About 80% of what people call 'flavour' is actually aroma — your nose, not your tongue, does most of the work. The tongue can detect five basic tastes (sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami); your olfactory system can distinguish thousands of distinct aromas. This is why holding your nose while tasting strips a drink of nearly all its character. Aroma is where wine and spirits become interesting. The 3,486 product descriptions mentioning aroma on LivCheers span every category — but aromas are particularly central to wine, single malts, and craft spirits, where producers spend years refining the aromatic complexity that distinguishes their products.

Wine and spirits aromas fall into three categories. Primary aromas come from the raw ingredients — fruit, floral, and herbaceous notes from the grapes, fruit-character from base spirits. Secondary aromas come from production — yeast notes from fermentation, butter or cream notes from malolactic fermentation. Tertiary aromas come from aging — oak vanilla, leather, tobacco, dried fruit, mushroom, and earthy notes that develop over time in barrel and bottle. A young wine or spirit shows mostly primary aromas; an aged one shows all three layers, with tertiary often dominating.