Journey vs. Destination

There is a word for smell (like when we smell roses) and a word for taste (mmm… ice cream). But there should be a word for the combination of them. As I have identified the deficit, I will use smelltaste until someone gives me a better term.

There are times when the smelltaste is exceedingly different from the smell or the taste of something.  Take Japanese sake as an example, if you smell good sake, it is often floral. If you drink it, the tastes ranges but is often fruity. If you take a whiff and then a drink, it tastes like tears of happiness. Errr… I mean it is a combination of fruity and floral that reminds me of honey without sweetness (yeah, I know that makes no sense, but still).

On the other hand, if you sample the smelltaste of cheap whiskey, it is a sinus burning phenomenon followed by coughing pain.

As much as I love champagne, its smelltaste is not often as good as its taste (which, I think, is why I like the less yeasty, less scented sparkling wines).

When you want to learn about an alcohol, one of the first things you need to figure out is if it should be tasted or smelltasted.

Fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies and hot coffee are two items that are almost all smelltaste. The smell can be wonderful but the taste by itself is not as good as you might expect (yes, I did just give you an excuse to make cookies this afternoon, its for SCIENCE).

I got to thinking about this last night… while neither the smell nor the taste is reminiscent of anything particular, the black licorice smelltaste of Pastis reminds me of my childhood.