Food Addiction

This mint lemonade recipe is easy and refreshing! The cooling, herbaceous notes of mint pair perfectly with the zing of lemon.

Here’s a beverage that’s ideal for summer sipping: Mint Lemonade! This recipe is ideal for when you have loads of this fresh herb on hand. The cooling, herbaceous notes of the mint are a perfect pair with the acidic pop of the lemon. What could be more refreshing? It’s simple to whip up and perfect for parties and entertaining. Or, make a big pitcher to drink off of all week! Here’s our master method.

Ingredients for mint lemonade

This mint lemonade recipe skips making a simple syrup on the stovetop, and goes right to the blender. In fact, all you need to do is blend mint and sugar, then mix it with lemon juice to form lemonade. As a note, this recipe is best in summer you’ve got fresh mint to spare. It calls for 1 cup mint leaves, which can get expensive if you’re buying store-bought out of season. Here’s what you’ll need for this recipe:

How to make mint lemonade (basic steps)

It’s very easy to make your own homemade lemonade! The most time consuming part? Juicing the lemons! Here are the basic steps for how to make this mint lemonade (or jump to the recipe below for quantities):

• Juice the lemons. Using a press juicer is the quickest way to juice lemons: it gets out the most juice and saves your fingers from tiring out from squeezing. The next best choice? A handheld citrus juicer.
• Blend the mint, sugar and water. Give it a whiz in the blender.
• Double strain it with a fine mesh strainer! This is the important part. You’ll want to strain the liquid twice to avoid floating sediment that forms from the blended mint.
• Mix the pitcher. Then mix it in a pitcher with the lemon juice and more cold water.
• Garnish with fresh mint! This is also important. Garnishing with another sprig of mint is important for getting the right mint aroma to each sip.

Variations on this recipe

There are other fun ways to mix up this mint lemonade recipe: like making it sparkling or spiked! Here are a few fun variations:

More lemonade recipes

Want more homemade lemonade flavors? Once you’ve whipped up mint lemonade, try these variations:

This mint lemonade recipe is…

Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, and dairy-free.

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Description

This mint lemonade recipe is easy and refreshing! The cooling, herbaceous notes of mint pair perfectly with the zing of lemon.

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• 1 ½ cups fresh squeezed lemon juice (7 to 8 large lemons)*
• 7 cups water, divided
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup mint leaves, loosely packed
• Ice, for serving

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1. Juice the lemons. Add the lemon juice to a pitcher with 6 cups cold water.
2. In a blender, combine the sugar, mint leaves and 1 cup warm water. Blend until fully combined.
3. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl. Then strain it back through the strainer into the pitcher with the lemon juice. (Double straining helps to remove sediment that would otherwise form at the top of the liquid.)
4. Add ice to the pitcher. Garnish each glass with a sprig of fresh mint, to get the most of the mint flavor.  Serve immediately or store refrigerated for up to 3 days.

• Category: Drink
• Method: No Cook
• Cuisine: Lemonade
• Diet: Vegan

Keywords: Mint lemonade, mint lemonade recipe

Hoplark’s slogan leaves really an perception in Colorado, previously acknowledged for its craft beer.

• “Your most loved new craft brew is not a beer,” the packaging on the new non-alcoholic Hoplark . reads.

What is actually going on: The Boulder corporation is giving a beer-like encounter for the health-aware customer, initially with its hop-infused teas released in 2018 and now with its new non-alcoholic, zero-calorie hopped glowing h2o.

• Neither are technically beer simply because they are not fermented, but Hoplark wishes to compete in the craft beer area.
• The operation’s trustworthiness will come from its use of hops — the plant that presents fruit flavors (specially citrus) to beer.

What they’re declaring: “This is a superior-for-me beverage that I can eat in the course of the working day,” Hoplark president John Damiano explained to Axios Denver in a modern interview.

Of note: The notion originated when co-founder and dwelling brewer Dean Eberhardt took a thirty day period-lengthy hiatus from drinking alcoholic beverages. They later on debuted at the Boulder Farmers Industry.

Why it matters: Hoplark, a 70-individual organization dispersed nationally in Total Food items merchants, sits at the confluence of the most current beverage field developments, succeeding where by massive beer makers like Coors are shedding conventional people and where craft beer is struggling to maintain its expansion.

• Its high quality-priced beverages emphasize flavor and charm to individuals who want to drink fewer booze — two booming sector segments.

By the quantities: The beverage offerings stay market, but the organization touts 14-fold growth because 2019. It survived the pandemic with a renewed focus on immediate-to-consumer profits via a membership software and its Prairie Avenue taproom.

The coffee pod revolution might seem like a recent phenomenon: in 2005, a mere 1% of US homes had a single-cup coffee machine; by 2020, four out of every 10 homes had a single-cup brewer—most of them pod brewers, those easy-to-use coffee machines that seem to work like magic: insert a small, sealed cup of ground coffee, fill the tank with water, and press a button. And just like that, coffee appears. 

But Nespresso (an operating branch of the larger Nestlé corporation that deals with all things coffee) has been at the pod coffee brewing game for a long time—since 1976, to be precise. And even with the proliferation of other competitors, they continue to be the leader in this market. The word “Nespresso” feels like it’s becoming synonymous with single-cup pod brewers, much as brands products from like Band-Aid and Kleenex have entered the generic lexicon. 

However, just because something has been around for a while—and has become ubiquitous within the at-home coffee brewing market—doesn’t mean it’s good. So we decided to test one of Nespresso’s most popular models, the Vertuo Plus Deluxe, and see if it’s worth your hard-earned money. 

How Do Nespresso Machines Work?

Nestlé, a Swiss company that is one of the largest food purveyors in the world, has been working on pod-based brewers since 1976. It’s kind of a wild story: “In 1975, a young engineer named Eric Favre took a trip to Rome that would change the history of coffee,” writes Ed Cumming for The Guardian. Favre, who worked for Nestlé, noticed a crowd of people at a particular coffee shop in the city, and realized that the baristas were pumping the piston of their espresso machine repeatedly (this was likely with a lever machine, where baristas have to pull down a lever to pressurize the brewing water and force it through a puck of coffee). 

“This meant they forced more water and air into the ground beans, which meant greater oxidization, which drew out more flavor from the beans and produced more of a crema,” Cumming writes. “In the history of at-home premium coffee, this is perhaps the closest anyone has ever come to a eureka moment.”

Farve used the observation in the cafe to develop the brand’s first single-serve coffee brewer. All pod brewers work slightly differently, but their technology is based on relatively the same idea: Coffee grounds are preserved in a sealed container usually made of aluminum. A small needle is inserted into the capsule, pressurized hot water is added, and out comes espresso. 

Nestlé took ten years developing their first machine, creating the Nespresso sub-branch in 1986. In 2012, a number of Nespresso patents expired—specifically, their patent for the actual pods themselves, the little aluminum canisters filled with coffee. That allowed other brands to make pods compatible with Nespresso machines and helped usher in a new era of at-home coffee brewing. Now, pod-based brewers are as important an amenity in hotels and AirBnBs as running water and WiFi.

In 2014, Nespresso launched the Vertuo line—and it’s got some weird stuff. One of the reasons Nespresso made the Vertuo was to appeal to American coffee preferences by offering larger-sized drinks as opposed to just traditional, espresso-style beverages, but they also included a bunch of new technology, perhaps feeling the sting of losing so much of their intellectual property just years ago. Coffee YouTube creator James Hoffmann did a deep dive into the patents on the Vertuo and the machine’s new features, most notably their redesigned pods: instead of thimble-shaped capsule, Nespresso made these dome-shaped pods that come in three different sizes: the smallest for single espressos (the Vertuo box says these drinks are about 40 milliliters), the medium for double (80 milliliters) and “lungo” (150 milliliters) espressos, and the large for “coffee drinks” (230 milliliters). 

From what I can tell, there’s not much difference between the coffees in the pods themselves. Hoffmann opens up each pod and measures the amount of coffee in each, and predictably, the smallest pod has the least amount of coffee (7.5 grams) while the largest pod has the most (13 grams) and the middle is, you guessed it, in the middle (10.6 grams). 

What makes this seem like a ploy to make consumers use only Nespresso pods are the barcodes: if you flip each of the pods over, the outer rim has a barcode the machine reads so it knows what pod is in there. No one designs pods shaped like Nespresso’s new domes (that I know of), but I also don’t think that would matter because of the barcode. You can override the barcode if, say, you want to make a coffee-sized drink with an espresso pod, but I’m pretty sure your only option for brewing is Nespresso-made pods—I did see a TikTok video on my ‘For You’ page where a person reused their Nespresso pods by washing out spent pods and resealing them with aluminum stickers, so there are ways to get around repurchasing new ones.

Another proprietary piece of technology is their “centrifusion” technique, a portmanteau of “centrifugal” and “infusion.” I have to admit: I don’t fully understand how this works. I’ve read dozens of articles on this process, most of which seem to get as far as, “oh, this is cool!” without further explanation. Basically, the machine forces water through a puncture point in the center of the capsule, and then starts rotating really fast—something like 7,000 rotations per minute. This pushes the grounds and water to the edges of the capsule, and water out through a dozen smaller puncture points that form a circle around the capsule. You can see this when you look at a spent capsule. 

This “centrifusion” technique seems designed to extract coffee evenly, or ensure that all of the grounds are in contact with water for about the same amount of time. In his video, Hoffmann mentions that one of the goals of the Vertuo is to extract coffee without building up pressure, so perhaps that’s what the centrifusion does. 

What’s particularly confusing about this, however, is how Nespresso achieves “crema” in their drinks. Traditionally, crema is trapped carbon dioxide (CO2) molecules—CO2 is produced during roasting, but dissipates over time so the fresher the coffee, the more CO2; you generally don’t see crema on coffee unless it’s brewed using a pressurized brew method like espresso (most of the CO2 is released when brewing with a pour over set up when water hits the brew bed—that’s why you’ll see bubbles pop out during the first initial pour, particularly for fresh coffee).  

But the Nespresso pods are not fresh and yet, every single drink, from their single espressos to their coffee-sized sippers, has crema. The coffee was ground who knows when, and when you try actually brewing them—like, ripping the pods open and using the ground coffee on a pourover brewer—there’s no crema. I have to imagine this centrifusion has something to do with the resulting crema, but I’m not sure. 

The machine also comes with a milk frother, the Aeroccino 3. I evaluated the Aeroccino during my review of milk frothers, and found that, though a little finicky (I had to watch a YouTube video to understand the machine’s functions) it works well and froths milk consistently. What’s wild is that I nixed the Aeroccino from my top milk frothers because of its price—alone, it retails for about $90, but the Vertuo and the Aeroccino together retailed for $154 at the time of publication. I guess it pays to bundle things?

To evaluate the Vertuo, I brewed every pod in the provided sampler pack and one of each of the coffees from this variety pack. I tasted and timed each brew, evaluating each on its roast level, flavor intensity, and bitterness. 

In writing this review, I wanted to address a gap that exists between coffee consumers and coffee people like myself: I think it’d be easy to dismiss this machine, especially from a company I have been critical of in the past (more on that below). But I keep coming back to the statistic stated above: four in 10 people have some sort of single-cup brewer, and the majority of them have something like a Nespresso. I really wanted to understand why these machines are appealing and hope my assessments and observations give potential consumers good information to think about. 

Pros of the Nespresso

If making coffee with a pourover setup or on a manual espresso machine is like making toast by baking bread from scratch, then using a Nespresso is like buying a loaf of pre-sliced bread and throwing a few pieces in the toaster; there’s absolutely no “craft” to the process: all you do is select your pod, pop in into the machine, and press go. 

I write the above sentence with absolutely no disdain. Sometimes you’ve got all weekend to make a dough, simmer a sauce, and lovingly put together a homemade pizza. Other times, you want to throw something frozen in the oven and have dinner ready in 20 minutes. If your main objective is to simply get coffee delivered to you hot, quickly, and consistently, then the Nespresso is a pretty good investment. 

First off, the Vertuo is fast. Like, scary fast. When I brewed one of the smaller pods—the ones meant for espresso-style drinks—it took one-minute and three seconds for the coffee to brew. That’s wild considering that the water in the brewing tank is about room temperature, so the machine is able to get water to around 200°F absurdly fast. Coffees brewed with the larger pods didn’t take much more time than that: every drink was done within two minutes of pressing the brew button.

The Vertuo is a well-designed machine. The brew tank is fully detachable and adjustable, so you can finagle it to fit whenever you’d like on your counter. The brewing tank makes a really satisfying clicking sound when it’s fully attached (I attribute that to the influence of Breville, another coffee brewing company that occasionally partners with Nespresso and is known for its user-friendly designs). Operating the brewer is also straightforward: all you do is press a lever (which is wild—I thought you’d have to click it open and the opening was controlled by a spring or something, but it’s literally touch-operated and wouldn’t work unless the machine was plugged in), put a pod in, and press go. Once you open the lever again, the pod automatically slides into a disposal chute located behind the brewer. Honestly, these design touches feel a little excessive, but also fancy, like you’re working with a high-tech piece of equipment. 

Lastly, the brewer offers a variety of coffee styles (my Vertuo came with 12 different coffees—four of each “size,” but all from different regions or blends) so you can easily shake things up if you wanted to try something new. Most brewers can be divided into two categories: they either make espresso or they make drip coffee, but the Vertuo seamlessly jumps between both. You don’t need to change any of the parameters on the brewer to pull a shot of espresso in the AM and a cup of filter coffee to round out your afternoon. 

Cons of the Nespresso

So let’s start with the obvious: the coffee from the Nespresso is weird. And it’s weird for a few reasons. 

First, the dose. For filter coffee, the 13-gram dose is actually pretty appropriate since you’re getting about 230 milliliters in coffee. A quick ratio I use for brewing filter or drip coffee is to take the dose of the coffee you want to use and multiply that by 16. The sum will get you the amount of water you need for brewing. In this case, that gets you to 208, which is a little low, but not out of the ballpark. 

But when you look at the espresso doses, the amount of coffee in each pod feels really, really low. Espresso is usually a concentrated beverage, and most baristas at most coffee shops are pulling shots of espresso with anywhere between a 1:1 to 1:4 ratio of coffee to water, but they’re usually landing somewhere around 1:2 to 1:3. When I dial in a new coffee I’ve never tried before, I usually aim for a 1:2 ratio, usually 18 grams of coffee to around 36 grams of water for a double shot of espresso. 

The small capsules have 7.5 grams of coffee and give drinkers a 40-milliliter beverage. So the dose isn’t quite right for an espresso, and the resulting beverage has whispers of an espresso, but not quite. Same with the medium-sized capsules, which have 10.6 grams of coffee and put out an 80 mL or 150 mL drink (I’m not really sure what to classify this as—it’s like a very short Americano maybe?). 

This is all fine and good on its own—I don’t really care about there being a “right” and “wrong” ratio of coffee to water. What matters is being able to find the ratio that’s right for you: if users were able to adjust these ratios more (I mentioned there’s a way to override some of the sizes, but it can get complicated quickly), then the pod sizes wouldn’t bother me, but the whole point of the Vertuo is for the barcodes to tell the machine the precise and ideal way to brew, and I’m not convinced that Nespresso’s ratios are the ideal way to enjoy their coffee, nor that they need to be so didactic about how to enjoy coffee in general.

Now let’s talk about coffee. It is very, very darkly roasted. Each pod gives you a range of roast levels from one to 10. The lowest level I had in my variety box (the Vertuo came with 12 different pods to try out, and we also ordered three other coffees which came in sets of 10) was rated a four, and it tasted very bitter and weird in the finish. Most of the coffees had that bitter, roasty finish at the end that blew out my palate and made it difficult to taste anything nuanced or different in each coffee—no matter what pod I tasted, they all tasted the same. 

I found this bitterness to be the least offensive in the biggest pods, the ones intended for coffee-sized drinks. But I still couldn’t taste anything inherent to the coffees themselves, which feels boring! I’ve brewed coffees on a Keurig system before, and with those brewers, I could get a sense that different pods would taste different from one another. But each Nespresso pod tasted the same with a bitter finish at the end. 

Now is where we talk about the elephant(s) in the room. 

Nestlé as a company has landed itself in hot water over the years. Former Nestlé CEO Peter Brabeck-Letmathe has gone on record saying that water should be treated like any other foodstuff one would buy and sell and that NGOs claiming water is a human right is an “extreme solution.” In the 1970s, Nestlé was accused of encouraging women, particularly women in developing countries, to forgo breastfeeding their infants and switch to more expensive formula feeding. And just this year, when Nespresso obtained B-corp status, a certification program that seeks to distinguish socially and environmentally responsible companies, dozens of other previously certified B-corp companies penned an open letter condemning the choice to confer this status, writing: “Although Nespresso has achieved the minimum currently required for certification…Nespresso’s abysmal track record on human rights from child labor and wage theft to abuse of factory workers is well documented by the media and NGOs.”

But, let’s zoom in and look at the Vertuo itself and specifically, the pods. Coffee pods and their effect on the environment have enjoyed a long life in the cultural zeitgeist. I’m sure if you’re reading this, you remember some discussion about how many times a line of spent pods could circle the globe. 

Nespresso claims that their pods are recyclable, and they are—but you have to drop the capsules off at one of their designated drop spots, give them to your mail person when they deliver your order, or bring them to a Nespresso store. Their pods say they’re recyclable, and while that isn’t a lie, it seems misleading and I imagine many people will either throw them into their home recycling or simply throw them in the trash. Just because something is technically recyclable doesn’t mean it will get recycled. 

So, What Should You Do?

As a coffee pro, I think it’s easy for me to forget that many people simply want coffee as a caffeine delivery service, and that’s 100% acceptable! I can’t find any fault in the actual design and use of the Vertuo, and I’m kind of amazed by how quickly and consistently the brewer makes coffee. It literally couldn’t be any easier. 

But if you’re here, I have to imagine you care a little bit about what your coffee tastes like, and I think there are a few options for single-cup coffee and quick brews. For example, many of your favorite coffee brands make instant or steeped coffee options from makers like Swift Coffee and Steeped.

I think the Vertuo is a better value for people interested in making espresso drinks at home (the instant options I listed above are, in my opinion, better for drip coffee), but we also wrote a review of the best home espresso machines with options that range in price from a few bucks to a couple hundred, and I tend to think those machines are better options. They do require a bit more work on the part of the user, so if that’s a dealbreaker, the Vertuo is a good option to consider. 

But overall, do I recommend the Vertuo? I wouldn’t buy it for me, but for a person looking for a really simple and consistent brewing system? I think this would be a welcome addition to their kitchen setup.   

FAQs

Are Nespresso pods recyclable?

Yes, they are. But that’s maybe the wrong question. As noted above, Nespresso pods cannot be thrown into your home recycling, and must be taken to specific drop zones or given to your mail person when delivering a new order. 

Is Nespresso better than Keurig?

I’m not sure you can say one is better than the other, but I’d be more excited to see a Keurig if, let’s say, I was in a hotel room or traveling somewhere. Because so many different coffee companies make Keurig pods, I’d be able to customize my experience a little more and find roasters whose coffee I’m more excited to drink (I don’t mean this is a bougie way—if I found pods of Dunkin coffee, I’d drink that 100 times over before I’d drink a Nespresso pod simply because they don’t roast their coffee as dark, which highlights the bitterness and lingering taste of coffee). 

How much is a Nespresso Machine?

At the time of publication, the Nespresso Vertuo + Aeroccino was $202 on Amazon. My initial package came with 12 pods, and we also ordered three sets with ten pods each (30 in total), which retail on Amazon for $36. Most Nespresso machines range in price between $100-$300. 

Whisky lovers, here I come! With an industry that accounts for over $6 billion, it is only unreasonable to think that Scotch doesn’t have a huge fan following. Well, this article is for those yet to be introduced to this Scottish beverage. I will talk about “what does Scotch taste like?” in detail.

Scotch is a whiskey made of malted barley. It has a malty flavor as the dominant, sharp flavor. The taste is complemented by the fruity flavors of cherries, berries, and other citrus fruits. The smoky flavor is also unmissable – you can experience the flavor of peat smoke, charred oak, and a bit of sea salt.

Scotch whisky has gained immense popularity over time for its distinctive flavor and unique production methods. Aren’t you curious to know what makes Scotch special and what it tastes like? Let us swirl into the whisky waters and find out more about it!

What Is Scotch?

Scotch whisky is the whisky exclusively made in Scotland. It is a malt or grain whisky that is aged in oak barrels for at least three years. It can be made in five different types – single malt whisky, single grain whisky, blended grain whisky, blended malt whisky, and Scotch whisky.

Single malt whisky is made of barley and water and is distilled at a single distillery. Single grain whisky is made using water, malted barley, and a few other kinds of cereal, and it is also distilled at a single distillery. 

Blended grain whisky combines two or more single grain whiskies from two distilleries. In comparison, blended malt whisky is a blend of two or single malt whisky from two distilleries. Blended Scotch whisky is a blend of single malt whisky and single grain whisky. 

What Does Scotch Taste Like?

The taste of Scotch is majorly influenced by the ingredients used, production method, the time it has been aged and the region of production, type of barrels, and the kind of water used for production. Let us find out how Scottish whisky registers on our taste buds.

Since Scotch is a whisky made using malted barley, it has a malty flavor predominantly. It has an impressive smoky flavor if peat has been used for kilning. Aged Scotch whiskies exhibit fruity flavors as that of cherries, citrus fruits, and tart.

Also, the barrels that are used for aging affect the taste of Scotch. American oak casks give a different flavor than that European oak casks. 

Does Scotch Taste Good?

Scotch is a malted whisky that has been loved by people worldwide for its unique flavor. I just told you about its taste. Is it any good? Let us find out.

Scotch indeed tastes good and better than most alcoholic beverages since it is produced, distilled, and matured in a specific way. Also, the fact that it comes from, or rather it has to come from Scotland, makes it extremely popular. It has a sharp, bold, buttery flavor with subtle hints of malted rye and spiciness.

Many consider the taste of Scotch to be an acquired taste – something you love gradually over time.

Is Scotch Bitter Or Sweet?

You want to know if that alcoholic happiness you expect from Scotch falls on the taste spectrum’s sweet or bitter side. I will tell you all about it now.

Scotch has a malty flavor with subtle hints of cherries and citrus fruits. The smoky flavor is also easily noticeable. Therefore, Scotch doesn’t taste bitter for sure and has a mild sweetness. 

That said, it can’t also be cited as a beverage brimming with sweetness since the fruity, floral and citrusy flavor is more dominant in a Scotch than the sweet sugary flavor. American Bourbon is much sweeter than Scotch whisky. 

Does Scotch Taste Like Butterscotch?

The butterscotch candy has its origin in Scotland. Does that mean Scotch has a flavor similar to that of butterscotch? Let us find out.

The typical Scotch doesn’t taste like butterscotch, although it has a hint of vanilla flavor. It has a smooth, buttery flavor complemented by the oaky taste and smoky flavor as well. The word butterscotch means scorched butter which is used for the production of butterscotch. 

Scotch Vs. Bourbon | Which Tastes Better?

The word whisky originally meant ‘water of life.’ In that line of perspective, there are two famous types of water of life – Scotch Whisky and American Bourbon. We will create a war between the two with a cliched comparison!

Scotch and Bourbon are two types of whiskeys from Scotland and America. While Scotch whisky is made of malted barley, American Bourbon is made of corn mash. Scotch has to be aged for at least three years, while Bourbon has to be aged for at least two years. Both have an alcoholic content of about 40%.

So, what about their taste? Scotch has a profound smoky flavor, while Bourbon has a sweet, mellow flavor. Bourbon is a favorite among alcohol lovers since it has a sweet flavor and a smooth finish. It is also priced lower than Scotch. 

Scotch has a bold, smoky flavor – only a few can take it. Some even mix it with water to enjoy the flavor more. It can also burn a hole right in your wallet. You can go for Scotch for a sharp flavor. Bourbon is flexible with a detectable sweetness. 

Scotch Vs. Vodka | Which Tastes Better?

We are now going to compare Scottish water of life with Russian water. Baffled? Well, vodka comes from the word ‘Voda,’ which means water in Russian. Let us compare if Scotch is better than vodka in taste.

Vodka is a European distilled liquor made using water, wheat, rye, and barley. (No wonder it is called the purest among spirits). It lacks a distinctive taste – a clear vodka tastes subtly like grains. It tastes grainy and silky with a characteristic mouthfeel that varies from brand to brand.

Some cite the taste to be a blend of sweetness and spiciness. If you look at the flavor profile, Scotch tastes better than vodka. But for simplicity and versatility, you must reach out to vodka!

What Does Single Malt Scotch Taste Like?

You know by now what single malt Scotch is. It is a Scotch variety made using malted barley grains at one distillery. It has an ABV of 40-65% and is aged more than five years. Do you know about its taste? Let us find out.

Single malt Scotch has a smooth, oaky flavor with a taste of roasted grains. It is perfectly complemented with the delicious yet subtle notes of caramel, vanilla, fruit, or nut. The smoky flavor is also prominent since it is basically Scotch. 

What Does Peat Taste Like In Scotch?

Let us talk about peat first before we talk about how it gets into Scotch. Peat is decomposed organic plant matter which has been compressed in the ground for many years. Since it burned like coal, it was essentially used as an energy source. Peaty flavor refers to the flavor emitted when it is subjected to combustion.

In the production of Scotch, the peat fire gives the heat necessary for drying and germinating barley grains, simply known as malting grains. That is why Scotch has an infused smoky flavor – the more the peat, the smokier the Scotch will be. Therefore, peat tastes like smoke in Scotch. 

Why Does Scotch Taste Like Soap?

This question might have popped into your mind after sipping in some Scotch, “Did I just forget to rinse my glass?”. It has nothing to do with rinsing; rather, it is a sad event that your Scotch tastes soapy. Here is the reason why you felt so.

Saponification can happen to an unlucky batch of Scotch bottle proofed incorrectly. Saponification occurs when the alcohol-by-volume (ABV) of Scotch is diminished quickly. The production of fatty acids causes your Scotch to taste like soap.

Rightly adding water with time and patience is one way to accurately proof a Scotch bottle and prevent the soapy flavor from coming into action.

What Does Scotch Bonnet Taste Like?

From the world of whiskies to the world of peppers, it is going to be a quick slide, I am afraid. Scotch bonnet is a variety of pepper named so due to its striking resemblance to tam o’ shanter or a “Scotsman’s bonnet.” It is one of the hottest peppers, rated 80,000 to 400,000 units on the Scoville scale.

So, what does Scotch bonnet pepper taste like? Scotch bonnet pepper has a spicy flavor with subtle hints of sweetness. It can be deemed similar to a tomato with hints of apples and cherries.

Factors Affecting The Taste Of Scotch

If you are willing to go extra and look beyond taste, prepare to be enlightened. I will tell you the factors which affect the taste of Scotch. 

• Quality of Water: Clear, and pure water deeply impacts the flavor of Scotch. It can contribute to a good and tasty ‘water of life.’
• Peat: Peat is used to fueling the heat necessary to germinate barley grains. Damp malt is dried for 30 hours before they are used to lend that characteristic smokiness to Scotch.
• Distiller: The size and shape of the distiller affect the smell and taste of Scotch. Right distillation skills are important, and if not, they can hamper the taste of Scotch.
• Oak Barrels: After Scotch is distilled, it is the job of oak barrels to help it age gracefully. Oak barrels are porous, and if the air around them is filled with salt, seaweed, or oak flavor, it can enhance the quality of Scotch.
• Age of Scotch: Scotch has to be aged for a minimum of three years for its signature flavor. Shortage of time for aging can be detrimental to the taste of Scotch.

Different Scotch Brands And Their Different Tastes

If you are all set to experiment with the taste of Scotch, you need to be aware of the various brands which offer Scotch whiskey and their different taste. The following information will be fruitful for you.

• Ardbeg: Ardbeg whiskies are often voted the ‘World Whisky of the Year.” The ten-year-aged single malt Scotch whisky from Ardbeg has a rich smoky flavor with tasty notes of licorice, tobacco, and coffee.
• The Sassenach: The Sassenach Blended Scotch Whisky is a popular whisky from Sam Heughan, the famous actor who stars in Outlander. It has a blend of vanilla and honey flavors complemented by warm spices and nuts taste.
• Johnnie Walker: The whisky from Johnny Walker named Gold Label Reserve is adored by Scotch lovers for its prolonged finish. It has a smooth flavor, a blend of vanilla and dark fruit.
• Oban: Oban presents us with Oban Whisky, which has been aged for over 14 years. It emits a mixed flavor of orange peel, smoke, sea salt, and honey.
• The Macallan: The Macallan offers a 12-year-aged Single Malt Scotch Whisky aged in sherry seasoned oak casks. It has the fragrant notes of fresh ginger apart from dark berries, caramel, black pepper, and rich cocoa.
• Laphroaig: The Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky from Laphroaig is aged for ten years. It has the subtle taste of vanilla with a rich peaty flavor. 
• Arran: Robert Burns Single Malt Scotch Whisky from Arran is made with the water from Loch na Davie. This Scotch has an aromatic flavor of honey, fruits, and toffee-glazed pecans.
• Ballantine’s: Ballantine’s Finest Blended Scotch Whisky was created in 1914. It is a blend of both single malt and single grain whiskies. It has a rich, sweet flavor with notes of caramel and barley.
• Monkey Shoulder: Monkey Shoulder Blended Malt Scotch Whisky is an excellent ingredient for cocktails. This whisky has a rich vanilla flavor, spices warmth, and fruity notes of berry fruit. 
• Glenlivet: Single Malt Scotch Whisky from Glenlivet is matured in European and American oak casks. It has a fruity, floral aroma with mixed honey, peaches, and pears flavors. 

What Is The Best Way To Drink A Scotch?

When relishing alcoholic beverages, knowing the best ways of drinking them is essential. I have collected a few tips for you on the best ways to drink a Scotch.

• Consuming Scotch with a few drops of water can reduce the intensity of alcohol and improve the flavor of Scotch.
• One of the popular ways of drinking Scotch is with ice – just to mellow its complex flavor. If you don’t want that, you will have to use large blocks of ice, which melt slowly.
• Scotch is best enjoyed when consumed at room temperature.
• Drinking Scotch out of tulip glasses strongly arrests the aroma of Scotch. 

How To Buy The Best Scotch From The Market?

There are a few factors that will help you in buying the best Scotch from the market. Shall we find out which are those?

The color of the Scotch tells you a lot about its quality. Most of the Scotch varieties will have a golden and almost roasted color. The region of distillation also tells a lot about the quality of Scotch. Highlands region, Lowlands region, Campbeltown region, and Speyside are some well-known regions with the best Scotch-making distilleries. 

Before buying your Scotch, you should also pay attention to the ABV listed in the Scotch bottle. High ABV doesn’t mean the quality of Scotch is top-notch. The last factor you must look out for a while buying the best Scotch is its age. Scotch whiskeys aged young have a light, vanilla-like flavor, while those aged more than three years have a complex, caramel-like flavor. You can choose the type depending on your preferences.

How To Store Scotch Properly?

If a bottle of Scotch is what you just paid for, you sure should know how to store it. The tips given below will take care of that for you if followed meticulously:

• Scotch bottles should be stored away from sunlight since sunlight affects the bonds in alcohol, causing a change in Scotch’s flavor. A temperature of 15 -20°c (59-68°f) is ideal.
• Scotch bottles should be stored vertically. Storing it otherwise causes the Scotch to react with cork which disintegrates it. This causes Scotch to get oxidized, which will affect its taste. 
• An opened bottle of Scotch can be stored for a year. 

Health Benefits Of Scotch

If Scotch is all about taste, you got it wrong. There are a few health benefits that Scotch offers to us.

• Scotch is a low-calorie alcoholic beverage. It has 80 calories per 35ml and is devoid of sugar, carbohydrates, or salt.
• Scotch is a much better choice of alcoholic beverages for people with diabetes since it doesn’t alter blood glucose levels. 
• Ellagic acid in Scotch, an antioxidant, can lower the risk of dementia, prevent heart attacks, blood clots, strokes, and even fight cancer.
• Consumption of Scotch can help you fight against inflammation. 

Nutritional Content Of Scotch

In 42 g of Scotch, the following nutritional values are observed:

Calories	97
Fat	0 g
Sodium	0.42 mg
Carbohydrates	0 g
Fiber	0 g
Sugars	0 g
Protein	0 g
Alcohol	14 g

Final Word

That was all about the Scottish water of life and its taste. Scotch has a malty, smoky flavor complemented by cherries and berries taste. Various factors can affect the taste of Scotch, and therefore, I have given you the list of best Scotch brands so that you don’t have to worry about taste.

Try out these brands and their taste, and let me know how well they register with your taste preferences. See you soon with another article!

Frequently Asked Questions

How to Make Agua Fresca! Aguas Frescas translates to “cool waters.” These are made from watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew. This Mexican refreshing beverage, is perfect for a hot, summer day.

During the summer when temperatures are scorching, I can’t recommend these Aguas Frescas enough. Agua frescas will forever be one of my favorite things about getting Mexican food in LA. And even though there are ppl on TikTok calling this “spa water,” I’m here to say they are 100% wrong lol.

I shared these recipes in The Year of Cozy but didn’t include the honeydew. Instead, I think there was a recipe for jamaica in there. Man, that book was so long ago. I was thumbing through it the other day and there are SO many things I’d do differently. I think that’s how any creative project goes.

What is Agua Fresca?

Let’s talk about agua frescas. They originate in Mexico and translate literally to be “cool waters.” They have other flavors too like tamarindo, agua de horchata and cucumber. They’ll quench and any thirst and they’re amazing on a super hot day.

What Fruit is Good for Aguas Frescas?

1. Honeydew Melon
2. Canteloupe
3. Watermelon
4. Strawberries
5. Pineapple
6. Cucumber

Another agua fresca that I love is made from the leaves and that’s jamaica/hibiscus flowers.

Equipment You’ll need to Make Agua Fresca?

The equipment is super simple and streamlined. You’ll need:

• A blender. I love my high-powered blender which is a Vitamix (in the past I’ve had a Ninja and loved that, too).
• Strainer or sieve (this will help with removing the pulp from the blended juice)

How to Make Agua Fresca?

1. Whatever fruit you’re using, add it to the blender.
2. Depending on how sweet the fruit naturally is, you may need to add or not add sugar. With watermelon, I hardly ever add sugar.
3. Pulse until it’s all blended up.
4. Pour the mixture through a strainer, allowing it drain. If you like, you can help it go faster with a big spoon.
5. Give the agua fresca a taste and adjust the sugar according to your liking.
6. Transfer it to a pitcher and place it in the fridge for 1 hour. As a result, it’ll be super cold and perfect when poured over ice.

If you make them, be sure to let me know on Instagram! 

Need some Mexican-inspired recipes that will complement these Aguas Frescas?