in-an-ice-cube imagery, spanning from obligatory classics like fruit punch and lemonade to more creative combos like grape raspberry and ginger lime. It makes for a colorful grocery store display and happy customers who can always find a flavor that suits their taste buds.

If you, too, down a bottle of kombucha every chance you get, we are one. Well, maybe not every chance (after all, you can definitely drink too much kombucha), but you get the picture. I adore the fizzy, probiotic drink, which is on the very long list of things I'd like to make at home eventually. But until I have enough capacity to embark on a homemade kombucha adventure, I'll stick to the store-bought stuff, preferably from Health-Ade.

The U.S. spirits landscape has evolved far beyond the recognition of simply being the birthplace of bourbon. In recent years, we've seen a transformation in both the quality and individuality that the country's craft distilleries have been able to produce. While previous decades were dominated by the big-name distilleries, far more awards are going to craft distillers who have mastered the art of producing high-quality whiskeys, rums, gins, and more.