A Question of Taste

One of the great mysteries of life is how our taste buds can be cultivated to appreciate distinctive flavours, sharpness, sweet, sour etcetera. When I think of all the years of bold experimentation I underwent, in the quest to further my appreciation of the finer qualities of wine, real ale and, single malts, little considering the cost or benefits to my health, I feel quite proud of my powers of persistence for a noble cause.

Recently, I’ve even managed to cultivate a taste (from necessity) for water, not the pretentious bottled variety but that liquid, so easily taken for granted, that flows from our taps. Whilst taking anti-viral tablets, I have deliberately and advisedly increased my consumption but, I have to admit that its attraction is now on the wane. The taste of my first couple of glasses of the day seems far more appalling than the worst mass-produced keg bitter; in the beer stakes a little effort soon enabled one to swallow copious quantities of the stuff, good, bad or indifferent just to be sociable but, water is an altogether different beast. The more I consume, the more it seems to take on what must be the foul taste of my own mouth. Perhaps, persistence will wash away that self-same taste and, I will gradually rediscover the joys of H2O’s refreshment.

With the increased difficulty of taking Adam’s Ale neat, or “on the rocks”, the only option seems to be an increase in the infusions of green tea, jasmine tea and Earl Grey, to be consumed.

By way of variety, in the flavour stakes, the odd glass or two of wine will be more than welcome, slowly re-introduced to the system, within the limits of my reduced tolerance of course! It seems such a shame to have a reasonably stocked cellar if it’s never to be disturbed.