Listen to your Cocktail! Sounds in the Drink
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How can sound and sound waves impact our taste experience? Peter Eichhorn has put his ear to the ground for us.
Sound affects our culinary mood. We are aware of this phenomenon thanks to the background music in bars and restaurants. We know how the right soundtrack can lift our mood. Tracks can also trigger memories thereby creating a feeling of happiness or causing goosebumps. We all know the emotions so well that a song or making music together can evoke.
Beyond this, however, sound, music and sound waves can influence various mechanisms related to food and especially beverages in a wide variety of ways.
It all started in 2008 when scientists were awarded with the Ig Nobel Prize for submitting a comprehensive study on the sound of potato crisps. The sound produced when biting on them and how this influenced the sensation of freshness and, hence, the perception of quality. This was followed by the next step taken by industrial crisp producers who then also paid attention to the rustle of their crips bags. Paper coating promised to add a touch of craftmanship to the rustling sound.
Coffee sounds and milk
Just as fascinating are the studies carried out by a producer of capsule coffee that confirmed that the sound of the coffee machine impacts the assessment of the coffee taste by study subjects. A lower pitch produced by the brewing process made for a better ranking of the same coffee than a higher pitch.
Another study produced the impressive result that cows deliver more milk when exposed to Beethoven’s music. To get catchy tunes out of one’s head British researchers recommend chewing gums. The chewing process seems to keep a similar region of our brains busy thereby overriding the catchy tune and burying it in oblivion.
Sounds exciting: sound waves in liquids
In addition to man and animals, current research also focuses on liquids themselves. A basic concept here is that sound waves not only spread in the air but also in liquids like wine and containers such as barrels or casks. In so doing they impact yeast structures and fermentation/ageing processes; they alter and/or accelerate various processes. Early processes focused on the idea of using sound waves to prevent yeast from settling on the bottom keeping it afloat. A type of sound-controlled “bâtonnage”, i.e. the process originally designed to keep the wine yeast in motion by stirring.
Sonification in wine and beer
The next idea focused on the resulting closer contact between liquid and yeast and a more intense fermentation. After all, the mouth feel and residual sugar change. In Austria Markus Bachmann and Thomas Köberl developed a method which they marketed under the heading of “Sonor Wines”. They experimented with two production stages. During fermentation loudspeakers installed in the tanks produce a particular effect on the yeast and, hence, a new music-induced quality of wine. They worked with music in major and minor and music styles ranging from hard rock to Polka.
Invigorating sounds
The second stage involves applying sounds to the filled barrels. The ideas here is to induce a type of second fermentation by sonification. The developers explain: “The effect of the music allows the remaining yeast to be “resurrected” and to work on any remaining unprocessed potential of the wine.” Numerous wine-growing estates apply these methods and emphasise that this a science-based approach rather than an esoteric idea.
Many brewers are also looking at the changes occurring in yeast structures and occasionally document the music played at the fermentation tanks during the process to identify possible effects on the beer. Ultrasound-based processes have already been tested in the brewing industry since the 1940s. Exciting results were already observed during the initial test series: hop bitters were solved better and germs were also killed, for example. Soon other sectors of industry adopted the results for the production of cheese or peanut butter; and, of course, for spirits.
Sound and cognac, sound waves and whisky
The connection between music and drinks is a tried and tested one. The link between hip hop music and cognac seems an odd one at first glance but started in 2001 with the song “Pass the Courvoisier” by Busta Rhymes and P. Diddy. This resulted in well over a hundred other songs containing such terms as “Henny”, “Remi” and “nyak” or “yak” – for Hennessy, Remy Martin and cognac.
However, with whisky we especially like listening when The Doors ask: “Show me the way to the next Whisky Bar” or Janis Joplin when explains “What good drinkin’ can do”. John Lee Hooker advises: “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer” while AC/DC invite us to “Have a Drink on Me”. There are even clear commitments to specific brands. Westernhagen finds his best friend in Johnny Walker, Country singer Whiskey Dick praises “Jim Beam and me” and Frank Sinatra was not only buried with a bottle of Jack Daniel’s but the brand’s most exquisite products are even named after him.
From the recording studio to the drinks business
Plenty of musicians have entered the whisky business like The Pogues, Willie Nelson, Motörhead, Anthrax or Drake. The last one to cause a stir was Bob Dylan with his brand “Heaven’s Door” and its highly aromatic double-barrel ageing, in particular. And with Metallica a band has finally introduced sound right into the casks. Metallica’s whiskey “Blackened” has been on the market since 2018. The label features the visualised sound frequency of the song “…And Justice For All”. This straight whiskey ages in strongly charred brandy barrels that are exposed to Metallica songs from giant loudspeakers round the clock. Each batch of this whiskey comes with the playlist that accompanied its ageing. The theory reads that the power of soundwaves makes the liquid vibrate, which leads to a more intense contact with the wood and therefore stronger aromas.
Ultrasound for the bar
The use of ultrasound does not end with drinks producers’ fermentation and storage tanks. Special devices have also made inroads at bar counters. A number of these devices for various drinks segments are manufactured by Hielscher Ultrasonics. The firm’s product descriptions read as follows: “Distilleries use high-performance ultrasound to improve the quality of spirits within hours thereby skipping or reducing the time-consuming cask ageing that can take up to several years. Ultrasound promotes the mechanical and chemical reactions that last for several years under conventional ageing conditions and “condenses” them into just a few hours. Distillates aged and “smoothed” with ultrasound are recognised as full-bodied and matured liqueurs that have the same quality features as spirits aged in casks for many years.”
Mixology opens up new taste experiences
The company explains the device designed for cocktail bars as follows: “Ultrasonic waves make it possible to extract novel aromas, age spirits and wines as well as to emulsify oil/water mixtures within seconds. This quick infusion and mixing technology opens up avenues for completely new taste experiences and flavour combinations. Plant extracts such as herbs, spices and wood are particularly well suited. An ultrasonic mixer like the UP200Ht allows a whisky to be blended with oak-chip based flavours so that the whisky tastes as if aged in an oak barrel for several years.”
One of the avantgarde in innovative bar ideas has been Alex Kratena in London. As early as 2014 he invested £3,000 in an ultrasound device for the Artesian Bar. He regarded it as a tool for extracting intense aromas from herbs and spices by means of 20,000 ultrasonic impulses per second. In Germany the Frankfurt-based Kinly Bar has always been at the forefront of innovative bar techniques, which is why ultrasonic waves are also used there.
We can therefore look forward to seeing what liquid developments through sound and music will be coming to our bar counters in the near future. Until then, we will follow the advice of German stand-up comedian Heinz Erhardt: “Drum singe, wem Gesang gegeben, und wer’s nicht kann, soll einen heben” – (“Sing if you have the voice or just raise a glass if you’ve no other choice”).
