Unexpected Food & Drink Descriptors

[Chris Amirault]

I went to a scotch tasting last night. During the presentation, the speaker referred to flavor components in one bottling as "notes of baby-sick."

I was taken aback, but the others -- veterans of many tastings in the local malt society, unlike me -- seemed to take it in stride.

Any other terms you've heard used to describe food or drink that threw you for a loop?

[ambra]

Cat pee.

[feedmec00kies]

Doesn't bother me, but I know a lot of the uninitiated are horrified by the use of the words "horse blanket" to describe the nose of a beer (usually something that has Brettanomyces present).

[KD1191]

Yes, the barnyard is a frequent source of terms to describe funkier beers. I've thrown horse blanket, horse stall, and perhaps even manure around.

Funny you mention "baby-sick" because just last night I was trying to describe the taste of something (an Alvbro chicken-shaped lollipop, if you must know) and the first thing to mind was actually vomit...as terrible as that sounds, I didn't necessarily mean it in an entirely bad way. Not too be too graphic, but it had a strange acidity, something I could only describe as stomach-acid like.

[munchymom]

Wine is full of those... leather, graphite, barnyard, and the aforementioned cat pee.

In my entire adult life, during which I have consumed several thousand bottles of wine, I can only think of one that was truly undrinkable. It was a Sauvignon Blanc that tasted exactly like a litterbox smells. I am very wary of Sauvignon Blancs now, and steer far clear of any that have "cat pee" in the tasting notes.

[Chris Amirault]

So many involve smell. I referred to blue cheese as "feety" here, which drew some comments.

[nakji]

Leather, for some wines.

[Chris Amirault]

And for lots of aged rums and tequilas, and some bourbons and scotches.

[philadining]

Speaking of feet, a local reviewer from a small neighborhood paper recently used a truly weird image to describe a portion size:

"The foie gras ($15) was as small as half a premature baby’s foot."

Phyllis Stein-Novak in The South Philly review>>

I'm still scratching my head about how she came up with that unit of measure, and why she felt obliged to use it in a food review...

Edited January 30, 2011 by philadining (log)