Scientists Develop 'Artificial Tongue' To Detect Fake Whiskies (theguardian.com) 99
Scientists have developed an "artificial tongue" that can differentiate a young whisky from an 18-year-old single malt. "The team, based in Scotland, say their device can be used to tell apart a host of single malts -- a move they say might help in the fight against counterfeit products," reports The Guardian. From the report: Writing in the journal Nanoscale, the team describe how their artificial tongue is based on a glass wafer featuring three separate arrays, each composed of 2 million tiny "artificial taste buds" -- squares about 500 times smaller than a human taste bud, with sides just 100nm long. There are six different types of these squares in the device, three types made from gold and three from aluminum. While one type of gold and one of aluminum are essentially bare, the surface of the other types are coated in different chemical substances.
Each of the three arrays contain one type of gold and one type of aluminum square. When light is shone on an array, it interacts with the electrons at the surface of the squares, resulting in dips in the reflected light which can be measured. These dips appear at slightly different wavelengths depending on which type of square the light interacts with. Crucially, these dips shift depending on the liquid surrounding the arrays. The upshot is that each liquid gives rise to its own "fingerprint" of measurements. That means the device can be used to tell apart different liquids -- and even identify them if they have been recorded before -- without revealing their makeup, rather like our own tongues do.
Each of the three arrays contain one type of gold and one type of aluminum square. When light is shone on an array, it interacts with the electrons at the surface of the squares, resulting in dips in the reflected light which can be measured. These dips appear at slightly different wavelengths depending on which type of square the light interacts with. Crucially, these dips shift depending on the liquid surrounding the arrays. The upshot is that each liquid gives rise to its own "fingerprint" of measurements. That means the device can be used to tell apart different liquids -- and even identify them if they have been recorded before -- without revealing their makeup, rather like our own tongues do.
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You raise an excellent point!
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My understanding was, smells like fish, but tastes like chicken. Perhaps this important technological innovation will finally settle the matter once and for all!
If this doesn't work as well as hoped (Score:3)
I volunteer my services for determining whether a whisky is truly an 18-year-old or not.
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*Sip* Hmm. Not sure. *Sip* Still not getting it. *Sip* Tell you what, I'll take this bottle home with me and do further testing.
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Come now, there isn't much point in having him around if he doesn't swallow.
Re: "Scientists" (Score:1)
You're right, damn those scientists, we should put the entirety of scientific research on hold until cancer is cured.
Of course, the team behind this aren't biologists, but they could make the tea at least for the cancer curing team?
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What a gold plated grade A fuckwit you are. Can you tie your own shoelaces yet or does mummy do it for you?
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Re: What is a 'fake' whisk(e)y? (Score:2)
Re: What is a 'fake' whisk(e)y? (Score:2)
Significant industry? (Score:2)
Fraudulent whiskeys are a huge concern for Ireland who derive a significant part of their economy from distilleries.
Let's put some numbers to that.
Ireland's GDP is about 370 billion euros.
The alcoholic beverage industry in Ireland contributes about 2 billion euros [wikipedia.org] annually and employs about 92,000 people.
Of these the whisky industry employs (drumroll)... 748 people with total revenue of 400 million euro.
So the whisky industry in Ireland accounts for about 0.1% of their GDP and very few jobs. I'd say that doesn't quite meet the bar for being significant.
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"So, what you're saying is that we should spend a few million on developing an A.I. that can tell if someone has poured cheap whiskey into an expensive bottle and screwed the cap back on?"
Screw that, use the AI to detect if the distillery has put cheaper whisky in a more expensive bottle. I do have a better solution though, don't use bitter elements that taste like dissolved Asprin to make your whisky in the first place then you won't have to age them so much before they become palatable (talking to you Sco
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On the flip, the amount of profit to be had by just bottling the 12 yr old whisky in the 18 and 25 year bottles right at the distillery is massive. Very very few people can tell the difference, only a tiny fraction of those who think they can. The difference between a fresh distilled and 12yr is pretty big, the difference between a 12yr and 18 is quite small, the difference between an 18 and 25yr is almost entirely the price tag.
I'd be more interested in this as a way to bust the distilleries than third par
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And finding out is exactly what a device like this is for. A fresh whisky with a bit of vanilla added is a fake if sold as a 12 or 18 yr old even if real. The markup is huge, the space required to age them is massive and tied up for a long time... like 12-18yrs and the number of people who can tell the difference is dramatically lower than the number who can't. The most likely fraudsters are the actual name brand whisky makers themselves with the profit incentive.
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I expect it is a hold over from the medieval feudal system, where they were distinct separations between the social classes. Like in the faerie tail "The Princess and the Pea". The idea that higher status people who are exposed to the nicer things, have an appreciation to their details, and as almost a test to determine ones class is to see what they determine to be good and bad. So if someone pretending to be in an upper class, fails to tell the difference between good wine and bad wine, then chances are
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I accidentally searched for "The Princess and the Pee", and didn't find what I was expecting.
Next... (Score:1)
... they'll develop and AI to uncovered the reason as to how anyone can stomach that nauseating muck. Whisky tastes like someones thrown an entire medicine cabinet into alcohol and stirred.
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Hope you've renewed your Alcoholics Anonymous subscription.
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You might be thinking of stuff like Jack Daniels.
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I strongly dislike bourbon and Jack Daniels bourbon in particular.
However, I actually like Jack Daniels Rye whiskey.
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I strongly dislike bourbon and Jack Daniels bourbon in particular.
However, I actually like Jack Daniels Rye whiskey.
Probably because it's not really distilled by Jack Daniels [forbes.com].
Nope (Score:2)
I've tried the real scottish stuff too, still makes me genuinely retch.
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That is the problem they use nasty peat that tastes like a dissolved Asprin. There are basically two inexpensive whiskies to try. A jameson 12yr (you won't find it, so buy an 18 to find out) and Makers. Remember to sip not "drink" like they do in madmen. If you still don't like it then move on with your life, if you do like them then your issue isn't whisky but the kind of whisky. I have no idea why people became obsessed with Scotch but one on one I've gotten most to admit it is really a social thing to be
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No, that would be gin...
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Re: Next... (Score:2)
Whisky tastes like someones thrown an entire medicine cabinet into alcohol and stirred.
Ever smelled the inside of a whisky barrel? Explains a lot.
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Sometimes tastes change. I hated all the whiskey variants for years. I'd drink just about anything else but couldn't stand it. Then one day I had some sort of whiskey mixed drink and it didn't taste too bad, and a year later scotch was my favorite drink. No idea what changed, but it stopped being horrible to me and started being tasty.
Of course your taste buds might also not change, or not in that way. It may be worth testing now and then, just to see.
Differences from chemical analysys? (Score:2)
I really wonder what's the difference...
Counterfeit? (Score:4, Interesting)
I personally don't care if something is "counterfeit"...
At the end of the day, it's down to taste.. Does one taste better than the other, and is the improvement sufficient enough to justify the price difference?
If people are buying the cheap stuff it's because they don't think the difference is worth paying such a high price for (or they might actually prefer the cheap stuff).
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If you're a whiskey afficionado, or just want to show-off, and are paying out those kinds of sums for a bottle then you'll absolutely want to be sure you've got the genuine article before you finalise the sale
Is it customary to allow the buyer to check a sample before the auction ? And if so, can't you just taste it yourself to see what kind of price you're willing to pay ?
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The ideal time to use the tongue would be immediately after concluding a purchas
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The problem with this electronic device is that it just seem to give a 'fingerprint', not an actual verdict whether it actually tastes good. That may be good enough to identify certain brands and distinguish them from off-brands, but it doesn't guarantee that it can say anything useful about very rare and unique products.
Just like you could identify Usain Bolt by his fingerprint, but you can't tell from a fingerprint if a random person is a talented sprinter.
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I'd be more interested if they could produce a pocket sized one that can determine the precise urine content of any beverage.
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"At the end of the day, it's down to taste.. Does one taste better than the other, and is the improvement sufficient enough to justify the price difference?"
Indeed. There are some really crappy 18yo whiskies out there, and some marvelous 5yo whiskies. Add to that: some kinds of whisky (like heavily peated Islays) are just better young. IMHO, of course, as there's a lot of personal taste and personal preference involved.
There are too many people who are way too "brand aware". For example, anything with the n
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People go blind from counterfeit alcohol.
surely you'd need an artificial eye to perform that test, not an artificial tongue.
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Re: Counterfeit? (Score:2)
Perhaps you just use it to desinfect the numbing pain of daily existence.
'Cause alcohol's such a great reliever of depression??
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"mystery meat" indeed, if it is from a country like in China. Then you might be getting industrial waste with your drink. [theguardian.com]
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That's precisely why the vendor does, because your sense of taste is so diminished, you don't even stop to ask yourself if the label on the bottle is full of shit.
FTFY.
Product A: Established vendor with skin in the game, and visual brand equity to demonstrate this reality.
Product B: Opportunistic producer, looking to ma
does it matter? (Score:2)
it matters in a way to detected forgeries, but other than that?
if the human tongue isn't able to detect the difference, should it even matter what you are drinking?
it's like those audiophiles that say they can see the difference between low and high cost hdmi cables.
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who says the human tongue can't tell the difference? But there's only so many people who are going to be interested in taste testing rotgut, much less practice enough to be able to accurately identify the rotgut despite a misleading label.
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Can you taste the difference between alcohol, methanol, or ethanol? You might not be able to, but the effects of each are certainly different.
If it is a counterfeit, you're trusting the criminal with your health. That matters.
Um... (Score:2)
...if you need a precise laboratory-caliber sensor to tell the difference between that $500 whiskey and a $15 bottle, why are you wasting the money on the expensive bottle (except in Ponzi-like hopes that there will be another even more gullible rube further down the line)?
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Exactly.
Tell you what; I'm going to start a business that will buy at pennies on the dollar, the vast amounts of knockoff premium booze.
I will then turn around and sell it explicitly stating "this is ABC knockoff liquor, tastes so close to the premium brand (X) that even experts can't tell the difference" for 1/10 the price of the premium brand.
I bet I make a $million. I'm even going to call it Knockoff Brand(tm) or Counterfeit(tm). That would be an amazing marketing campaign. I'd use the celebrity imper
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I don't think it's that they need a precise sensor to tell there's a difference, they need a precise sensor to tell where the cheap stuff in the expensive bottle really came from since the label is lying.
wjiskies (Score:2)
So is whiskies the plural of whisky or the plural of whiskey ?
Yes, er, both Re:wjiskies (Score:3, Informative)
From the Grammarphobia Blog [grammarphobia.com]:
In Scotland, they make Scotch "whisky" (plural "whiskies"), but in Ireland they make Irish "whiskey" (plural "whiskeys").
American and British dictionaries generally observe this distinction when referring to these two products. But then the dictionaries go their separate ways.
In referring to versions of the liquor manufactured in other countries, British dictionaries spell it "whisky." Some US dictionaries prefer "whiskey" while others accept both spellings as standard.
Why the difference? We haven't found a definitive answer.
For details, click on the link. To avoid the pain from tying your brain into knots, I suggest downing a few bottles of your favorite whisky or whiskey first.
Engineered whiskey (Score:1)
One small step on the long path to duplicating the fine whiskeys, er, whiskies, of the past and engineering better ones in the future.
By the time Scotty is making hooch in the Enterprise engine rooms, he should be able to make a very fine "18 year old" whiskey in far less time.
Re: Engineered whiskey (Score:2)
...and engineering better ones in the future.
"When all you have is a hammer, ever problem looks like a nail."
Did anybody else read this as "Wiskas"? (Score:4, Funny)
I could hear rejoicing from a million cats all around the world.
Not very difficult (Score:1)
I just pull on them and you can tell right away if they are coming of the face and...
Oh, you said fake whiskies like the DRINK.
Nevermind.
All Whiskies are not created equal (Score:5, Funny)
First Scottish Lass: "I call my boyfriend Sugar, because he's the sweetest thing ever."
Second Scottish Lass: "I call my boyfriend "Lagavulin".
First Scottish Lass: "Lagavulin? Isn't that one of Scotland's best liquors?"
Second Scottish Lass: "Why, yes. Yes it is".
Good (Score:2)
The fakers will have a better method to perfect their fakes.
Btw how are artificial livers doing? (Score:1)
Depending on the progress, I might dare to replace the artificial tongue.
Hmmmm (Score:2)
An "artificial tongue" for tasting whiskey, you say? What else can it do?
Asking for a friend, of course.