🍻 A Better Beer with a Little Help … from AI!

Beer is the oldest drink known to humanity. To understand why some beers are more popular than others and to improve their quality, scientists from KU Leuven University in Belgium spent five years studying the chemical makeup of 250 commercial Belgian beers across 22 different styles. They analyzed 226 properties of each variety that affect the alcohol content, sugar concentration, and overall properties of the drink.

Volunteers then sampled 250 beers, scoring them on 50 attributes such as aroma, sugar, acidity, hop flavors, and texture. The scientists combined this information with over 180k online reviews from the RateBeer website. From this, they assembled a large dataset to train 10 AI models.

🍺 😋 Results

The AI analyzed the data and learned to predict how a beer would taste and its appreciation based on its composition better than humans did. It also found flavors to enhance the taste of existing commercial beer. For example, lactic acid gives it a fresher flavor.

🧪 As an experiment, based on one of the AI models’ predictions, the researchers added several ingredients to a non-alcoholic beer. The results from the tasting panel revealed that these additions also improved the beer’s ratings. The Belgian ales modified according to the AI's "recipe" also received positive feedback.

⭐️ Why is it useful?

With the help of AI, it will be possible to optimize the taste and aroma of non-alcoholic beer, which is less popular. AI algorithms can also help improve the quality of other beverages and produce new ones.

“Our biggest goal now is to make better alcohol-free beer. Using our model, we have already succeeded in creating a cocktail of natural aroma compounds that mimic the taste and smell of alcohol without the risk of a hangover" — Kevin Verstrepen, Professor at the Leuven University of Leuven, Belgium

Would you like to try it?

❤️ — yes
🙈 — why modify beer?

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