What does genetics have to do with IPAs?
Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2020 12:20 pm
https://homebrewacademy.com/genetics-ipa/
Our BJCP study group was holding one of its bi-weekly meetings. Studying for the exam means refining your tasting abilities. Ideally, you and the other judges are in agreement on what you smell and taste in a beer. The first thing you do after a round of scoring is compare your score to that of your cohorts and hope you’re not too far off.
Yet this particular night, we were about to prove that no matter how hard we studied, mother nature has ensured that we’ll never taste things exactly the same.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2721271/Possession of TAS2R38, aka the PTC gene, codes for a bitter taste receptor on the tongue. In beer-drinker language, if you have the tasting form of this gene then you can taste the chemical known as PTC, which tastes bitter.
You can determine whether or not you have the gene by using PTC paper. Depending on the person, the paper is revoltingly bitter, slightly bitter, or tasteless.
https://www.craftbeer.com/craft-beer-mu ... hoppy-beerIndividual humans differ in bitter taste perception, and some of this variation has a genetic component (140). Human TAS2R genes have substantial diversity of coding sequence (87, 122, 161, 167), which suggests that TAS2R polymorphisms may be responsible for the genetic component of individual differences in bitter taste.
However, this relationship has been demonstrated only for one gene, TAS2R38. It is located on chromosome 7, where linkages for PTC and PROP taste sensitivity have been detected (40, 41, 50, 135, 139). Allelic variants of TAS2R38 explain more than 50% of phenotypical variation in PTC sensitivity (88) and are also associated with human perception of PROP bitterness
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bitter-b ... 0e27428adbSo there you have it, IPA-haters: It’s not your fault. Dr. Garneau said that humans were never supposed to like bitter beer in the first place, and we can’t do anything about our genes, right?
Not so fast …
If humans are naturally averse to bitter tastes, why are coffee, tea and brussels sprouts so popular? And why are so many people crazy about hops in craft beer?
The answer Garneau revealed is that the environment is to blame. Outside influences can teach your brain to override its genetic predilection and aversions.