The realisation that the tongue taste map is a myth has opened up a whole new industry based around the incredible power of aroma.

The nose, as I discovered at two different tutorials in Glasgow last week, also has a significant part to play in the appreciation of what we eat and drink. This has led to aroma becoming the hot new buzzword at Scotland's burgeoning artisan distilleries and breweries, as well as in the foodie scene. Menus that specialise in pairings of locally produced craft gins, beers or whiskies are all the rage among a younger demographic, to the extent that one wonders where wine fits in, if at all.

Guest chefs are devising gastro-pub, burger bar and restaurant menus whose range of locally-sourced flavours and textures are designed to complement the aromatic molecular compounds in locally-made drink flytes. Such events sell out in well in advance, suggesting an astonishing development: a new generation of consumers developing a taste for local, heritage ingredients presented in a way that delivers a specifically Scottish sensory experience, the likes of which their parents could never have dreamed of.

Science has a big part to play in this. Glasgow University's Polyonics department - so-called because it studies all things biological - is collaborating with Scotch Broth Events in a fascinating Ginomics project that isolates the botanicals in gin by running it through its Mass Spec machine (more traditionally used to identify the compounds and molecules in blood and urine to help the study of heart disease, stroke and cancer). Researchers asked diners at Pelican Cafe to hold their noses while chewing on a jelly bean; they tasted nothing until they reopened their nostrils. "The mouth gets all the glory," said Prof Mike Barrett, "but 70% of taste is through the nose." Lochbyre pork belly with botanical crackling courtesy of Drygate Outspace Apple Ale served with Makar Glasgow gin with elderflower, lime and ginger; and Arran scallop ceviche with dried coral, Mara seaweed and Dunlop cheddar crisp paired with a Pickerings gin with rosemary sprig, grapefruit and aperol, helped demonstrate how we taste and smell different compounds through the nose.

Ewan Henderson of SBE hopes to "harness the Scottish terroir to drinks through food". He and Polyonics are hosting a whisky and gin event as part of Glasgow Science Festival in June.

Kim Lahiri of the Aroma Academy, based in Inverness and Aberdeen, believes smell is the least appreciated of all the senses, and has hooked up with Scott Gemmell's Liquid Academy in Glasgow - the first independent brand-neutral school in Scotland to provide staff at hotels, restaurants, clubs and pubs with interactive training courses to help them learn to recalibrate their sense of smell and, in turn, their palates. They had to guess a range of aromas, from cut grass to butter to blue cheese, that arose once the alcohol in samples had dispersed. This makes sense: in an increasingly crowded marketplace, where consumers' thirst for knowledge is unprecedented, it's no longer enough to repeat the old school patter about whisky, handed down through generations: new brands must differentiate themselves through aroma. Lahiri hopes to gain SQA accreditation for her courses soon.

Scotch Broth Events and Aroma Academy are appearing this week at ScotHot in Glasgow.

It seems the new consumer age is leading by a nose.