Starting the morning to the rhythm of Mozart must be something exciting. It seems that the same thing was thought by some beer producers in Mexico. If it’s not fake. According to the creators of the Mexican Santanera birra, their beer has been brewed to the sound of classical music of the iconic composer Wolfgang Amadeus for 26 days without stopping. They call it “sonic maturation” and they stay so wide.
What is the purpose of such a sound fantasy? Well, give beer extra benefits, according to its creators. They say that the aromas of beer are better in the face of such acoustic exposure.
It sounds like an April Fools’ Day joke, but it’s not. Could this have any scientific basis? Or is it just another small-time hoax? Let’s rip it apart.
New and improved aromas in beer?
As we said, a beer has gone viral on Twitter. This anthological concoction has been the subject of ridicule and ridicule within the malevolent social network. And the reason why he has done it seems to be taken from a fairy tale. Or rather from a comedy manual. Literally, the aforementioned brand of Mexican beer tells us this on your website: “From the fermentation process we expose Mozart to classical music 24/7, we have verified that music causes a more dynamic and harmonious movement in the yeast, which results in the creation of new and better aromas”.
That music has a joyful effect on human beings is more than evident. Some melodies are capable of filling us with happiness, jubilation and rejoicing. That is undeniable. But trying to extrapolate these results to a beverage like beer seems risky to say the least. At least to attribute it to a yeast that, despite being a living being —microscopic, but a living being after all— does not have auditory pavilions through which to enjoy Chayanne’s ballads.
It is as if I affirm one day, out of the blue, that my grandmother’s rice pudding tastes much better to me when I listen in the background Good night, Mrs by Bertin Osborne. Obviously, no one believes it. Because there is no logical argument behind it. It is not credible that the rice is better or that someone is going to listen to a song by Bertín Osborne. To affirm this, we need data and scientific information to prove it. Is there any of this in the scientific literature, perhaps? Spoiler alert: surprisingly yes.
Yeasts that come up with the musicote
It is possible to ask ourselves if there really is any scientific basis behind all this musical matter. To everyone’s surprise, the possible benefits of music exposure on the activity of certain microbes have already been investigated more than once. Do you know the basic ingredients of beer? They are malt, water, hops and yeast. Yeasts are responsible to start the alcoholic fermentation process that gives rise to beer as we know it. Precisely, these last members of the beer have shown superior growth when exposed to certain sound vibrations.
This is what scientific studies show East Y Eastwhere the yeasts apparently grew 23% more when listening to sounds at 90 dB compared to no noise. What is this about? It probably has little to do with whether the sound comes from the vocal cords of Lady Gaga or David Bustamente. What seems to cause these changes in microbial growth are the vibrations provided by mechanical waves from sound. It is something that has been studied in the field of microbiology for many years, so it is nothing new.
Also, 90 decibels (dB) can be considered a fairly high sound intensity. They are the decibels attributed to a police siren, a traffic jam or a passing train. Therefore, either Mozart’s music is at full blast, or it will hardly reach that sound intensity. Further evidence that it seems that what could really influence the growth of yeast is not music, but the physical motion of sound waves. Perhaps the next beer campaign should take advantage of the noise of a jackhammer. Or from a rave.
It is not possible to say in a label what we really want
However, despite this, transferring these results to a more everyday environment is extremely risky. The conclusions of these studies must be taken with a lot of tweezers. Even more so if we take into account the statements made by the aforementioned brand of beer, where it attributes intangible benefits to a food. Although it sounds ridiculous to many people, the truth is that You cannot indicate anything on a food label. There are laws that regulate it, and at least in the European Union it is quite demanding with the information that appears on the packaging of a product.
exist healthy statement records that explain how and when a benefit can be attributed to a particular ingredient or product. Come on, everything is controlled to the millimeter. Therefore, saying that a beer has better flavors for having been exposed to The Marriage of Figaro is the equivalent to openly mislead and misinform consumers. In addition, the consumer himself may end up rejecting the brand because he feels directly taken for an idiot. Sometimes these types of marketing strategies can have a negative effect rather than a positive one.
In short, bearing in mind that we are talking about very subjective parameters such as flavor and aroma, it is hard to believe that something as anecdotal as plug in Spotify account going to have a crucial effect on the final flavor of the beer. Don’t be fooled by unscientific marketing campaigns. And, if they have some kind of foundation, however minimal it may be – as is the case – try to find out to what extent what the manufacturer promises is real. In the vast majority of cases we can find unpleasant surprises.