Data Driven Neipa

From hard numbers to the smooth taste of the perfect NEIPA

The first fully data-driven beer is a reality. In a collaboration between Uiltje Brewing Company and Data Science Lab, the perfect - data driven - New England India Pale Ale has been developed.

 

Often a beer is brewed on instinct, the knowledge and skill of the brewer and sometimes luck itself, but this is not the case with this unique collab: the Data Driven NEIPA.

 

Web-scraping is used to extract characteristics from the taste descriptions of beer reviews, and data insights from, for example, the major consumer platform Untappd were used. These characteristics are eventually reduced to different categories through coding. These include: beer style, average score, hop flavors and aromas, , bitterness, sweetness, caramel, fruit types, et cetera. From this, a data file is created after which a model is created to determine the perfect flavor combination. This is not about the highest scoring characteristic but entirely about balance. The results were shared with the brewers at Uiltje who were able to translate this into a recipe derived entirely from this data analysis. Using the right combinations and proportions makes this NEIPA next level.

 

Data Science Lab en Uiltje Brewing Company zijn twee jonge bedrijven en vonden elkaar op geheel onverrassende wijze: tijdens de VrijMiBo. Tijdens deze spontane en gezellige middag werd het experimentele zaadje gepland tussen de brouwers en datawetenschappers en, zo weten we nu, is dit uitgegroeid tot ongekende hoogtes van smaak: Het ultieme bier is geboren.