Anyone who has attended our events will know we’ve long been fans of aroma phial kits – dictionary sets of aromas which aid in scent recognition (and are used both within and outside the drinks industry).
A number of kits cover the Wine category, with one or two covering Whisky, but there’s only one in the field of Gin - the Gin Aroma Kit from Aroma Academy. We’ve been using this kit for a number of years in our Gin tasting, so we thought the time was ripe for a quick blog.
Firstly, why do we like these Gin Aroma Kits?
1.They are a highly efficient way to introduce you to a number of the key aromas (most typically botanicals) found in Gin. They help you - in a systematic way - to become familiar with these aromas (if you don’t know them already).
2.They provide great entertainment.
3. They can train you to reconstruct many Gin profiles using the single aroma notes found in the kit (instead of asking you to deconstruct the flavour/aroma profile of a Gin say in a tasting).
The kit contains 24 aroma solutions, a pack of blank aroma strips (the same as those used in the perfume industry) and a booklet.
The aromas are:
- Pine (Juniper)
- Green (Juniper)
- Herbaceous/waxy (Juniper)
- Woody/resinous (Juniper)
- Coriander (citrus/fruity)
- Grapefruit (citrus/fruity)
- Lemon (citrus/fruity)
- Orange (citrus/fruity)
- Cucumber (green/fruity)
- Forest floor (dry rooty)
- Orris (dry rooty)
- Cassia bark (spicy)
- Ginger (spicy)
- Nutmeg (spicy)
- Pepper (spicy)
- Chamomile (floral)
- Lavender (floral)
- Meadowseet (floral)
- Rose (floral)
- Violet (floral)
- Crushed nut (nutty)
- Dark cocoa (sweet)
- Vanilla (sweet)
The process is simple - to nose each aroma you simply number the aroma strips (this is important so as not to confuse the scents) with the relevant bottle/bottles you are using, dip approx. 1cm of the strip into the relevant solution/s (not the end you’ve numbered) then fold the aroma strip into an L shape so the solution doesn’t come into contact with a surface or anything that can taint it. Aroma Academy recommends you put the strips on laminate, ceramic or any non pourous, wipeable surface.
You need to allow the alcohol to dry for 1 minute or so before you take your first nose. This allows the alcohol to dissipate and the aroma note to dominate.
For the serious nosers among you, Aroma Academy recommends you nose all the aromas in the kit repeatedly, commit them to memory then get someone to test you.
As you can see, usefully the aromas cover 4 main expressions of juniper – Gin’s principle botanical (the Green expression has a grassy, leafy note emphasised). Helpfully the kit also contains aromas of very popular/key botanicals (such as orris root) which you are unlikely to see in your store cupboard or on a herb or spice rack.
As we use these gin aroma kits regularly Aroma Academy has kindly extended a 10% discount to our community and readers. To get a 10% discount on the gin aroma kit use the code TQ10 at checkout on
https://www.aroma-academy.co.uk/collections/shop