Side 1: The Theory: Your brain is lying to you. You have more than five senses. And they don’t work the way your brain thinks they do.
How we really taste and perceive flavour, why that’s a lot more complicated and mysterious than perhaps you thought it was, and why it’s so important to us.
How we really hear and perceive music, and why that’s a lot more complicated and mysterious than perhaps you thought it was, and why it’s so important to us
How context, culture, occasion, mood, memory, glassware, that person you had a crush on when you were fourteen and what you had for breakfast all impact what you think you can taste and hear.
How recent research that proves that on top of all the contextual stuff, our brains have formed deep-seated relationships between what we taste and what we hear.
Side 2: The Practice: How Nineties rave music can help you overcome your distrust of sour beers. And why U2 make it OK to secretly like Heineken.
This side provides an overview of the different ways you can pair beers and songs/pieces of music, based on what we’ve learned on Side One. Followed by some example pairings.
Pete Brown is a British author, journalist, broadcaster and consultant specialising in food and drink. Across twelve books, his broad, fresh approach takes in social history, cultural commentary, travel writing, personal discovery and natural history, and his words are always delivered with the warmth and wit you’d expect from a great night down the pub. He writes for newspapers and magazines around the world, and is a regular contributor to radio and podcasts. He was named British Beer Writer of the Year in 2009, 2012, 2016 and 2021, has won three Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards, been shortlisted twice for the Andre Simon Awards, and in 2020 was named an “Industry Legend” at the Imbibe Hospitality Awards. He was recently accused of being the 31st most important person in the drinks industry. He lives in Norwich and London with his wife Liz, and dog Mildrid.