Tasting notes / FILM 20 / 42 SECONDS
Learning to Taste
Once you recognize it, the word starts to make sense.
By Old Treasure · September 7, 2026
From our recorded conversations at Whiskey Thief.
BEHIND THE CONVERSATION
Once you recognize it, the word starts to make sense.
Larry learned through restaurants and wine. Lisa remembers a mentor naming a smell she hadn’t learned to recognize, reaching for the memorable description of a wet horse blanket. A tasting vocabulary has to start somewhere.
Familiarity builds one encounter at a time. Ask what someone means. Pay attention to the next example. Keep the impressions that make sense to you. Knowing what you enjoy can come well before knowing every term for it.
Read the full film transcript
It’s just being around it all the time, you know, practice. And wine helped. Wine helps a lot. That’s where I started to learn to taste, was working in fine dining restaurants in the late ’90s, early 2000s. And that’s all you did was talk about wine. So you had to learn how to pick out those flavors. And that’s when I started making wine. I remember the winemaker picked up a glass. And we poured a glass of something, and he’s like, “Oh, Brettanomyces.” And I go, “What?” And he goes, “Wet horse blanket.” So I knew wet horse blanket, right? And I just remember thinking, “I’m never going to get there. I’m never going to know like he does.” Then one day the light bulb went off. I’m like, “Oh my gosh.” He’s like, “How is it?” I’m like, “This one has some Brett in it,” right? Felt pretty confident.
Story adapted from the accompanying filmed conversation. Guest makers describe their own experiences and methods; these are not production specifications for Old Treasure.
