Beer Tasters Easily Manipulated
These guys are easily deceived.
Credit: Gray’s Anatomy
Columbia University scientists have determined that knowledge of what’s in a beer can effect whether or not you like the beer when yout taste it. They took 388 bar patrons taste two beers: one regular beer and one regular beer that had balsamic vinegar added.
The patrons were divided into three groups: blind tasters with no knowledge of the ingredient, tasters who knew about the ingredient before tasting it, and tasters who learned about the ingredient after tasting it.
The results were interesting. The blind group showed a preference for the beer with the vinegar! (Yuck!) And the tasters with prior knowledge showed less of a preference for the vinegary beer than those who learned about the ingredient after tasting it.
The moral of the story? Beer tasters’ (and well, pretty much any taster) opinions and experiences are colored by more than the beer itself. So take all those reviews with a grain of salt!
