Smelling Is a Technique
Leading with Your Nose
The nose delivers far more information than the tongue, but only if you use it correctly. Whoever smells too fast and too deeply numbs themselves and ends up smelling nothing but alcohol.
Why the Nose Does Most of the Work
The tongue distinguishes only a few basic tastes: sweet, sour, bitter, salty, umami. The subtle differences between vanilla, honey, apple, or smoke are recognized almost exclusively through the nose. This applies both when smelling directly and again through the back of the throat while swallowing. That's why whisky tastes strangely flat when you have a stuffy nose, almost regardless of how powerful it actually is.