Thaindian News

Washington, Mar 18 (ANI): A new study has suggested that famous Irish beer Guinness does not travel well, as it loses most of its appearance, flavour and aftertaste after being exported to countries outside Ireland.

Daniel Kotz, an epidemiologist and assistant professor at Maastricht University Medical Center, led the scientific study.

“This study is the first to provide scientific evidence that Guinness does not travel well and that the enjoyment of Guinness (for our group of non expert tasters) was higher when in Ireland,” Discovery News quoted Kotz and his colleagues as writing in their Journal of Food Science paper.

The study involved a total of 4 researchers from 4 different countries of origin travelling around the world for 12 months collecting “data on the enjoyment of Guinness and related factors”.

The scientists tasted 103, 42 in Ireland, 61 elsewhere, in 71 different pubs spread over 33 cities and 14 countries, and recorded them.

According to a report in the Irish Times, each of the four researchers tackled their assignments with the same instruments.

They used a thermometer, a ruler (to measure head depth), a stopwatch (to measure pouring and drinking time) and a standardized checklist for rating various quality indicators.

The researchers volunteered their time, carrying out the fieldwork in conjunction with their other tasks and travels over the study period.

In the end, everything came down to a 1 to 100 rating, with 100 being the best possible. The final score showed Ireland got 74, and everyplace else, 57.

The researchers considered a “conspiracy theory”, that “the finest quality (Guinness) is given to its own employees, the second best is sold to the people of Ireland, and the worst is exported”, but they suggest freshness, or lack thereof, could explain the tasting differences.

The scientists indicate further fieldwork is needed to verify the results of this particular study. (ANI)