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Identifying and discriminating among compounds prior to ingestion is essential for animals to survive and thrive. Taste receptor cells encode five basic taste qualities, for which receptors and signaling pathways had been described for all but sour taste. Here I will describe the identification from a screen of genes enriched in sour taste cells of the sour receptor, OTOP1. OTOP1 forms a proton channel, structurally unrelated to previously described ion channels. OTOP1 assembles as a dimer, with three putative pathways, gated by protons and Zn2+. Our recent findings expand the role of OTOP1 in taste cells to the detection of ammonium chloride, a potent taste stimulus used in salty licorice. OTOP1 is a member of a small family of ion channels found throughout the body and conserved across evolution. Ongoing work is aimed at discovering the roles of OTOP channels to various physiological and pathophysiological processes.