This mezcal--mescal?--was a whole new kind of tasting experience for me: it was almost entirely olfactory. Maybe this is how a lizard “tastes,” by just flicking its tongue. As well as savoring a sip every few minutes, I stuck my nose in the glass and just inhaled every few minutes. The aroma was a lot more complex than anything my tongue’s taste bud receptors were designed to recognize. It had a "flavor" designed more for the limbic brain than the mouth. Other extremely volatile drinks (armagnac, cognac, old whiskey) have at least one or two comfortingly identifiable taste connections--sweet, acid, bitter. This mezcal had cut all the kite strings attached to the usual contents of the sensory memory bank.
And I tend to think that’s part of the enchantment.
At least, that's how I remember it...
mmalouf
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