Papazian article on bitterness being tied to genetics

I'm guessing that the 10% who found the bitterness objectionable correlates to the supposed percentage of supertasters and/or fall within that group. I'll have to thank my mom and dad I'm not one of them

I always found Ray Daniels' Bittering/Gravity ratio to be more descriptive of how a beer will be perceived, rather than just going by IBUs- and that's also a part of what he was trying to get across. Residual sugars can definitely mitigate bitterness, and though it is not a perfect metric, o.g. kind of suggests where the f.g. will wind up.

 

I've experienced those tasting strips. I would be in that 10% who be found it unbearably disgusting. My girlfriend experienced nothing. The bitterness on those strips is nothing like the bitterness in IPA, because I still love them still today.

 

Years ago in Culinary school, a group of about 8-9 of us were given these strips.
It was fun to watch one girl (who eventually became my wife) literally gag, and run from the room.
She still drinks IPAs though...

 

What exactly are these tasting strips? Are they difficult to come across? I did a cursory google search, but there seems to be a variety of them out there.

 

This is where I got mine.

http://supertastertest.com/

 

That’s a good find, thanks for the link.

What I find most troubling about this article is that Papazian, who is often cited as a beer authority, seems to be just discovering something that has been known about taste and the perception of bitterness for about 30 years or more now. I guess you can teach an old dog new information.

 

Doesn't surprise me at all.