Robots Taste Beer: May End the Style Debate?

Apparently a new robot can identify different beer varieties with a 82% accuracy rating (testing between categories that included Schwarzbier, lager, double malt, Pilsen, Alsatian and low-alcohol).

http://www.gizmag.com/electronic-tongue-beer-classification/30722/

Thoughts?

I know this robot is still a long way (from distinguishing between an English IPA and and American IPA, for instance), but if these robots get more accurate, might this put an end to the debate over what beer should be classified as what style?

 

Who's programming the robot...

 

One step closer to Skynet becoming self aware.

Doubt this ends too many style debates bc people enjoy debating.

 

Three Floyds is going to be soooooo busted.

 

Dont let him near the crash test dummie's car.

 

Direct quote: "This tastes like horse blanket" - Robot

 

So the robot is able determine the ingredients and their proportions and therefore the style? Call me old fashioned but I would rather trust someone who has tasted the beer over the robot. Palates may differ and we may all debate some ideas ad infinitum but don't you think that makes for a better time than saying "the robot said. . . "

 

I'd be very impressed if the robot could pinpoint where the beer was brewed, plus origin of ingredients. Y'know, based on mineral content, nutrients, etc. Like a robot Sherlock!

...I've been watching a lot of Sherlock recently.

 

Robotic Tongue? Is it on an android??? If not, then it's a total waste for the beer. Can robots get buzzin?

...I want a robot tongue...

 

Never mind that Schwarzbier and Pilsener are lagers.

And what the heck is a Double Malt? Last I heard that "style" it was in reference to Scotch Whisky.

Sounds like non-beer people are in charge of this "experiment."

 

anheuser busch

 

Can I sign up to be the double blind for the Robot?

 

Maria, I am skeptical about this robot ‘tongue’ as it exists today but perhaps with time (and improvement) it might be a good tool.

The advantage of the robot is that it is not influenced like human tasters are. Human tasters can have prejudices which can influence their taste reports.

Below is an extract from an article of another ongoing thread about Macro Lager taste testing:

“Turns out that color was linked very strongly to flavor intensity rankings, with the darkest beer also marked as the most flavorful. For the most part, this tracked universally. But when it came to judging overall preference, tasters were more split. The highest ranked beer was also the darkest and the one deemed most flavorful, while the second favorite overall was picked as the least flavorful.

This made me wonder how much of an influence the perception of flavor based on the appearance of the beer was affecting tasting results. I was reminded of Calvin Trillin's article for the New Yorker in which he talks about how the color of a wine can affect even a professional taster's perception of it, to the point that the exact same white wine, when colored with a red dye, was misidentified as a red wine. I've done similar experiments with eggs and have found that most people's perception of the flavor of an egg is intimately linked with its color: add a few drops of orange food coloring to your scrambled egg, and suddenly they taste much richer and eggier.

Could the relative lightness or darkness of the color of a beer also be affecting the way we perceive its lightness or fullness of flavor?

It's a well-studied type of cognitive bias known as anchoring: we tend to place too much importance on the first piece of information we perceive. It's why infomercials for tabletop rotisseries quote the high prices of imaginary competitors before quoting their own ("would you pay $500 for this? How about $400?"), and it's why once we've seen the dark red color of a wine, we'll think the wine tastes heavier and more tannic, even if it's not. It's also the reason blind and double-blind tests exist.”

Cheers!

 

It's good to see the world's scientists focusing on important issues.

 

Per @BrettHead's astute observation, a robot is only as accurate/capable/perceptive/etc as the human that programmed it.

So we're still essentially at Square One: arguing over how humans define/differentiate styles. Only now we have a robot proxy, Real Steel style.

Edit: the one advantage being that a robot won't be influenced by mood and will at least be able to repeat the same identifying process exactly the same each time. But still beholden to the original programmers' opinions all the same...

 

That article doesn't state it compared Styles, rather "categories" and "varieties".

A lager could have been compared to an Ale and the robot was able to determine it was in fact a lager, not an ale.

"doublt malt" is an Italian Term.

 

Much ado about nothing. AB has had machines that "taste" beer for years. They just don't build them to look like a tongue!

 

Then why list the likes of Schwarzbier or Pilsner (assuming that's what Pilsen means, and not some reference to the south side Chicago neighborhood)?

Hmm. Apologies, since I didn't really get into the meat of the article, but is the robot an Italian invention? Appears to be Spanish.

Nevertheless, they're mixing up a whole lot of terms.

 

You beat me to it. But what would be really special is a robot you could somehow send to the bathroom for you.