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So, a friend brought over a bottle of Jim Beam Double Oaked, and I opened it and had a glass and I quite enjoyed it. Earthy, smooth, very pleasant.
Dad took the bottle with him out of town for a trip for a few days, so I stopped by the local liquor store and picked up a bottle of Woodford Reserve Double Oaked. Quite enjoyable.
Dad comes home from the trip. I have a glass of the Woodford Reserve. All is well. I pour a glass of the Jim Beam, and it tastes like soap. Not just a little bit. It tastes like I stuck a bar of soap in my mouth. I find this quite odd and take another sip. Same. It tastes exactly like the soap through the entire glass. WTFO?
Anyone experienced something like this before? Is this attributable to the phenomenon where when you eat something bitter everything tastes sweet afterwards, or is Jim Beam Double Oaked shitty, soapy whisky? A little of both?
@chris_johnathon
I'm not much of a bourbon guy, but I'll encounter the same thing periodically with scotch.
There are couple of variables at play. First, you mouth might have picked up differences between the Woodford and Beam. Secondly, what you ate a while ago could have influenced how your mouth tastes the whisky.
Personally, I always take a nice swig of water before I enjoy my dram. I'll also have water between whiskies to cleanse the palate a little. If you notice the soapy taste again, consider adding a teaspoon of bottled water to the glass and let it settle for a couple of minutes.
@chris_johnathon
Some whiskies some people find a soapy favour in, for example Edradour some find it very soapy, but not me.
try one whisky one day after cleaning your mouth with water. And then the other whisky another day and then do both in one day with and without cleaning your mouth with water. Just to see how you and the whiskies interact with each other.
@chris_johnathon
I started drinking Bourbon recently after drinking scotch for a few years. Shortly after having started with Bourbon I started to notice that my kids soap smelled a bit like whisky. Maybe it's a coincidence or maybe Bourbon has more soap notes than other whiskies? I was drinking the regular Woodford reserve at the time, not double Oaked.
@chris_johnathon
That is a new one on me, but strange things can happen when you follow one whiskey with another. It would be interesting to stay away from both of these bourbons for a week or so and then try them in reverse order - Jim Beam Double Oaked first followed by the Woodford.
I do know that my own palate varies significantly from day-to-day in how I perceive the same whiskey.
I former times I found soap in Edradour as well. But since more than a decade it is completely gone.
@horst_s
I read an article on whisky science that lists compounds and the flavours they contribute to flavours. Apparently fatty acids are responsible for "soapy" flavour. Here's the link:
http://whiskyscience.blogspot.ca/2011/03/pot-still-distillation.html?m=1
I occasionally get this perfume soapy kind of flavors in bourbons as well. I think it depends on what you have been eating og drinking before, because normally i do not get it.
Wow - just joined today and already learned something new - soapy bourbon... this place gonna be lots of fun. Cheers guys!
I found this site because I had just googled about why my Bushmill's had a soapy taste on the back end last night. I guess it's more common than I thought. I only bought the Bushmill's because my package store was out of Glen Fiditch. I'll try again this evening.
@Vabites
I have only tried Bushmills 16 years old. And that had a peculiar flavour which on the first sip everyone said sewers But it went away when having the second sip. Maybe today I would call it soapy.