The Popular Liquor That Benefits From A Pinch Of Sea Salt

Seasoned chefs already know one golden rule: Salting is indispensable. There's a reason you season dishes with salt as you're cooking; it enhances flavors and balances the dish to outsized effect. And adding a pinch of this wondrous mineral applies to drinks, too. A saline solution is frequently employed in cocktail-making to add both a new dimension to the palate and minimize bitter flavors in the mix.

Well, there's even a straight liquor that can taste better after a pinch of salt: whiskey. It's an addition that might make some purists uncomfortable, but crushing just a few crystals into a glass can enhance the drink's taste. Salt tones down specifically bitter flavors to reveal sweetness and further complexity. The interaction occurs due to salts effect on our taste buds and sodium's ability to make bitter notes taste less prominent. The mineral also amplifies salivation, thereby giving whiskey a pleasantly oily mouthfeel. All the while, whiskey's aroma remains unchanged.

The more minerals in the salt, the more intricate the potential flavors — hence why sea salt is great for the task. Its flavor works well with the spirit's palate. Especially effective with peated whiskey — which comes extra bitter — just a touch of a high quality sea salt tones down its bracing flavor, letting the more nuanced notes shine. 

Not every whiskey bottle interacts with salting in the same way. Just like how a shot of tequila and salt go hand in hand, this seasoning best accompanies bold and punchy spirits. For instance, weigh the typically smoother, sweeter notes of Irish whiskey opposed to Scotch. The former's flavors tend to be naturally smoother to sip, so adding salt could skew the balance. Meanwhile, a bold Scotch from a region like Islay is typically packed with smoky and peat-derived bitterness. It's in such a case where a pinch of salt most prominently opens up the liquor's palate. And keep in mind ethanol — the colorless liquid present in all alcoholic beverages — tastes naturally bitter, so salting also benefits boozy whiskeys with high ABVs.

It's a good idea to look at the combination with an experimental eye as the effects can be surprising. A balanced whiskey, say like a sweet yet boozy bourbon, might reveal new notes after adding salt. And a bold oak-aged rye could open a new side of its palate with the seasoning. You'll only need to add a minuscule pinch to a single glass; and if you don't like it, the commitment is small.