Supertasters: How Women Taste Whisky Differently with Téa Nicolae

Two months ago, in Episode 48 with Paul Bock and David Reid, they mentioned one of the regulars at their whisky and cheese gatherings brought along two bottles of Romanian whisky, which they agreed were “excellent”.“Romanian whisky?” we thought. “We need to find out more.”So we reached out to Téa Nicolae, Paul and David’s guest. And we got more than we bargained for, because among other things Téa’s a researcher working in the phenomenology of taste, with a focus on whisky and its cultural perception.In particular, she explores how women taste and experience whisky through her companies TasteVera and Women Vitae.“Women,” she says, “are more likely to be supertasters and have more tastebuds.”But their taste changes during their menstrual cycle. As hormone and oestrogen levels fluctuate, Téa explains, so does a woman’s “sensitivity to bitterness, to sweetness, to spiciness, et cetera.”The research is in its early stages, Téa, continues. But she says there's a growing body of "white papers" about individual female taste variations, much of it led by the research and writings of the Indian physician and ayurvedic practitioner Sumit Kesarkar.And she concludes: “Taste is a full body experience. It’s not just what happens in the mouth.”Téa’s originally from Romania.She came to the UK to go to university when she was 18 and eventually moved to Edinburgh. As well her two consultancy companies, Téa’s a co-founder of the Scottish-Romanian Business Alliance.Her “love affair with whisky”, as she puts it, started three years ago after reading Kesarkar's book “Single Malt Whisky”.“It was new way for me to access different parts of myself that I wasn’t accessing before.”“Whisky,” she says, “helps me ... because of the insights that I gain from interacting with people and understanding myself through drinking whisky... It's just about, and has always been about, just aiming to understand myself better and the world around me as well."When pushed by John: "So whisky is a gateway to that?" Téa replies: "I would say everything is the gateway to that, if you know how to maximise it. But whisky is a very powerful gateway for me, yes."So settle in as John explores the intersection of science, gender, and the personal soul of spirits through Téa’s storyAnd as for Romanian whisky?“Very few people know Romanian whiskies exist,” Téa admits. “Even Romanians don’t know that.”The two bottles she brought to Paul and David whisky are both produced by the Romanian drinks company Alexandrion. The first bottle was a Carpathian Single Malt.“That was the first single malt that was released from Romania,” Téa says.The other was JA.AR.“Jaar actually means embers. And it points to the fact that all the whisky that they produce and bottle is matured in charred casks,” Téa explains.These casks are usually wine casks used to make Fetească neagră, a native Romanian grape.“It’s translated as dark maiden and it’s a very dark luscious spirit,” Téa says of the grape. “And it was fascinating for me to drink a whisky matured in that particular barrel because the characteristics it had were very different from the wine in itself. But then the flavour of the wine was quite delicately coming through it.”Slàinte!-------Socials: @C2GWhisky | @JohnRossBeattie Creator & producer: David HolmesArt work & design: Jess Robertson Music: Water of Life (Never Going Home)Vocals: Andrea CunninghamGuitars: John BeattieBass: Alasdair VannDrums: Alan HamiltonBagpipes: Calum McCollAccordion: Gary InnesMusic & Lyrics: Andrea Cunningham & John BeattieRecorded & mixed by Murray Collier at La Chunky Studios, Glasgow, Scotland Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.