Listening to music can make your pint taste even better

July 28, 2016

Sound, sensation and colour can influence the way people perceive taste
Brussels Beer Project collaborated with a UK band to produce a new ale
Scientists wanted to see if listening to music could make it taste better
‘We believe that this is just the beginning,’ says the study’s lead researcher

Stephen Matthews For Mailonline

Published:
12:21 EST, 28 July 2016

|
Updated:
13:57 EST, 28 July 2016

View
comments

Music can influence how much you like the taste of beer, a new study has found.

Sound, sensation, shape and colour, can all influence the way people perceive taste, scientists have discovered.

The Brussels Beer Project collaborated with UK band The Editors to produce a new beer which took inspiration from their musical and visual identity.

Sound, sensation and shape can all influence the way people perceive taste, scientists have discovered

It had a medium body and used an Earl Grey infusion which produced citrus flavours – designed to represent the bands latest album ‘In Dreams’.

Belgian researchers then tested to see if the influence of music and packaging design would help it to taste better.

They invited 231 drinkers to sample the beer in the three different conditions.

One group drank the beer along with a bottle without a label without listening to any specific song.

It’s all about the waist! How to spot if YOUR tummy is too…

Even one glass of wine a day raises the risk of cancer:…

How quitting smoking can be good for your LIVER: Those who…

UK’s first ever double hand transplant patient who suffered…

Another group tasted the ale after seeing the bottle with a label to test the effects of packaging.

While the third group drank the beer presented with a label while listening to ‘Oceans of Light’, one of the songs on the band’s latest album.

Before the test, participants rated how tasty they thought the beer would be. While after tasting they rated how much they had actually enjoyed the drink.

The results showed those presented with the label while listening to music reported the beer to taste better.

Participants rated how tasty they thought the beer would be before tasting. While after, they rated how much they had actually enjoyed the drink. The results showed those presented with the label while listening to music reported the beer to taste better

Dr Felipe Reinoso Cavalho, from Vrije Universiteit Brussel and KU Leuven, said: ‘We have been able to see that people tend to feel more pleasure when experiencing beverages along with sounds that are part of the beverage’s identity.

‘In this case, we have shown that people that previously knew the song that was used in the experiment, not only liked the multisensory experience of drinking beer more while listening to it, but they also liked the beer itself more.

‘It seems that the added pleasure that the song brought into the experience was transferred into the beer’s flavour.

‘We believe that this is just the beginning. We will also be able to work with other food and beverage types and progressively include other senses in this pairing process, such as vision, smells, touch.’