Sensory wha...?

WSET Wine Sensory Analysis Wheel

Sensory analysis is just what it says it is, an accurate mapping of something done with your senses. These things are often applied to not just wines but beers and spirits as well. I tend to take sensory analysis to a weird point. I once asked a Jets offensive lineman if he wanted a "Big and Brassy" wine or one that was "Soft and Silky." He wanted the soft and silky, for the record. Its not just my terminology that is my own, but the places and ways it hits me, as could be expected since everyone experiences things differently. Just 20 minutes ago, I was drinking a Session lager (previous post So... How Does This Work?) in the shower, before you judge, try drinking a beer in the shower. After almost 2 weeks of trying to figure out this beer, I realized that the main notes in the middle end of this beer are toasted grains, not oatmeal or wheat, but flax and sunflower seed jumped out at me. Professionals say that experience is the best way to learn to analyze drinks and I agree, but I find that memories work best in this. When I smell some things, it takes me back to my childhood, or a specific point in time when I was thinking about something. Every time I smell plaster or drywall, it takes me back to a time I got sick after eating some pizza that my caretaker had brought home, because it tasted like drywall. Let's just say it wasn't a good time. Other times, things make me think of generic things. Most Belgian Saison style ales have started tasting like pineapples and bananas, but other times like in the instance of Kona Brewings Longboard Lager tastes like sunshine and happiness. The senses are weird and wonderfully strange, but i think i might be miserable without them.