The illusion of taste

Reads 1289 • Replies 11 • Started Thursday, October 12, 2017 5:37:53 PM CT

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Message trapped P beers 7514 º places 470 º 17:37 Thu 10/12/2017 Today I was reading an article in an old copy of New Yorker which I found really interesting. It's basically about how to manipulate perceptions to enhance the taste of things. The article can be read at the link below. The part that interests the Ratebeerians is at the end of the article in which the psychologist whose work is described in the article asks people to sample a dark Welsh ale: one sip while listening to a light, tinkling xylophone composition, and the second to the sound of a deep, mellifluous organ. According to the writer, with only a change in the background music, the deep-brown beer had gone from creamy and sweet to mouth-dryingly bitter. This trick was done in a beer festival in England and I wondered whether anyone had a similar experience, since this would essentially mean that tasting in a bar while listening to your favorite rock band vs leaning back at home and tasting the same brew could have different results. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/11/02/accounting-for-taste
Message Patrickctenchi beers 7260 º places 41 º 17:55 Thu 10/12/2017 Maybe this explains why many of the Special releases at Dark Lord Day taste so rough.........
Message joet P admin beers 2900 º places 125 º 18:43 Thu 10/12/2017 Set and setting are not illusions. They are real factors mediating experience.
Message CLevar places 23 º 18:59 Thu 10/12/2017 Originally posted by joet Set and setting are not illusions. They are real factors mediating experience. x1399 The best beer I've had is the best beer I've had because of the time and place I tasted it and is due in part to every experience that I had prior to that moment. That this sensory experience isn't identical for every person should not and does not detract from my enjoyment of the beer.

Message Benzai beers 20020 º places 321 º 19:01 Thu 10/12/2017 Originally posted by joet Set and setting are not illusions. They are real factors mediating experience. Yes, while they are influencing your beer-experience and thus rating (if you aren't cautious) in my mind it cannot change the beer entirely. Sure, mood can influence the rating, maybe not just "can" but "does", but alternate your taste buds, no. But it can surely affect your description of the beer.
Message jredmond beers 10321 º places 301 º 21:39 Thu 10/12/2017 its dat overall yo
Message trapped P beers 7514 º places 470 º 21:41 Thu 10/12/2017 True, but then when both change, what happens to your experience? Originally posted by joet Set and setting are not illusions. They are real factors mediating experience.
Message FatPhil P beers 26061 º places 995 º 22:59 Thu 10/12/2017 Setting, and mood, are enormous factors. I guess I can be shifted up or down by about 1 sigma just by doping my brain appropriately. I'm tempted to say it's easier to subliminally persuade me to pick up things I don't like than it is to get me to overlook slight flaws and enjoy a beer more. This is one reason when I have local ticks from tap, often from hipster bars that aren't my scene, I alwys try to rerate from a bottle at home, where I've got more control over the environment. That, and keg/bottle can vary anyway. Rerates usually shrink my error bars massively.

Message joet P admin beers 2900 º places 125 º 14:54 Fri 10/13/2017 Originally posted by trapped True, but then when both change, what happens to your experience? Originally posted by joet Set and setting are not illusions. They are real factors mediating experience. It changes! "No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man." - Heraclitus
Message trapped P beers 7514 º places 470 º 18:46 Sat 10/14/2017 Nope, that's how Plato interpreted what Heraclitus said. Originally posted by joet Originally posted by trapped True, but then when both change, what happens to your experience? Originally posted by joet Set and setting are not illusions. They are real factors mediating experience. It changes! "No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man." - Heraclitus
Message trapped P beers 7514 º places 470 º 18:53 Sat 10/14/2017 "The more things change, the more they stay the same," - Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr or “If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change.” ― Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa