Beyond swirling, I never gave aeration much thought when drinking wines. I certainly didn't even contemplate it for spirits. Does adding oxygen really impact the flavor enough to go through the bother of squeezing air into your glass every time you imbibe?

Well, with Aermate, I tried it out on my various favorites whether it was a glass of bold Argentinian Malbec or Speyside Scotch poured neat. Aermate's foot long stem enables it to aerate an entire bottle or single glass in seconds. I thought one of its best features was the cleanup factor…no extensive curved glass to run through with a brush and soapy water…just a durable food grade stainless steel probe long enough to reach the bottom of most 750 ml bottles.

Here's the thing…wine and spirits are organic and the concept of adding air and letting the natural flavors of grains, corn, agave and grapes breathe is not new. Decanting wine has been the standard for centuries. Air softens tannins reducing acidity, lowering sulfite levels and improving drinkability. When you think about it, special glasses designed for wine, cognac, scotch and tequila sipping are all based on aeration. The Aermate maximizes this effect even if you don't have the appropriate glass.

The best thing about the Aermate's design is that a quick spritz injects tiny microbubbles that break down and increase surface area contact with the liquid. This maximizes oxygen exposure and total air volume delivered in a very short amount of time. Air holes in the Aermate's microbubble tip are half the diameter of a human hair making them finer and smaller than a grain of sand. I did notice the difference most notably on a glass of Chardonnay. Normally bordering on tart, the wine showcased it's sweeter fruit nuances.