SENSORY TESTING OF BEERS - AN INTER-LABORATORY SENSORY TRIAL

An inter-collaborative tasting exercise was undertaken in which panels at seven different brewing companies compared the flavour of four bee rs in duplicate. Statistical analysis demonstrated that the results fr om individual panels were repeatable but there was little consistency between panels. Generalised Procrustes Analysis demonstrated that inco nsistencies between panels were due to differences in the use of flavo ur terminology and differences in the use of scoring scales. It is sug gested that consistency could be significantly improved by introducing standardised flavour methods and training across the brewing industry .