By Kyle W. Hedlund
The results of the great Brazilian beer taste test are in, and they might surprise you. Large advertising expenditures apparently have little effect on the quality of a lager. The winner? Cintra! Running just 74 centavos a can at your local Pão de Açúcar, there is no need to break your bank when entertaining (or drinking yourself into oblivion) any longer. Cintra? I know what you‘re saying to yourself: Cintra hardly even advertises. How can it be good without bikini-clad models and beach party television commercials?
Now before you go thinking I‘m on the Cintra payroll, let‘s take a look at the method behind this madness. We used a group of sixteen not-so-random beer lovers in a blind taste test of seven readily available Brazilian brews plus one wildcard, Heineken. Maltzbiers, of course, were told to wait outside. In order to raise the pseudo-scientific credibility of the results, we involved people from as many nationalities (Brazilian, American, Canadian, Japanese, and British) and sexes (female, male, and "yes, please") as we could squeeze into our Moema hosts‘ apartment. Our panel of judges was briefed on the finer points of beer tasting by a personally-renowned expert before proceeding to rate the contestants based on appearance, aroma, taste, after-taste, and overall impression.
The findings:
With six out of sixteen 1st place votes each, Cintra and Antarctica (love the penguin) were at the top of most of our panel‘s lists. However, with five 7th or 8th place votes, Antarctica displeased almost as many tasters as it pleased. Cintra received no last place votes and a convincing five for 2nd place, making it the evening‘s champion by a head. Bavaria, while not capturing attention at the top like Antarctica, snuck in to take 2nd place overall in the rankings due to the fact that only one taster disliked it enough to score it last. Skol and Nova Schin were the least favoured of the eight brews on the evening. Skol garnered 5 last-place ribbons and no firsts, while Nova Schin secured 4 lasts.
The podium:
#1- Cintra
#2- Bavaria
#3- Antarctica
#4- Bohemia
#5- Heineken
#6- Brahma
#7- Nova Schin
#8- Skol
While my original hypothesis that they all taste exactly the same was disproven, more than one participant noted that a cold Skol beats a warm Cintra any day of the week. And before you go pouring out your personal stock of Nova Schin, please be advised that three of the top four beers were the last three tasted on the evening, and the bottom two were the first to cross our palates. Could the intoxication variable be more influential than anticipated? Further testing may be required...
Readers' Comments:
Dear Kyle,
As Malcolm Gladwell pointed out in his recent book, Blink, taste test can deliver misleading results. In the 1980´s Pepsi continually beat Coke in taste tests, yet Coke never lost any market share. The reason: taste tests were based upon a sip, not a whole can. Consumers like the taste of Pepsi but did not want to drink a whole can of it.
Which gets us back to the beer taste test. Further research is definitely needed. Accordingly, I will give Cintra a try and see if it can kick Bohemia out my frig.
Best regards,
Tony
What about a chopp taste test?? ('ll be in Rio for most of July so if you need a volunteer, let me know.) In regards to Tony's comment, I agree that you would need to take more than a sip, but by # 7 or 8 I might grade a them a little different. The next day though I might be cursing them all until the next night when I'm right back to #1.
Mike
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