Pear Drops...

[RufusA]

Occasionally I try a whisky and it has the unmistakeable aroma and taste of pear drops. I've come across it at a Glenfiddich stand before, and at a SMWS tasting (but have since lost the tasting notes).

I'm not talking about the sweet caramel taste and nose of fresh just ripe apples or pears with a slight grassy greeness to it. But the heady artificial taste of sickly cheap pear drops. I suspect I have an over sensitive palate to this taste (eating a whole packet as a child on a warm sunny day on a long car journey and being very sick as a result).

What causes this flavour in whisky, and which whiskies should I avoid if I don't want to encounter it?

Rufus

[irishwhiskeychaser]

Tyrconnell is one that I think has maybe something like that also or pineapple but I would not say it was sickly sweet. I'm not a fan of overly sweet whiskies myself so I'm doing Tyrconnell an injustice by mentioning it here. In fact a lot of Cooley's whiskey seems to have it and I'd go as far as to say that it is a distillery charachter.

[Matt2]

Hi Rufus,

I usually refer to it as Acetone now rather than pear drops, but know exactly what you mean. Used to work in a place that used lots of acetone and it always smelled like pear drops.

Here is what Wiki says about it ..... (but maybe don't take that too seriously)

The chemical compound acetone (also known as propanone, dimethyl ketone, 2-propanone, propan-2-one and β-ketopropane) is the simplest representative of the ketones. Acetone is a colourless, mobile, inflammable liquid with melting point of −95.4 °C and boiling point of 56.53 °C. It has a relative density of 0.819 (at 0 °C). It is readily soluble in water, ethanol, ether, etc., and itself serves as an important solvent.

I seem to remember reading about Ketones in whisky production. Sometimes I am more sensitive to it and pick it up in Bushmills 16, Glenfiddich, and a few speysiders - other times I can't pick it up at all....

I shall leave it to the chemical experts to explain further .....

Edit : Isopentyl acetate - flavouring used in Pear Drops

And this could be a fun experiment....
http://faculty.mansfield.edu/bganong/bi ... esters.htm

[Lawrence]

Generally fruity notes in whisky are associated with esters which are formed during fermentation and maturation when acids from the casks react with alcohols in the whisky to produce even more and different esters. The resulting flavours can be bananas, oranges, pineapples apricots, pears etc.

[peergynt323]

If my palate is tired, I get a nasty taste of sugar-free lollipops from my Sig Caol Ila and my Compass Box Peat Monster. Maybe we're referring to the same thing.

[Scotchio]

I've come accross this note a few times,quite often in bowmore 12 and 15, amongst others. I always liked pear drops so it's something I'm happy to find.