Idea Tasting
I'm getting red fruit, pencil shavings and some existentialism on the back palate
Fiona Tribe writes: “We no longer make time to sit and get to know an idea. The first impression is increasingly the only impression.”
If one model of idea exploration is that of combat, then another should be drawn from wine tasting.
It should start with a small (<8) group of people with different intellectual palates but no personal hostility. This is a fun exercise after all. You don’t arm wrestle a cabernet. And it’s no fun if everyone gives the same notes. What could you possibly learn?
There is a small selection (4-6) of ideas for tasting. You don’t want to exhaust your palate. This shouldn’t become a chore. There also a risk of all the ideas getting jumbled. Idea mixology is a noble craft but a separate one from tasting.
We begin by looking at the colour of the idea in the glass. Hold it up to the light. What is the general perception of the idea? What preconceptions do you yourself have?
Swirl your idea around in the glass to release the aroma. Take a big sniff. What does it remind you of? What ideas seem similar to it?
Only then take a sip. What’s it? What are its component parts? How does feel across your different taste receptors (bitter, sweet). What surprises you? What do you notice?
Spit out the idea. You’re just tasting it. You don’t need to make it a part of you yet. And you don’t want to get drunk on powerful ideas. You want to be capable of handling heavy machinery afterwards.
Compare your tasting notes with your companions. What do you agree on? What do you disagree on? When you use a descriptor (e.g. “mineral”, “tannic”, “good”, “powerful”) are you using it the same way? Be generous with your companions. There is no correct answer in a tasting. We acknowledge the variety of palates and preferences.
You may wish to the discuss the provenance of the idea? What is its terrior? What techniques were used in the winery of the intellect to process its raw materials into something drinkable? How has it been handled in distribution and transit? How much do you think it costs?
What might food pairings be? How might this idea pair with your existing practices, actions, and institutions?
After all this, you may decide to buy a bottle of this idea for yourself. Or as a gift for another whose palate it might please better than yours.
I would like see my local wine bar or college running idea tastings. What should be in the first round of tastings?
I love this, the art of becoming a connoisseur of ideas, swilling it around the glass to see if it has legs, like wine some improve with age, but we can become drunk on ideas too, overwhelmed with too many options.