I’m not a scientist, but I think it’s safe to say that you can detect the signs of old-age.
There are three: the smell, the appearance, and the feeling.
If you’re at a bar, or if you’re in the middle of a party, and you can’t quite smell what’s happening, you know it’s time to head home.
But if you don’t feel it?
There’s a good chance that the company you’ve been buying drinks for is no longer around to drink.
In fact, you can get a sense of the old-aged smell by smelling their packaging.
I recently wrote about the importance of knowing how old a company is, so I thought I’d share a few ways to detect whether your favorite companies are old or dying.
1.
The smell The smell is what we’ve all come to expect from the older you get.
Companies that were founded before 1900 have traditionally been darker than their modern counterparts.
For example, Coca-Cola’s packaging for the early 1900s was dark red.
Its current version is dark green, which it used to be.
This has a distinct, slightly sour taste to it, and is a common indication that a company has passed away.
If it’s a green bottle, you probably have some old Coke on hand.
2.
The appearance of the company The logo is usually the first thing you notice about a company.
It might look like a bottle of Coke, or maybe a large logo like that of an airline.
The company’s name, the company’s brand, or even its logo are usually visible on the bottle.
3.
The feeling of the product The smell alone isn’t enough to tell you whether a company’s product is old or old-fashioned, so it’s more important to see how the bottle feels.
Companies can often be found in old-style bottles, which usually have some sort of handle on the end.
If they’re old, the handle is usually bent in an unnatural way, and it’s hard to feel what’s going on inside.
If the bottle’s a plastic bottle, it’s often brittle.
The handle often bends around itself or breaks away from the bottle, and if the bottle is old-fashion, the bottles are usually brittle and brittle-looking.
4.
The feel of the bottle The smell doesn’t tell the whole story.
A company’s logo can also make the difference.
Some brands of beer and wine are always brown, and others are white, or they’re always white.
This doesn’t mean the beer or wine is bad, but it’s definitely noticeable.
In my experience, the smell is the most important indicator of whether a brand is old, old-looking, or old.
If the bottle smells like a candy cane, that’s a sign that it’s old-ish.
It’s likely the company isn’t producing the same brand of beer or the same type of wine.
5.
The taste The smell may not be indicative of a brand’s taste, but a good bottle will tell you a lot about its taste.
If a company doesn’t have a distinctive flavor, you’ll likely notice a lot of the same ingredients in its product.
If, for example, a company sells its products in plastic bottles, you won’t usually find that the plastic bottles are actually glass, as the glass used in many plastic bottles is typically made from plastic.
6.
The last thing you’ll notice When you’re drinking from a brand new bottle, its smell may have a subtle scent.
It may be a hint of cinnamon, vanilla, or something else.
That may be because the company didn’t have the luxury of adding a new smell to the bottle before it went out of business.
The aroma might be reminiscent of old candy, which would be bad for the brand.
Even if a brand doesn’t smell like candy, its packaging might have a slight, almost artificial taste.
Companies may have their own trademark for a particular taste, which can be difficult to find.
But the brand’s packaging might still be made from cardboard, plastic, or some other plastic.
It won’t be obvious that the packaging is made from the same stuff.