Super computer brews beer that ‘tastes of joy’

An IBM super computer has helped brew a beer that “tastes of joy and optimism”, after analysing thousands of social media messages sent over the New Year period.

The unusual brewing project was led by customer engagement agency Havas Helia, which utilised the Watson super computer’s ability to glean insights from large amounts of data to produce a beer that captures the mood of the New Year period.

Analysing social media messages sent over New Years, Watson was able to decipher the most shared emotions – which proved to be love, joy, harmony, cheerfulness, optimism, resolution and excitement – with Watson then producing a personality profile that captured the mood of the nation over that period.

“We wanted to use data and technology to interpret something abstract such as positive feelings and emotions and turn it into an experience”, explained Steven Bennett-Day, group executive creative director at Havas Helia. “We thought what could be better than a beer that lets you drink in the optimism of the New Year?”

Next, Havas Helia categorised 2,800 existing beer recipes according to the most popular emotions displayed via social media, identifying the top 10 beers that matched the most shared New Year emotions and their most popular ingredients.

These proved to be honey, which denotes love and cheerfulness, the Nelson Sauvin hop, for optimism, imagination and resolution, and the Hallertauer hop, for excitement and emotion.

The final unfiltered brew, called 0101, was produced by the High Peak Brew Co. in the Peak District.