Computer predictions could improve beer flavour, scientists say
Artifical intelligence continues to revolutionise the global workplace, and now scientists have put it to perhaps its most worthy use yet - creating the perfect beer.
Scientists in Belgium have developed a machine learning method that can predict modifications to beer formulas the public will enjoy.
Kevin Verstrepen and colleagues characterised over 200 chemical properties from 250 Belgian commercial beers across 22 beer styles, such as Blond and Tripel beers.
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Kevin Verstrepen leads a beer-tasting session in his lab at the University of Leuven in Belgium. Justin Jin
They linked these to descriptive sensory profiling data from a trained tasting panel of 16 people and data from more than 180,000 public consumer reviews from an online beer review database called RateBeer.
With this large dataset, the authors trained machine learning models to correlate and predict flavour and consumer appreciation from the beers' chemical profile.
They tested the effectiveness of the model by using its predictions to modify an alcoholic and non-alcoholic commercial beer and achieved higher overall appreciation among trained panellists in blind tastings.
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A computer module is able to create pre-approved beer formulae. Justin Jin
Currently, the results are still restricted to major commercial Belgian beer styles, and a larger number of samples may be needed before the method goes global.
These include identifying style-specific effects and demographic information, such as age and culture.
The authors suggest that this tool could help improve quality control and recipe development of beers, or potentially other food and drinks, to meet specific consumer demands more efficiently.
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There is, of course, a downside.
Previously, manufacturers typically tested new beer flavours on enthusiastic taste pioneers in clinical trials, which as Verstrepen and his colleagues note, could be "somewhat inefficient".
If a computer is able to formulate the perfect beer ahead of feedback, the happy testers might find their own role in the process a bit more circumscribed.
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