Tastings

This past weekend John and I had a getaway in Asheville. It was so great to have a night away, just the two of us. Randomly throughout the trip John and I would look at each other and confirm how much fun we were having sans children. Not that we don't love our children, but traveling without children is SO MUCH more convenient than traveling with children. We had no schedule. We could do whatever we pleased, whenever we pleased. We spent the day exploring downtown, stayed out late listening to live music, and we tried whatever new things we stumbled upon. One of the new things we tried was an olive oil tasting. I am a sucker for tastings and I love extra virgin olive oil. I eat it in some form or another everyday. The olive oil store we happened to find had at least a few dozen vats of oil. Some vats were pure extra virgin olive oil from different regions of the world. Other vats had olive oil infused with different flavors, like blood orange and berries. 

John and I were told to treat the oil tasting like a coffee tasting and to quickly slurp the oil to get the full effect of the flavor. This was serious business. When I asked about the possibility of tasting the various oils on bread, the olive oil purest explained to me that tasting the oil with anything else was "not how it is done." It crossed my mind that drinking straight oil may not be the best experience, but there was a woman across the room who seemed to be having a life-changing experience with the oil, so I went for it. 

I would like to say that I became of connoisseur of olive oil. I would love to share knowledge about the body and fullness of various kinds of olive oil. But my experience in the world of oil tasting was short-lived. I tasted the first oil in the line and as the oil rolled down my throat I could think about nothing other than the fact that I was afraid I was going to throw up all over the store. I had to quit the tasting tour after the first oil. Just thinking about it at this point makes my stomach churn. 

The experience does make me want to go on as many random tasting experiences as possible, even if I do get queasy. 

Have you ever done an oil tasting? How did it go?