"Because you drink beer in a gulp, sweet compounds and bitter compounds are striking the taste buds at the same time, creating a very dynamic response and all those facial expressions as your brain registers." — Anubhav Pratap-Singh
A first-of-its-kind study of the emotional reactions conjured by beer found that people liked sweeter beers better than bitter brews, based their involuntary facial expressions.
The presence of sugars such as fructose, glucose and maltose were associated with positive emotions, while compounds that promote bitterness were associated with feelings of disappointment and weariness.
“We underrate the ability of beer to affect our mood,” said co-author Anubhav Pratap-Singh, an assistant professor in UBC’s Faculty of Land and Food Systems. “The video analysis allowed us to see the emotions that (drinkers) cannot control or even identify.”
“Because you drink beer in a gulp, sweet compounds and bitter compounds are striking the taste buds at the same time, creating a very dynamic response and all those facial expressions as your brain registers,” he said.
Beer drinkers in the study were asked to sample six different kinds of beer — top-fermented ales, bottom-fermented lagers and spontaneously fermented Belgian style fruit beers — and rate the beverages in a large variety of flavour and texture dimensions.
They were also asked to rate their experience of each beer with a selection of 18 emojis and an emoji-based happiness scale.
But the researchers didn’t stop there. They also videotaped the beer drinkers and analyzed their facial expressions for unconscious responses immediately after swallowing, a few seconds later and then when the aftertaste took hold.
Sweeter beers elicited emoji ratings such as love, affectionate, joy and happy.
Researchers found that flavour compounds associated with acidity and sweetness were associated with positive emotions in beer drinkers, while bitterness, high alcohol, and hordenine, a flavour compound in barley, were associated with negative feelings.
“Spontaneous fermentation beers from raspberries and cherries were most liked, and were found to have a better aroma, bitterness, and acidity liking scores,” said Pratap-Singh.
Pratap-Singh and collaborators in Australia, New Zealand and Mexico used sophisticated chemical analysis to identify the concentration of a variety of compounds including iso-acids, sugars, salt and hordenine, which is produced by barley fermentation.
None of the beers used in the study were highly hopped, brews that appear to have a dedicated following of bearded enthusiasts.
It’s possible there are people who are genetically pro-hop or anti-hop, but that remains unproven.
Beer contains hundreds of flavour compounds including a whole variety of volatile alcohols that are typically removed from spirits through distillation.
Products of yeast fermentation can create compounds that register as sour, sweet, musty, catty and even evoke recognizable aromas of coffee or banana.
“There are so many products of fermentation that can bind to our flavour receptors and they change based on the way beer is fermented and they produce a complex range of flavours,” said Pratap-Singh.
“That is what we saw (in the video), the same person feeling disgusted and sad and at the same time happy and satisfied as the taste buds all around the mouth are instantly activated.”
The video revealed differing emotional responses in very quick succession, changing from one to another in less than a second as the brain responded to different flavours, possibly simultaneously.
The researchers anticipate that their findings will be used by brewers to tailor products to the needs of particular kinds of consumers.
The study Beer and Consumer Response Using Biometrics: Associations Assessment of Beer Compounds and Elicited Emotions was published in the journal Foods.
The sessions were conducted in Mexico with 61 regular beer consumers between the ages of 18 and 51.
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