Data Driven 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 and Uiltje Brewing Company are two young companies and found each other in a completely unsurprising way: during the VrijMiBo. During this spontaneous and fun afternoon, the experimental seed was planted between the brewers and data scientists and, we now know, grew to unprecedented heights of flavor: The ultimate beer was born.