You may have always suspected it, but now there is scientific proof to back it up – music makes beer taste better.

A new study finds that a range of multisensory information, such as sensation, shape and color, and yes – sound - can influence the way we perceive taste.

The Brussels Beer Project collaborated with the United Kingdom band “The Editors to produce a porter-style beer that took inspiration from the musical and visual identity of the band. The ale had a medium body and used an Earl Grey infusion that produced citrus notes, contrasting with the malty, chocolate flavors from the mix of grains used in production. This taste profile was designed to broadly correspond to band’s latest album, "In Dreams."

Then, a team of researchers in Brussels designed an experiment to see if the influence of music and packaging design would result in a more positive tasting experience. They invited 231 drinkers to experience the beer in three different conditions:

• The first served as a control group and drank the beer along with a bottle without a label. In this case, they didn't listen to any specific song.
• The second group, testing the influence of packaging, tasted the beer after seeing the bottle with the label.
• The third group drank the beer presented with the label while listening to "Oceans of Light,' one of the songs on the band's latest album, which the beer was created to reflect.

Before the test the participants rated how tasty they thought the beer might be. Then after tasting they rated how much they had actually enjoyed the drink.
The results showed that those presented with the label and track reported greater enjoyment than those presented with the beer and label alone.

The researchers say these findings, which appear in Frontiers of Psychology, could be used to add to the understanding as to how sounds can influence people’s decision making process, to lead to healthier food choices, for instance.