An artificial intelligence that can predict how a beer will taste from its chemical make-up could help create alcohol-free versions that taste just like regular ones. Predicting flavour from chemical compounds is difficult, as complex interactions between ingredients and the psychology of taste can make for surprisingly different perceptions, even between people sampling the same thing. To address this, Kevin Verstrepen at KU Leuven in Belgium and his colleagues have developed an AI model that can predict flavour profiles based on a beer's chemical components and make suggestions for how to improve the flavour. The model was trained on beer reviews from a panel of 16 expert tasters, who scored each brew for 50 attributes, as well as 180,000 public ratings from an online beer reviewing website. It compared these subjective descriptions with measurements of 226 chemical compounds in 250 Belgian beers.

Whether you prefer a fruity lambic or a complex Trappist, Belgian beers have long been famed for their variety, quality and heritage. Now, researchers say they have harnessed the power of artificial intelligence to make brews even better. Prof Kevin Verstrepen, of KU Leuven university, who led the research, said AI could help tease apart the complex relationships involved in human aroma perception. "Beer – like most food products – contains hundreds of different aroma molecules that get picked up by our tongue and nose, and our brain then integrates these into one picture. However, the compounds interact with each other, so how we perceive one depends also on the concentrations of the others," he said.

LEUVEN, BELGIUM – Belgium famously produces hundreds of different beers, but that is nothing compared to the varieties of yeast used to make them -- around 30,000 are kept on ice at just one laboratory by scientists seeking the perfect ingredient for the perfect brew. A team from the University of Leuven and life sciences research institute VIB are examining and cross-breeding yeast strains, adding modern genetics to a search for brewing perfection that dates back centuries. "We're … using robots to cross different yeast like farmers have been doing with cattle and livestock for centuries," said genetics professor Kevin Verstrepen. "We're now doing the same with yeast on a massive scale, making millions of new strains or variants of yeast and testing which are the better ones." By analyzing the chemical and genetic basis of a beer's flavour and aroma, the scientists say they are breeding yeast strains that promote the best characteristics for a good beer.