Part of the Ice and Dilution school. Class 1 of 6.
The capability: you can taste where hot becomes integrated and where integrated becomes hollow.
Prerequisites: Modules 9, 10.
The practice
Build the same spirit-forward drink at four durations — short, house count, fifty percent over, and double.
Taste all four in order. Then in reverse.
Then do it again on a different day with a different spirit.
And then a third time with a higher-proof expression, per Module 10 — because higher proof needs more dilution to reach the same balance and that is arithmetic rather than technique.
Twelve builds across three sessions.
The reference
The four samples together. This class's reference is internal to the flight — you are not comparing to an external standard, you are locating two boundaries on a continuum.
What you are building
The two boundaries.
Under-diluted reads hot, thin, and short — the alcohol arrives as a separate sensation sitting on top rather than as warmth within a whole.
Over-diluted reads hollow — the balance intact and less of everything, with a short finish.
And the range between them is narrower than most bartenders expect, which is why the ladder is the only way to find it.
Verification and boundary
Blind: three samples, one correct, and identify it.
Boundary: TABC is the controlling authority for alcohol service.