{"id":2207,"date":"2024-11-13T19:42:55","date_gmt":"2024-11-13T18:42:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.anglarnasandel.se\/?p=2207"},"modified":"2024-11-13T19:42:55","modified_gmt":"2024-11-13T18:42:55","slug":"whisky-and-perfume","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.anglarnasandel.se\/?p=2207&lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Whisky and Perfume"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have two wonderful colleagues who know everything about perfumes\u2014and I mean everything<\/em>. Let\u2019s call them\u2026 Agatha and Shouan. A couple of years ago, Agatha and I realized that the way she talks about perfumes is almost identical to how I talk about whisky, and Shouan once asked for samples of smoky whisky\u2014not to drink, but to smell\u2014which, of course, he got. It\u2019s not just us who are similar; the industries themselves actually have surprising parallels, something I didn\u2019t realize until I met Agatha and Shouan. Branding, the way scents are described, sampling and collecting, how a product changes as air gets into the bottle, the focus on enjoyment, and how the product is marketed to reflect the kind of person you are\u2014or at least, the person you\u2019d like to be. This approach makes a purchase more likely. What fascinates me about this is that despite all these similarities between the whisky and perfume worlds, there are also stark differences, making me wonder if us whisky lovers could learn a thing or two from the perfume enthusiasts?<\/p>\n

Fragrance Notes Are a Marathon, Not a Sprint!<\/strong> When drinking isn\u2019t an option, breaking down scent molecules becomes an all-day experience. When I sit down to analyze a whisky and smell it over time, I might spend a half-hour or so on it. Perfume aficionados, however, analyze scents in hours<\/em>, not mere minutes! How does it smell initially? After a half-hour? Three hours? Six hours? Longer? How does it change over time? This has actually led me to think of whisky as perfume in some key ways! The other night, as I was sampling a whisky, my eldest (almost 12 years old) wanted to smell it. Since she dislikes the smell of alcohol (just wait, dear child!), I tried having her press her palm against the glass, turn it upside down, then rub her hands together and sniff. Without any prompting, she picked out nuts, spices, and raisins\u2014yes, it was a sherry bomb. Why don\u2019t I do this more often? Whisky can be a fascinating sensory experience without even taking a sip! And it\u2019s something the whole family can enjoy (well\u2026 you get it). How do the hands smell after a half-hour, compared to the initial scent? Or after an hour? Two? We all know how cozy an empty whisky glass can smell on the counter the next day. We should definitely explore this systematically\u2014let\u2019s go, whisky geeks!<\/p>\n

Dupes Are an Art Form, Not a Shameful Secret!<\/strong> Dupes have always had a negative connotation for me, and in the whisky world, we don\u2019t really discuss copying each other\u2019s bottlings since each distillery wants to stand out. But it\u2019s different with perfumes\u2014and done with class! Every perfume enthusiast worth their salt isn\u2019t ashamed to hunt for the perfect \u201cdupe,\u201d but many are produced by reputable perfume houses, often without even trying to make the bottle or name resemble the original. Respected dupes don\u2019t need to look alike; it\u2019s more about interpretation and re-imagining than anything else. A good dupe can even earn cred for offering a new twist, longer-lasting fragrance, or a better-balanced scent experience than the original. Dupes interpret the original but can also bring improvements, and there\u2019s no shame in enjoying them\u2014in fact, quite the opposite! Why pay more if the less expensive version offers something just as good, or better? Value for money is definitely part of the enjoyment here. No one looks down on a perfume enthusiast trying to find similar enjoyment for less. As Agatha said to me today, no one knows if you\u2019re wearing Kayali Amber Invite Only or Paris Corner Kaheel Lux; they only smell the fragrance, not the brand name. Imagine if we could do the same with whisky? Sure, many distilleries have their own sherry bomb or bourbon-barrel twist, but we whisky lovers tend to chase whichever distillery is deemed \u201cbest\u201d or \u201ccoolest\u201d to like. It\u2019s definitely cooler to prefer the non-chill-filtered, sherry-influenced 15-year-old Macallan over Glen Moray, regardless of which one you\u2019d actually like better in a blind tasting, and this colors so many of our whisky discussions. Maybe we could take a cue from perfume lovers and hunt for \u201cbest bang for your bucks.\u201d What if all Swedish whisky consumers started spending their hard-earned cash on good value instead of the expensive, hyped bottles? I wonder what would happen to prices on store shelves then?<\/p>\n

More Focus on Flavor and Scent, Less on Ancient History!<\/strong> As a history teacher, I naturally tend to romanticize anything old\u2014except maybe that slightly swollen carton of milk in the fridge. Besides, I\u2019m all too aware of how much money some Scottish distillery owners make by emphasizing how ancient and established their distillery is, and that\u2019s fine. It is<\/em> pretty cool to imagine how these old buildings have stood through centuries of work. So this may sound like a critique of historic distilleries, but it isn\u2019t. I\u2019ve just noticed that I\u2019m fascinated listening to my perfume-savvy colleagues talk about different scents and focusing purely on the fragrance, not the heritage of the perfume house. How much am I influenced by my love of history? And even if it\u2019s not wrong\u2014how could I learn to set that aside when I want to experience and judge whisky more freely?<\/p>\n

Your Experience Matters More Than Others\u2019 Opinions!<\/strong> If you want refreshingly honest scent notes, a quick browse on Fragrantica.com is pretty entertaining. I can\u2019t count the times I\u2019ve been told I\u2019m strange or should check my nose when I pick up \u201cgym shoe,\u201d \u201ctea shop,\u201d or \u201cgrandma\u2019s perfume\u201d in a whisky, but on Fragrantica, there\u2019s room for all kinds of takes. Gasoline? Sure. Toilet spray? It\u2019s happened. Pleasant armpit? No idea what that person meant, but no one else seemed bothered. Brutally honest scent notes are common in the perfume world, and personal perceptions are more important than what you\u2019re \u201csupposed\u201d to think. It\u2019s accepted that people perceive the same perfume very differently, so perfume enthusiasts may be more accustomed than the average whisky drinker to people\u2019s varying sensitivities to certain scent notes. It\u2019s refreshing, and the variety in scent notes helps counter people\u2019s tendency to get hung up on brand cred. And if what you smell as \u201csweaty birch sauna\u201d comes across to your perfume buddy as well-balanced cedarwood, so be it!<\/p>\n

Layering\u2014Experiment More!<\/strong> This might be the most exciting difference. True perfume fans practice something called \u201clayering\u201d\u2014creating a unique scent by applying different perfumes in layers. This way, they can complement each other and create unique expressions that amplify the scent (and likely the mood) of the wearer. Let\u2019s pause here. Layering. Imagine buying a whisky that you\u2019re 80\u201390% satisfied with. It\u2019s nice, tasty, and reasonably priced, but it lacks that final touch to make it great. Usually, whisky lovers would:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Finish the bottle with a faint sense of dissatisfaction.<\/li>\n
  2. Offer it to friends, thereby coming across as generous or at least breaking even financially.<\/li>\n
  3. Use it in the weekend\u2019s whisky glaze for a nice steak.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    But what if, instead, we tried adding a splash of smoky, sherry-aged, rye, or whatever to find The Sweet Spot? Imagine someone\u2019s ultimate whisky being 3 cl Old Pulteney 12 + 1 cl Ardbeg 10? Or 2 cl Tullamore DEW with 2 cl Mortlach 16? The possibilities are dizzying! Imagine the fun we could have at home or with whisky friends! \u201cHave you tried pouring 2.5 cl Glen Grant The Major’s Reserve, then waiting 15 minutes to add 0.5 cl Ardbeg 10, and finally 1 cl Teeling Single Grain Wine Cask? Mindblowing!\u201d Sure, there might be someone who snobbily declares that it\u2019s now a BLENDED (gasp, shocking!) whisky, while everyone else grabs their pearls. Or not. Who really cares? If it\u2019s fun, it\u2019s fun, and if it\u2019s tasty, it\u2019s tasty\u2014and at worst, you\u2019ll learn more about yourself and others.<\/p>\n

    And finally, a little wish…<\/strong> Agatha and Shouan have told me that in the perfume world, it\u2019s common knowledge that perfumers in certain Middle Eastern countries are incredibly skilled. You can go to a perfume maker\u2019s shop, ask them to smell a fragrance, and they can recreate it on the spot without knowing the original\u2019s formula or notes. You can also ask them to create a unique signature scent, and their expertise is something else entirely. Imagine if we could do the same with whisky! The closest I\u2019ve come is visiting Cadenhead’s and bottling my own whisky from casks they had in store, but that\u2019s not quite the same. Imagine walking into a shop, opening a sample of your loved one\u2019s favorite whisky, and asking the owner to blend something that smells and tastes exactly the same! That way, you wouldn\u2019t feel FOMO from hell when a favorite whisky is discontinued, and buying gifts for whisky lovers would be easier and more fun. And what if you have a favorite whisky but want it just a tad smokier\/sweeter\/lighter\u2014it\u2019d be a done deal! And imagine training to become such an expert. Or wait\u2026 maybe these experts already exist? What\u2019s the story with Irish whiskey bonding anyway? But that\u2019s a topic for another blog post\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I have two wonderful colleagues who know everything about perfumes\u2014and I mean everything. Let\u2019s call them\u2026 Agatha and Shouan. A…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-okategoriserade-en"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6PMD0-zB","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.anglarnasandel.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.anglarnasandel.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.anglarnasandel.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.anglarnasandel.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.anglarnasandel.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2207"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.anglarnasandel.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2208,"href":"http:\/\/www.anglarnasandel.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2207\/revisions\/2208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.anglarnasandel.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.anglarnasandel.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.anglarnasandel.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}