A Quick Guide to Sensory Drinking at Home

To celebrate the publication of Condiment Junkie’s latest research study “Assessing the influence of the multisensory environment on the whisky drinking experience”, we decided to write a quick guide to creating your own Sensorium experience, and offer up some tips for sensory eating & drinking at home.

Both the study and the Sensorium event showed how the sounds, smells, colours, shapes and materials around us dramatically change our sense of taste. We rarely recognise how much of an affect our surroundings have on what we’re eating or drinking. But with a few simple adjustments to a room, and by utilising some household ingredients, you can transform your taste experiences.

Bringing out the sweetness in a drink

1. Select a rounded glass 

There is an intrinsic association between curved shapes and sweetness. Make sure the texture of the glass is smooth too.

2. Put on your red light 

Through our research we’ve shown that there is an innate association between certain colours and certain tastes. As well as making your lounge look like a brothel, and being able to develop photos, bathing a room in red light will enhance sweetness in anything you taste.

3. Play music that features high pitched bells or piano

Our previous research study with The Fat Duck and Oxford showed that high percussive instruments enhance sweetness. If you want to try the specially designed soundscape we created for the Sensorium, you can play it here...

Bringing out the Woody notes in a Whisky

1. Dim the lights

Create a mellow atmosphere to put you in the right mood to experience those deep mellow flavours all the more.

2a. Light the fire (if you have one - otherwise go to 2b)

The perfect way to enhance those woody, smokey notes. The sight and smell of a crackling fire is so emotive and will conjure up all those memories of warm oak beamed pubs. 

2b. Play a woody soundscape 

The sound of a crackling fire is so emotive, that in the absence a real one, playing a recording of one will still bring back those sensory memories and influence how you taste. Try the extra powerful woody soundscape we created for the Sensorium here...

3. Touch wood

Before you imbibe, place yourself in contact with some wood. Preferably something coarse and aged, with a few knots. Sit at an old table or in a nice old rocking chair. Failing either of these, bring in a log to use as a drinks stand, and stroke while sipping your single malt.

Some other Sensory tips & tricks

No matter what you’re tasting, the environment will make a difference to your enjoyment.

1. Match music with cuisines

When cooking something from a specific country (i.e. indian or french food) listen to music that is culturally relevant. Listen to old Bollywood soundtracks with your curry, or some Serge Gainsbourg with your Boeuf Bourguignon. Studies have shown your enjoyment of the cuisine will be greatly improved.

2. Drink to the appropriate soundtrack

Always listen to music that matches your drink in mood and emotion. For instance, if you’re drinking a heavy Malbec, listen to music that is robust and dramatic. The classic choice is Carmina Burana by Orff. If you’re drinking something fresh and zingy like a Lynchburg lemonade, listen to music that is bright and upbeat like Blondie.

3. Play with colour

A fun experiment to play on guests is to dye food and drinks different colours and taste the effects. Buy some flavourless food dye and see what you can create. Wine experts have been royally duped into thinking white wine was red wine, simply by dying the liquid. The brighter something is coloured, the stronger and sweeter it appears to taste. Alfred Hitchcock was fond of hosting monochromatic dinner parties. He once dyed everything in the room and on the plate blue. Serving blue steaks to his guests apparently had them running for the toilet.

The Singleton Sensorium

The Singleton Sensorium from Condiment Junkie on Vimeo.

Whisky brand The Singleton challenged Condiment Junkie to devise a sensory event that would help bring to life the Brand’s vision as being ‘The Best Tasting Whisky in the World’, sitting in the realm of wine and food, where taste and sensuality is king. They wanted to bring the experience of drinking Whisky into the 21st century, be progressive and appeal to a wider, younger audience - as well as generate huge amounts of talkability and PR.

We created 'The Singleton Sensorium', a pop up event that blends science and sensuality. 

The Sensorium is a concept for the bar of the future - how the 12 year old single malt will be drunk when the current batch is ready in 2025. 

Using cross-modal research, we designed three immersive ‘sensory worlds’, where sound, scent, colour, decor and textures combine to highlight different flavours of the whisky. As guests walk from one room to the other, drink in hand, the sensory environment highlights the complex notes in the drink, amplifying different flavours and showing how much the environment can change your experience. 

The first room was designed to dial up the flavours of cut grass, apples and pears on the nose.

The Grassy room

The sounds of birds chirping and the occasional lawnmower, as well as certain frequencies associated with green pushed up in the audio, were combined with cross modal scents, real grass on the floor, deck chairs, picnic baskets and a slightly humid atmosphere, all bathed in green light.

The second room was designed to elevate the Sweet and fruity taste.

The Sweet room

 Based on our research, there were no sharp edges in the room - everything was curved and bulbous. Red light combined with high tinkling bells and an aldehyde scent that heightens perception of higher sonic frequencies - which in turn would enhance sweet perception.

The final room was made to bring out the woody finish.

The Woody room

Throughout the night guests remarked how this was 'the Whisky room' - the most congruent with their expectations of Whisky. With a real tree, lanterns, old floorboards and a fireplace - the room was designed like a surreal, dreamlike wood cabin. The sound of creaking, crackling and a drawn out double bass combined with scent of cedar and vetiver.

As guests travelled around the event, they were asked to note down how the sounds, scents and visuals enhanced the flavours in the whisky. Results have contributed to the first ever scientific study into the effects of multi-sensory environments on taste, conducted by our head of sensory research, Prof. Charles Spence.

Over 440 guests attended the event. Preliminary results show a 20% increase in taste perception across the board - in the grassy room the drink tasted 20% more grassy, 20% more sweet in the sweet room, and 20% more woody in the wood room. We successfully proved our hypothesis and for the first time ever have shown that sensory architecture enhances perception.

The event generated massive media coverage which is still continuing - there will be more to come when the scientific paper 'Tasting notes: Assessing the effect of the multi-sensory atmosphere and ambience on people's perception of whisky' is published sometime in September 2013.

Three Discoveries to start the Year

In an effort to begin the year by stimulating your creative brains, here are three amazing discoveries Condiment Junkie made in the last month of 2012. Discoveries that have furthered our ability to communicate information and enhance perception with sound and scent.

First, we proved that we can all tell the difference between Hot and Cold liquid, just by listening. It sounds unbelievable but if you try it you’ll instantly understand. Give it a go here

Second, we found that adding sound to a digital experience, in this case trying on virtual clothes, significantly increased the amount of time customers spend interacting with the experience. Over 30% longer in fact.

Even more significant and compelling, is that when asked how much they would pay for the clothing, participants in the ‘with sound’ group indicated they would pay more than those in the ‘without sound’ group.

And Third. In collaboration with one of the world’s leading perfumers, Roja Dove, we tested if sound can be used to highlight different notes in a perfume. Our findings showed that by playing different soundscapes we can dramatically alter how people perceive scents, and bring out different elements such as sweetness, floral notes, powder and dryness.

The applications of these findings are myriad, and have impact across all brand communication channels. We can make an advert or a room seem hotter or colder. We can dramatically enhance the experience of buying and marketing perfume, and can communicate texture, increase product perception and create more engaging digital experiences.

As we discover more and more cross modal links, and define the most powerful combinations, a compelling case begins to develop. Brands need to begin thinking about sonic and sensory strategies at the highest level. And this is the year to do it.

Happy new year one and all.

Sonic Cocktail Masterclass

On Sat 20th Oct Condiment Junkie hosted a sonic cocktail masterclass at world renowned watering hole 69 Colebrook Row. The focus was on exploring sound as an important element in taste experiences - one that should be as thought through as the glass the drink is served in.

We began by testing our guests' ability to decipher information purely by hearing. A preview of Condiment Junkie & Oxford Uni's current research into hot and cold sounds showed promising results, proving that pretty much everyone can tell the difference between two temperatures of liquid being poured.

Charles Spence conducted the event, introducing the science behind our work, and collecting some new research data through questionnaires.

Four cocktails were served from the bar - a Champagne Rose Garden, Woodland Martini, Red Wine reduction, and a Barbershop fizz. Each drink was accompanied by cross-modally designed soundscapes, either played through a surround sound system we installed, or delivered through three-channel wireless headphones, courtesy of Silent Disco.

The Rose Garden was paired with, unsurprisingly, the sound of a rose garden. The cocktail contains a perfume infused sugar cube that efervesces and dissolves as you drink. The soundscape increased in intensity as the guests imbibed. Within the soundscape a crescendo of wind chimes cross modally intensified the taste of the drink.

The Woodland Martini, designed to re-create a walk through autumnal woods, was the first cocktail to feature the wireless headphones. Guests could choose between three soundscapes and experience the difference in taste perception - a bitter sound and a sweet sound, and a close recording of crunching through wet, rotten leaves and bark. The sound recording of leaves had an incredibly strong effect, bringing out the damp, woody notes in the drink.

The Red Wine reduction was a question of colour. What colour does the drink taste of? Guests we're handed the glass and asked to sip without looking at the colour. They were then asked to identify its colour-taste. Four soundscapes were then played that evoke bold colours - a roaring fire, a jungle, ocean waves and an arctic wind. We were trying to identify how much the sound could sway colour and taste perception.

The final cocktail - the barbershop fizz - was accompanied by a 'sonic haircut' - a recording made while visiting Murdoch barbers in Shoreditch, using in-ear binaural microphones. The stereo imaging is amazing. Listening through headphones you can actually feel the clippers buzzing, and sense the barber as he moves around you.

Put your headphones on and have a listen to the recording here Barbershop

Colour and sound

A fantastic episode of Horizon on how we perceive colour has peaked my interest because of the parallels with sound, and the connotations for multi-sensorial design.

It has been discovered that our perception of colour is tied in with our ecological evolution - that we have learnt to group certain colours together because of how they appear in nature - muted shades of blue, brown and yellows get grouped together because they appear together by the sea. Certain greens and yellows are always seen together in the countryside and so are pleasing to us when combined. These groupings are more or less universal and predictable.

This is also true with grouping colour with sound - we would immediately pair the colour blue with the sound of the sea, and green with a countryside soundscape, birds chirping and wind through trees. To swap the two would be incongruent and feel wrong. Through our ecological evolution we will always associate certain colours with certain sounds due to the environments in which they are found. Our sonic vocabulary is intrinsically linked with our memory and experience, and therefore with our understanding of colour and language.

With these naturally occurring colours our perception of them will always be similar - the yellow of a banana to me will be pretty much the same as with you. But - colours that don’t have this ecological link - lighting in a room, or a wall colour - can be perceived wildly differently from person to person, depending on their mood and emotion. Our state of mind fundamentally affects our colour perception.

If we consider then that sound and music have the strongest effect on our emotions - it is true to say that sound can dramatically change our perception of colour more than any other stimulus.

Another fascinating ecological association was found in a lighting designer’s use of blue lighting in a restaurant. Usually reds or oranges are used as they are supposed to increase appetite, but also because they are generally seen as warm (whereas blue is cold). The blue light has an effect on how we see that does in fact feel warm, making everything more ‘beautiful’ and calm. But the unexpected effect was that the customers, at around 10 o’clock, began to become more lively, drinking more and becoming more chatty. This appears to be because of the colour too - we are evolutionarily hard wired to respond to our body clocks, which in turn reacts to changes in colour. The shade of evening blue causes us to become lively and sociable.

This is interesting - what sounds can there be that can make people feel warm and relaxed and sociable, other than the standard pulse of nondescript dance music? Is there a natural soundscape of dusk that can effect our body clock and have a livening effect on us? the opposite of a cockerel crowing - if there is a colour association, there should be a sonic one. It is worth investigating.

There’s only a week left to watch the program - it’s recommended viewing so get in there quick - http://bbc.in/nfg2iV

Wine List

If you’re having a dinner party this weekend, one of the choices you may be pondering over is what is the perfect music for the occasion? Another perhaps is what wine will you serve? Well fear not as Condiment Junkie have the solution to both your problems.

Did you know it is possible to design a playlist that not only entertains your guests but can actually enhance and compliment the wine you are drinking?

Music and sound can alter our perception of how things taste. This takes into account several factors - that our emotional state affects our perception, that music conjures up strong memories, and those memories can change our mood and also evoke other senses such as smell; and the fact that we have hard wired sensory links in our brains which certain sounds can trigger.

Studies have shown playing music with specific moods or associative qualities such as being smooth, sophisticated, upbeat or light etc, can influence perception of wine in exactly the same way. For instance, a red wine was judged to be 60% more ‘powerful and heavy’ when similar music (in this case Orff’s ‘Carmina Burana’) was playing in the background, as opposed to the same wine being judged ‘subtle and refined’ when listening to ‘Waltz of the Flowers’ by Tchaikovsky.

Hard wired ‘cross-modal’ sensory associations are proved to exist within all of our brains. Basically - our senses are linked, and stimulating one can alter our perception of another. Colours appear brighter when accompanied with a higher pitched tone, darker when a lower tone is played. All basic tastes - bitter, sweet, sour, salty, umami - have over many studies been shown to be linked with certain audio characteristics, from types of musical instruments, pitch, timbre and tempo

These discoveries provide us with all sorts of information that can influence everything from in-store music for food and drink retailers, background music in restaurants, advertising tracks or music at experiential events, and for designing a correct sound palette for a brand’s sonic identity.

But for now, Condiment Junkie have designed a short Spotify playlist for your listening and drinking pleasure. Below is a list of the tracks and their suggested wine pairings. We’ve given you two tracks for each wine. Be aware not to drink the wrong wine with the wrong piece of music! There’s nothing worse than accidentally making your Cabernet Sauvignon taste all citrusy. Enjoy.

http://open.spotify.com/user/russelljones/playlist/2HSz2yCCpVudLgRy8JC8tk Wine list

Track 1 - Nouvelle Vague - Just can’t get enough

Wine - Chablis or Chardonnay

Wines with zingy and refreshing qualities such as a citrusy Chablis have been proven to taste 40% more zingy and refreshing while listening to this track.

Track 2 - Blondie - Atomic

Wine - Chablis or Chardonnay

Again, the upbeat tempo will highten the zingy flavours and the higher pitched register of the track fits with the lighter wines.

Track 3 - The Jones Girls - Nights over Egypt

Wine - Cabernet Sauvignon

The smooth vibe will bring out the smoothness in the wine, while the mid-tempo will keep it lively

Track 4 - The Doors - People are Strange - Cabernet Sauvignon

Wine - Cabernet Sauvignon

clark Smith, a california winemaker and wine consultant, found after a number of tasting panels that participants described a Cabernet Sauvignon as ‘more deliscious’ when accompanied by this Doors classic.

Track 5 - Kettly Lester - Love Lessons

Wine - Merlot

This track has all the sophistication and depth you need for a good merlot.

Track 6 - Antony & the Johnsons - Another World

Wine - Merlot

The bassy frequencies are proven to be hard wired to bitter flavours, and will work well with the tannins in the wine, while Antony Hegarty’s angelic voice will bring out the smoothness, depth and sophistication.

Track 7 - Dusty Springfield - Who gets your love

Wine - Sauternes

The staccato rhythm of the keys, and the use of keyboards themselves are attributed with sweet flavours, particularly orange. Dusty’s high register will also work well with the syrupy sweetness.

Track 8 - Roxy Music - Dance Away

Wine - Sauternes

Again, the staccato rhythm and sweet vocals will work well with a good desert wine. Maybe have a nice panna cotta with this one.

Experimental food Society

Condiment Junkie are very proud to announce that we are now members of the fantastic Experimental Food Society.

The roster of members includes jelly mongers Bombass & Parr, cake sculptor Lily Vanilli, sugarcraft artists, mobile chocolate adventurers and one-of-a-kind dining conceptualists to name a few. Each unique in their field members are joined by their love of food and their desire to push it to new levels, often fusing it with other forms such as science and art.

The Experimental Food Society will host both an annual Spectacular and a series of talks throughout the year. Leave behind your preconceptions of food and allow the Experimental Food Society members to delight your senses and inspire you with their extraordinary talents, showing you the culinary industry as you have never seen it before.

Experimental Food Society

Action & Alert study

We teamed up with architectural firm Nightingale Associates on a research project to define the sensory design factors that contribute to optimal learning environments, looking at the key issues of transitions (after lunch, between moments of activity and concentration), communication and self-esteem.

We created a 5:1 soundscape that took on several key pieces of psychoacoustic research on the effects of music and sound in learning environments. 

It was designed to blend in to the background and not grab the pupil’s attention. To achieve this there is no repeating rhythm and no catchy melody. Natural sound effects such as recordings of rain, woods etc. were included in the soundscape, as they contain white noise which helps to minimise distraction from the world outside the classroom. There is also an argument for these types of sounds having a positive effect on our mental state, through an evolutionary link we have with the natural world.

The intervention has been running at All Saints primary school in Anfield, Liverpool.

Results should be in soon....

Fat Duck seascape

Condiment Junkie are fascinated by how sound can enhance other senses, and how we can take people to different times and places so powerfully when we combine sound design with other sensorial stimulus.

For this project, Heston Blumenthal created a dish that encapsulates the seaside, and wanted a sonic seascape to accompany the dish that would immerse the customer in seaside memories. The idea is that the seascape will enhance the fish's flavour.

Condiment Junkie designed the perfect sonic backdrop for Heston's dish by creating depth in the soundscape. Children playing, a distant foghorn, seagulls flying overhead and circling the listener. All come together to draw a powerful sonic picture that the customer, eating the dish, is taken into.

A similar seascape is here for you to drift away and spend a few minutes lapping up the seaside vibe. If you want to go the whole way - get some sushi in too and taste the sea.

Seascape by Condiment Junkie

Introduction - Sound and the senses

Throughout this blog we will investigate the links between sound and the other senses. How multi-sensorial experiences become amplified, and tap into our memories and emotions far more than single stimulus ones (or whether single sense experiences actually exist!). How we can learn from the condition Synesthesia and the way in which those with synesthesia (myself included) experience the world. And how this knowledge can help us create more engaging experiences, more memorable branding and marketing content, and convey information efficiently and effectively.

At Condiment Junkie, Scott King and myself have taken our ideas on this subject into the worlds of branding, experiential events, architecture and design, HMI and interactive systems, healthcare and education, food, and the art of restauranting.

We believe that with well designed sonic environments, in collaboration with other sensorial stimulus, we can create incredibly immersive and memorable experiences, where participants take away powerful emotional, sensorial memories.

This understanding of multi-sensorial stimulus and sensorial memories signifies a change in how we can communicate with consumers, express brand identities, and create amazing, memorable experiences.