The first step in learning to taste consists of understanding exactly what taste is.
Taste is what allows us to know if things work together and how they’ll appeal to the drinker. Taste also warns of really bad things that can either harm the drinker or just spoil an otherwise pleasant evening.
Allow me to take a moment to get a little scientific so we can understand exactly how taste works.
Taste, or gustation, is one of the five senses possessed by humans. It refers to the ability to detect the flavor of substances such as food and drink, certain minerals, and poisons, etc.
Humans receive tastes through sensory organs called taste buds, or gustatory calyculi, concentrated on the upper surface of the tongue.
Depending on your age group, you may have been shown a map of where tastes are detected on the tongue. An article published by a team of biologist from the University of California has debunked this old concept of the tongue taste map. The cells and protein that enables us to taste flavor are found all over the tongue.
The sensation of taste is traditionally broken into four base qualities: sweetness (e.g. sugar), bitterness (e.g. quinine), sourness (e.g. vinegar), and saltiness (e.g. brine).
The Japanese researcher, Kikunae Ikeda, discovered a fifth basic taste called umami. Umami is a taste characteristic of high-protein foods. Most westerners refer to this taste as savory.
Currently, evidence is growing that a sixth taste may exist. Humans can also taste the presence of fat.
Piquance or piquancy, often referred to as hotness, spiciness, or the condition of something being spicy hot, is also considered a basic taste by some.
Dryness is more of a sensation than a taste but it contributes to how something tastes.

Slavish followers of recipes make the mistake of putting more faith in someone else’s instructions than they do in themselves.
Having a wide experience in different flavors with a clear memory of how they taste and both the understanding and experience of how those different flavors mix will allow you to combine almost anything to make a unique drink.

Let me tell you a story of my youth.
When I was a young teen, I was obsessed with learning how everything tasted. I believe this is a side effect of my sensitivity to tastes. I’m what they call a ‘super taster’ I have a higher than average concentration of taste buds which makes me very sensitive to flavors. It limits my enjoyment of hot foods because just a touch of piquance will set me running to a fire hose. When my lovely wife makes chili, she has to severely limit the amount of seasoning in my batch because what she can barely taste hits me like a four alarm fire.
Anyway, I would go through my house taking tastes of anything I could find. I mostly was focused on liquid and semi-liquid items. I would roll the item in question around my tongue and pay attention to the sensations it provided.
Eventually I started combining items to see if one would complement the other or not. You don’t even want to think about some of the mixtures I made. One memorable (mainly for how bizarre it was rather than its quality) mixture contained soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, mayonnaise, and some cherry juice. I know, it sounds disgusting and didn’t have much visual appeal but I learned how savory, salty, fatty and sweet could all combine and balance each other.
I don’t recommend you make that mixture unless you really want an upset stomach but then again, experiments like that taught me more about flavors than any book out there.
Go to your cabinets and liquor shelves, try a taste of everything you think might be interesting or even something that you never considered as a potential for drinking. Just make sure you’re not tasting anything harmful, please.
Take notes.
How did it feel on your tongue? Did the flavor linger? Did the flavor grow as you rolled it around your mouth?
Ever wondered what pickle juice would taste like with a dash of hot sauce? Well, try it.

There are no mistakes in the experimentation stage. Every flavor you categorize inside your mind is another taste memory you can draw upon in the future.

Until next time, may all your drinks be tasty. Cheers.