Lager drinkers unable to distinguish between Budvar, Heineken & Stella Artois
Lager drinkers are unable to distinguish between three market leading beer brands, a blind taste test of 138 volunteers aged 21 to 70 has discovered.
Focussing on European pale lagers researchers gave the blindfolded participants samples of Budvar, Heineken and Stella Artois to see if they could identify their favourite tipple, something they could not do, suggesting that personal preference has more to do with marketing than taste.
During the experiment each volunteer were asked to sip three samples of beer, two of which were identical, and asked to identify the drink which was different.
Robin Goldstein, co-author of Hide the Label, Hide the Difference, said: “I think basically what we’re looking at is a commodity industry – the products are interchangeable. They have a good product, a good manufacturing method and it can be sold at a good price. So if you’re in a bar and they don’t have the lager you usually dink, have another one.
“They will pretty much taste the same.”