Can AI perfect the IPA?

Beer is about as low-tech as it gets.

啤酒的科技含量是最低的。

The oldest surviving beer recipe was unearthed in Mesopotamia, from 1800 B.C., when the Sumerians made a divine drink from fermented barley bread soaked in water with yeast.

现存最古老的啤酒配方是在公元前 1800 年在美索不达米亚出土的，当时苏美尔人用浸泡在酵母水中的发酵大麦面包制成了一种神圣的饮料。

About 3,000 years later, Benedictine monks in a Bavarian abbey outside of Munich recorded the addition of hops as a bittering agent and preservative.

大约 3000 年后，慕尼黑郊外巴伐利亚修道院的本笃会僧侣记录了添加啤酒花作为苦味剂和防腐剂的情况。

From that day on, those four ingredients — water, fermentable starch (such as barley malt), yeast, and hops — have been the base for just about every beer ever quaffed by humankind.

从那天起，这四种成分——水、可发酵淀粉（如大麦麦芽）、酵母和啤酒花——就成为了人类喝过的几乎所有啤酒的基础。

Those Benedictine brothers could time-warp into a 21st-century brewery and figure out how to whip up a passable batch of ale.

那些本笃会兄弟可以穿越到 21 世纪的啤酒厂，并弄清楚如何酿造一批还过得去的啤酒。

Despite the craft beer revolution’s explosion in flavors and additives (everything from doughnuts to cannabis to edible glitter), brewers have painted with the same palette of styles since the 1400s.

尽管精酿啤酒革命带来了口味和添加剂（从甜甜圈到大麻再到可食用闪光粉）的爆炸式增长，但自 1400 年代以来，啤酒酿造商一直在使用相同的风格。

But today, as nearly 10,000 U.S. craft breweries jockey for attention and market share, they’re producing more technological innovations in beer-making than the industry has seen in millennia.

但如今，随着近 10,000 家美国精酿啤酒厂争夺关注度和市场份额，他们在啤酒酿造方面的技术创新比该行业几千年来所见的还要多。

An innovation race in brewing hardware, ingredients, and recipes aims to help smaller companies brew the same quality beer, batch after batch.

酿造硬件、原料和配方方面的创新竞赛旨在帮助小公司批量酿造相同质量的啤酒。

In Australia, brewers are using artificial intelligence to perfect an IPA with feedback collected through QR codes.

在澳大利亚，酿酒商正在利用人工智能并通过二维码收集反馈来完善 IPA。

Meanwhile, beer makers in the U.S. Pacific Northwest and beyond are using genetically modified hops to deal with shortages caused by climate change.

与此同时，美国西北太平洋地区及其他地区的啤酒制造商正在使用转基因啤酒花来应对气候变化造成的短缺。

Such new technologies may help brewers survive and prosper in a competitive marketplace.

这些新技术可以帮助啤酒制造商在竞争激烈的市场中生存并繁荣。

“Consistency is always king,” says Malcolm Purinton, a history professor at Northeastern University who specializes in the history of beer and brewing.

“一致性永远是王道，”东北大学历史学教授马尔科姆·普林顿（Malcolm Purinton）说道，他专门研究啤酒和酿造的历史。

“Especially now.

“尤其是现在。

Fifteen years ago, it didn’t matter if the beer was that good — people were excited to go local and experiment.

十五年前，啤酒是否好喝并不重要——人们很高兴去当地尝试。

But now, when you see companies buying up craft breweries and the fight over shelf space and tap handles, you have to be good.”

但现在，当你看到公司收购精酿啤酒厂，并争夺货架空间和龙头把手时，你必须做好准备。”

Before you strive for consistency, you need to perfect your formula.

在努力保持一致性之前，您需要完善您的公式。

Why lock in a recipe for a beer that no one likes?

为什么要锁定无人喜欢的啤酒配方？

This is among the biggest obstacles facing craft brewers.

这是精酿啤酒商面临的最大障碍之一。

As Purinton points out, macro breweries like Anheuser-Busch, Miller, and Coors have lager formulas calibrated from more than a century’s worth of consumer feedback.

正如普林顿指出的那样，安海斯-布希 (Anheuser-Busch)、米勒 (Miller) 和库尔斯 (Coors) 等大型啤酒厂的啤酒配方是根据一个多世纪以来的消费者反馈进行校准的。

That’s why a fresh Budweiser tastes the same today as it did in 1975.

这就是为什么今天新鲜的百威啤酒的味道与 1975 年的味道一样。

Big brewers have used AI to make beer before: In 2017, Carlsberg teamed with Microsoft for its “beer fingerprinting project ,” which sought to detect flavors and aromas while creating new beers and ensuring air-tight quality control.

大型啤酒制造商之前曾使用人工智能来生产啤酒：2017年，嘉士伯与微软合作开展“啤酒指纹项目”，该项目旨在检测口味和香气，同时创造新的啤酒并确保严密的质量控制。

Until recently, small craft brewers have had no such access to that volume of market research and data.

直到最近，小型精酿啤酒制造商还无法获得如此大量的市场研究和数据。

They work from personal taste, scant online reviews, and word of mouth to determine if their IPA is too hoppy or their kettle sour too tart.

他们根据个人口味、很少的在线评论和口碑来确定他们的 IPA 是否太啤酒花或他们的水壶酸太酸。

An Australian platform is trying to change that.

澳大利亚的一个平台正试图改变这一现状。

It’s using AI to help better connect mom-and-pop brew masters to their target audience and fine-tune and perfect recipes.

它利用人工智能帮助夫妻店酿酒师更好地与目标受众建立联系，并微调和完善配方。

“We can say, hand on heart, that every review is going into a neural network that will affect the flavor of their beer.”

“我们可以说，每一条评论都会进入神经网络，从而影响他们啤酒的味道。”

In 2021, Deep Liquid, an Adelaide-based company that partners with the Australian Institute for Machine Learning, helped nearby Barossa Valley Brewing create AI2PA: The Rodney, an AI-generated IPA.

2021 年，总部位于阿德莱德的 Deep Liquid 与澳大利亚机器学习研究所合作，帮助附近的 Barossa Valley Brewing 创建了 AI2PA：The Rodney，这是一款人工智能生成的 IPA。

On each can of AI2PA, a QR code allows drinkers to submit their thoughts on the beer’s flavor, aroma, and mouthfeel.

每罐 AI2PA 上都有一个二维码，让饮用者可以提交他们对啤酒风味、香气和口感的看法。

That real-time feedback goes straight into a data set that is then plugged into an algorithm that can adjust the recipe accordingly.

实时反馈直接进入数据集，然后插入到可以相应调整配方的算法中。

“Since the biggest companies collect the most data, they’re the ones who’ve been able to harness AI,” says Deep Liquid co-founder Denham D’Silva.

Deep Liquid 联合创始人 Denham D’Silva 表示：“由于最大的公司收集了最多的数据，因此他们是能够利用人工智能的公司。”

“We’ve flipped this and put the technology in the hands of the consumer, giving them direct contact that enables smaller brewers to leverage AI.”

“我们扭转了这一局面，将技术交到消费者手中，让他们直接接触，使小型啤酒制造商能够利用人工智能。”

Purinton says making machine learning more accessible to smaller brewers will help them refine recipes, maintain quality control, and know exactly how much of each ingredient to use, limiting waste and saving money.

Purinton 表示，让小型啤酒厂更容易使用机器学习将有助于他们改进配方、保持质量控制并准确了解每种成分的使用量，从而限制浪费并节省资金。

D’Silva sees an added bonus to Deep Liquid’s model for craft brewers: Increased consumer engagement.

D’Silva 认为 Deep Liquid 的精酿啤酒模式还有一个额外好处：提高消费者参与度。

“People jump on these beer review sites and then realize they’re the only ones reading these reviews, so why bother?” says D’Silva.

“人们跳上这些啤酒评论网站，然后意识到他们是唯一阅读这些评论的人，那为什么还要麻烦呢？”德席尔瓦说。

“But there is research that suggests that when customers believe their reviews are affecting change, they’re more engaged.

“但有研究表明，当顾客相信他们的评论正在影响变革时，他们会更加投入。

We can say, hand on heart, that every review is going into a neural network that will affect the flavor of their beer.”

我们可以说，每一条评论都会进入神经网络，从而影响他们啤酒的味道。”

Innovation is coming to beer’s ingredients, too.

啤酒原料也开始创新。

While water, barley, yeast, and hops have been on virtually every beer mash bill since the 8th century, the way brewers acquire and use these ingredients has shifted drastically in recent years.

尽管自 8 世纪以来，水、大麦、酵母和啤酒花几乎出现在所有啤酒麦芽浆账单上，但近年来，啤酒酿造商获取和使用这些成分的方式发生了巨大变化。

And that’s due largely to climate change.

这主要是由于气候变化。

Brewers have had to find creative alternatives for their foundational ingredients.

酿酒商必须为其基本原料找到创造性的替代品。

Water shortages due to drought are hurting brewers, especially in the U.S. West.

干旱造成的水资源短缺正在损害啤酒厂，特别是在美国西部。

So San Francisco’s Devil’s Canyon Brewing Co. recently released a beer made entirely from the city’s new greywater recycling system, which repurposes water from sinks, showers, and washing machines.

因此，旧金山的 Devil's Canyon Brewing Co. 最近推出了一款完全由该市新的灰水回收系统制成的啤酒，该系统重新利用水槽、淋浴和洗衣机中的水。

Shifting weather patterns can imperil America’s barley crops, but beer makers have a wide choice of fermentable alternatives, including wheat, rice, corn, oats, rye, and sorghum.

天气模式的变化可能会危及美国的大麦作物，但啤酒制造商有多种可发酵的替代品可供选择，包括小麦、大米、玉米、燕麦、黑麦和高粱。

Hops, however, pose the biggest challenge: 96% of hops in the U.S. are grown in the Pacific Northwest, where drought and wildfires have ravaged the land and made year-to-year yields of the bittering flower unreliable.

然而，啤酒花构成了最大的挑战：美国 96% 的啤酒花种植在太平洋西北地区，那里的干旱和野火蹂躏了土地，导致苦花的年产量变得不可靠。

So how can technology protect brewers’ access to the hoppy tastes and aromas in their wildly popular IPAs?

那么，技术如何保护啤酒酿造商在其广受欢迎的 IPA 中获得啤酒花的味道和香气呢？

The answer might be in the fourth ingredient: Yeast.

答案可能就在第四种成分中：酵母。

Brewers are teaming with bioengineers to explore the role of genetically modified yeast strains that can unlock more intense flavoring agents within hops during fermentation.

酿酒商正在与生物工程师合作，探索转基因酵母菌株的作用，这些酵母菌株可以在发酵过程中释放啤酒花中更浓郁的风味剂。

This means that more of the tropical and fruity essences can be extracted from each flower, achieving the same big hop flavor with a much smaller load of hops.

这意味着可以从每朵花中提取更多的热带和水果香精，以更少的啤酒花含量实现相同的啤酒花风味。

For example, researchers at Berkeley Yeast, in collaboration with Oregon State University , modified a brewers’ yeast strain to boost the amount of two essential oils within hops, called thiols, which provide tropical flavors like guava and passion fruit.

例如，伯克利酵母公司的研究人员与俄勒冈州立大学合作，改良了啤酒酵母菌株，以提高啤酒花中两种精油（称为硫醇）的含量，这两种精油可提供番石榴和百香果等热带风味。

The result is a powerfully fruity beer made with a fraction of the ingredients.

结果是用一小部分原料制成的果味浓郁的啤酒。

Eventually, the technology could save money, energy, and resources.

最终，该技术可以节省金钱、能源和资源。

But most brewers, adventuresome chemists and cooks at heart, are more excited about what flavors these genetically modified yeasts might one day unleash.

但大多数酿酒师、富有冒险精神的化学家和厨师，对这些转基因酵母有一天可能释放出的味道更加兴奋。

“Savings on hops can be beneficial for big brewers,” says Scott Janish, co-founder of Maryland’s Sapwood Cellars Brewery and author of The New IPA: Scientific Guide to Hop Aroma and Flavor .

马里兰州边木酒窖啤酒厂 (Sapwood Cellars Brewery) 联合创始人兼《新 IPA：啤酒花香气和风味科学指南》一书的作者斯科特·贾尼什 (Scott Janish) 表示：“节省啤酒花费用对大型啤酒厂来说是有利的。”

“But a majority of brewers are doing it to create beers that are unique and have that ‘wow’ factor.”

“但大多数酿酒商这样做是为了酿造独特且具有‘令人惊叹’因素的啤酒。”

Janish sees a possible future when genetically modified yeasts could give brewers even more control over their craft.

贾尼什看到了一个可能的未来，即转基因酵母可以让酿酒商更好地控制他们的工艺。

“I think the technology will become crisper,” he says.

“我认为这项技术将会变得更加先进，”他说。

“You’ll see more yeast strains created for specific purposes, some that create banana flavor, maybe more Fruity Pebble esters [flavor compounds that produce fruity aromas in beer], or glycerol with more mouthfeel.

“你会看到更多为特定目的而创建的酵母菌株，其中一些可以产生香蕉风味，也许还有更多的果味卵石酯（在啤酒中产生果香的风味化合物），或者口感更好的甘油。

But we’re completely starting over — there’s a lot of trial and error.”

但我们完全从头开始——有很多尝试和错误。”

Climate change, supply chain snafus, and the constant pursuit of profit and market share will no doubt continue to drive brewers to delve further into new technologies.

气候变化、供应链混乱以及对利润和市场份额的不断追求无疑将继续推动啤酒制造商进一步钻研新技术。

But Purinton says that even though brew masters are technically chemists, they don’t get into brewing to geek out on technology.

但普林顿表示，尽管酿酒大师在技术上是化学家，但他们进入酿酒行业并不是为了钻研技术。

“People don’t become brewers because they wanted to use their software engineering degree,” he says.

“人们成为酿酒师并不是因为他们想利用他们的软件工程学位，”他说。

“And people aren’t going to visit a brewery that is just a wall of computer screens.”

“人们不会去参观只有一堵电脑屏幕墙的啤酒厂。”

Besides, who would explain that to the time-traveling Benedictine monks?

此外，谁会向穿越时空的本笃会修道士解释这一点？

Tony Rehagen is a writer based in St. Louis.

托尼·雷哈根是一位居住在圣路易斯的作家。

His work has appeared in Popular Mechanics, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and Pacific Standard.

他的作品曾发表在《大众机械》、《彭博商业周刊》、《华盛顿邮报》、《波士顿环球报》和《太平洋标准报》上。

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