Some food and drinks taste different when you’re on an airplane — so British Airways has created a gin to be enjoyed 10,000 metres up in the sky.
It’s a world first. Edinburgh-based gin distillers, Pickering’s, have created a 10-botanical blend that will be available on all short-haul flights (less than four hours).
Low air pressure and lack of humidity suppress our taste receptors and alter our sense of smell when we’re flying, according to Professor Charles Spence, one of the world’s leading flavour scientists.
“Our perception of sweet and salt are somewhat muted, whereas our ability to identify spices and bitter flavours are seemingly left unchanged,” he told Lonely Planet.
“Surprisingly, our ears play a part in how we perceive taste too. Background noise such as the hum of the engines can render many people unable to detect salty or sugary flavours effectively.”
Developing a gin on the ground and then trialling it in the sky at different altitudes was a fascinating process, according to Pickering’s head distiller and co-founder, Matt Gammell.
“To banish so-called airplane ‘taste blindness’, we have carefully designed a botanical flavour profile that enhances what you lack when you’re soaring in the sky.”
