WSETII Chapter 1

Question 1

What is the best type of glass to taste with?

Answer 1

ISO glass with .5oz of liquid

Question 2

What is the systematic approach to tasting?

Answer 2

Appearance, Nose, Palate

Question 3

Appearance is

Answer 3

Clarity, Intensity, Color

Question 4

When can a quality spirit be hazy?

Answer 4

When they are not filtered and are chilled or have added water

Question 5

What happens to aniseed spirits when water is added?

Answer 5

Louching

Question 6

What is louching?

Answer 6

when a spirit turns opaque and cloudy when water is added

Question 7

Where would louching be noted?

Answer 7

Under other observations

Question 8

All spirits when they come off the still are

Answer 8

colorless

Question 9

Any color that a spirit has is added

Answer 9

after distillation

Question 10

What is intensity?

Answer 10

How easy it is to see through a spirit

Question 11

What is the five point scale of intensity?

Answer 11

water-white
opaque
medium
pale 
deep

Question 12

Water-white should be used to describe spirits that are

Answer 12

colorless such as vodka

Question 13

Opaque should be used to describe spirits

Answer 13

that cannot be seen through at all such as creams

Question 14

The majority of spirits described as pale medium or deep got their color from

Answer 14

oak or caramel

Question 15

When can spirits matured in oak have some or all of their color removed?

Answer 15

Because of charcoal filtration

Question 16

The majority of spirits aged in oak have what intensity

Answer 16

medium

Question 17

If the producer does NOT use caramel and their spirit is either matured in oak for a short amount of time or in used barrels the color is likely to be

Answer 17

pale

Question 18

Spirits aged a long time, matured in new oak, or had a lot of caramel added would be described as

Answer 18

deep

Question 19

Why should you not swirl the glass when smelling spirits?

Answer 19

Enough alcohol will evaporate causing your nose to go numb to smell

Question 20

How do you determine if a spirit is clean or unclean?

Answer 20

Are there any faulty aromas?

Question 21

If the spirit smells overlty of solvent, then

Answer 21

the distiller has included too many volatile aromas that should have been in the heads

Question 22

If the spirit smells overly of plastic, cheese or sweat then

Answer 22

the distiller has included too many aromas that should have been in the tails

Question 23

Musty, damp-cardboard aromas indicate

Answer 23

cork taint

Question 24

The most commonly encountered fault is a spirit

Answer 24

becoming out of condition as a result of a bottle being opened too long

Question 25

Intensity should be described as

Answer 25

light medium or pronounced

Question 26

What is the exception to intensity

Answer 26

vodka-which is described as neutral

Question 27

The table of suggested aroma/flavor words is called

Answer 27

the spirit lexicon

Question 28

What are the three groups of the spirit lexicon

Answer 28

raw materials processing oak and maturation

Question 29

What are processing aromas?

Answer 29

aromas created during during the steps required to make the alcohol such as smoke

Question 30

What are oak and maturation aromas?

Answer 30

they are linked to the oak and influence of oxygen during oak maturation

Question 31

Once you have assessed the spirit, it is suggested to

Answer 31

dilute it with water and start the process again

Question 32

When adding water to reassess the nose it is recommended to

Answer 32

add the same amount of water as the liquid being assessed

Question 33

The two important tastes that come from your tongue are

Answer 33

sweet and bitter

Question 34

All newly distilled spirits have no

Answer 34

sugar when they come off the still

Question 35

Ethanol has what kind of taste

Answer 35

sweet

Question 36

You would use the term dry

Answer 36

when your trying to assess whether sugar has been added after distillation

Question 37

When would you use the term off-dry

Answer 37

when there is a small amount of sugar added after distillation

Question 38

A good way to determine if sugar is added after distillation is by

Answer 38

texture

Question 39

An off-dry spirit will have what kind of texture?

Answer 39

hint of syrup

Question 40

A spirit that is sweet but where sweetness is not the defining characteristic is

Answer 40

medium

Question 41

The term sweet is used to describe

Answer 41

liqueurs or other flavored spirits

Question 42

Texture refers to

Answer 42

how the spirit feels in the mouth

Question 43

The first step to determining flavor and finish is

Answer 43

how does it taste when in your mouth

Question 44

What is the second step to determining flavor and finish?

Answer 44

How long does the flavor last once you spit it out and whether they are simple or complex

Question 45

When assessing the length of the finish you should only focus on the

Answer 45

positive flavors

Question 46

What is a simple finish

Answer 46

finishes with a single flavor

Question 47

What is a complex finish?

Answer 47

when the finish has many flavors

Question 48

What is the exception to finish

Answer 48

neutral-vodka

Question 49

What is the best way to assess finish

Answer 49

draw air over your tongue once you spit the spirit out

Question 50

When judging a spirits quality you should use what criteria

Answer 50

Balance Finish Expressiveness Purity

Question 51

What can be defined as good balance

Answer 51

all of the flavors working together and not overpowering one another

Question 52

In terms of finish, what does a quality spirit have?

Answer 52

complex flavors that linger and evolve for several seconds

Question 53

What are you looking for in terms of expressiveness

Answer 53

precision and clarity in the flavors and textures

Question 54

When will you look for purity

Answer 54

in vodkas

Question 55

What are the levels of assessment

Answer 55

good acceptable poor very good outstanding