The Science of Drinking Beer

Did you know the sort of glass you drink from predicts how fast you drink?  Well, according to an article in the economist, "The shape of a beer glass does, nevertheless, matter."   The article states that a group of researchers at the University of Bristol have shown that it can regulate how quickly someone drinks.

Angela Attwood and her colleagues asked 160 undergraduates—80 women and 80 men—to do one of four things: drink beer out of a straight glass; drink beer out of a flute (a glass whose sides curve outward towards the rim); or drink lemonade from one of these two sorts of glass. To complicate matters further, some of the glasses were full whereas others were half-full. Though, as is common practice in studies of this sort, participants were misled about its true nature, and were shown films and asked to do a language test afterwards, to support this misdirection, what Dr Attwood and her team were really interested in was how quickly the various drinks would be drunk.

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