Validating the Sensitivity of the Beer Tetrad Test as Compared with the Beer Triangle Test (A Follow-Up Study): An American Society of Brewing Chemists Technical Committee Report

Abstract

Previous testing by the sensory subcommittee confirmed that the Tetrad Test was more sensitive than the Triangle Test on beer samples with higher Effect Sizes. The subcommittee also wanted to confirm that the Tetrad Test was equally effective for samples with lower Effect Sizes; therefore, a new study was designed to validate the sensitivity of the Tetrad Test for smaller d’ values. The results of the second study show that for samples with smaller d’ values, the Tetrad Test resulted in a 15% reduction in d’ compared with the Triangle Test. This is less than the theoretical 1/3 reduction, indicating that the Tetrad Test is more sensitive. The Tetrad Test also resulted in a higher proportion of correct responses, though the difference was not significant at the 95% confidence interval. The subcommittee recommended that the Tetrad Test method be included in the ASBC Methods of Analysis.

Keywords:

• Beer
• discrimination tests
• sensory
• Tetrad Test
• Triangle Test