Post #683951 by djmont on Sat, Jun 29, 2013 4:24 PM

If you served me a half-dozen Tiki drinks blind, I have no doubt that I couldn't identify most or all of them. I don't have that kind of memory to say, "Ah! This is a Jet Pilot." But I think I could pick out some of the flavors in the drinks, and I could certainly tell you which ones I liked better. And ultimately, I really don't care much more than that.

I've conducted blind tastings of spirits on several occasions, and the results can definitely be interesting. I've found that, more often than not, the results are about what you'd expect. But there's often a time when someone will give high marks to something they claim to hate, and that's always worth a laugh.

Expectation, presentation, environment, etc. play such a large part of the experience. That's why good bartenders know which glass to serve a drink in, which garnish to use, which temperature at which to serve the drink, etc. All of those factors can affect not just our enjoyment of a cocktail, but how we perceive its taste.

Another thing I would add is that poorly-made Tiki drinks, or even indifferently-made ones, will almost always taste very similar. They'll likely be made with the same tasteless white rum, the usual mix of fruit juices, the pre-packaged mixes, the overly sweetened syrups. And thus the "flavors" are fake and indistinct, and they all just run together. It's like when you go to a bar like TGI Friday's and order a Frozen Margarita or Frozen Daiquiri or Pina Colada or whatever, and you can't tell any difference between them. They all just taste like slushies. It's because they're made cheaply and lazily, with little or no actual resemblance to what they're supposed to be. But when they taste the way they're actually supposed to taste, it's a whole new world.