Our crusade
At The Sensory Advantage, we believe that flavour knowledge has the power to unlock new dimensions of taste and experience. It enables consumers to connect with products on an authentic, deeper, more meaningful level, and empowers employees to be more fulfilled and skilled.
After 30 years in the wine and spirits industry, we've developed an unrelenting passion for helping others understand their senses, but a significant knowledge gap still exists at the consumer level within the industry. And if we can't explain flavour to one another, how can we expect consumers to appreciate it?
That’s why we created The Sensory Advantage, to bridge this gap and elevate the standard of sensory understanding in the drinks and food industries. We equip ambassadors and consumer facing teams with the tools to excel and give businesses the competitive advantage in a marketplace where genuine customer experiences and personalisation reign supreme. It’s more than just our mission, it’s our passion, our commitment, and our crusade to revolutionise the way flavour is understood and appreciated.
Our journey
Chief flavour interrogator at The Sensory Advantage, Kami Newton has been paddling the whisky and wine lakes of the drinks industry for 30 years. The journey has taken him through Oddbins, founding a 200 member whisky society, and over a decade of ambassador work representing the likes of The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, Glenmorangie, Pernod Ricard, and Diageo.
However, it has always been the fascination with the psychology of flavour that has been the cognitive cog that drives this passion. As a sensory panel lead for over 10 years, Kami’s sensory experience is grounded in the frontline of spirit cask assessments. Analysing tens of thousands of casks including whisky casks, rum casks, brandy casks, and even gin casks has brought invaluable exposure to everything from the divine and sublime, to the disputable and undrinkable.
This close relationship with both the industrial analytics of the spirits industry and the sensory experiences of consumers brings a unique perspective that joins the dots between the two. It’s through such insights that the gap in drinks industry sensory education became apparent, and the impact this has on the industry as a whole.
Along with practical experience, Kami brings knowledge from his WSET Level 3 qualifications and training at esteemed centres such as Plumpton College and The Scotch Whisky Research Institute. He is a regular contributor to Unfiltered Magazine and Stramash Magazine, where he shares his insights on sensory science, and writes extensively on the subject of flavour and distilled spirits. Kami is a member of The British Society of Flavourists and speaks regularly at conferences and events.
