One’s personality plays a large role in the daily decisions you make. If you know someone well enough, you could probably guess what the kinds of shows they’re watching on Netflix, the music they enjoy, the kind car they might buy. All kinds of things.

And now research from Penn State’s Sensory Evaluation Center has found a link between a personality type and the bitterness of beers they enjoy. Findings that might help explain the kind of people that prefer to hang out in craft beer taprooms and those that would never be caught with a Budweiser in their hand.

Founded in 1972, the Sensory Evaluation Center is part of Penn State Department of Food Science and a leader in taste research. And over the years they’ve conducted numerous sensory and consumer tests for the university as well for industrial clients.

Previous studies at the prestigious department have established a connection between food tastes and personality, such as “high-sensation-seeking” individuals enjoy spicy foods.

And now, research from Penn State’s Sensory Evaluation Center has expanded on the taste preferences of the high-sensation personality, but this time with beer.

The study, published in Food Quality and Preference, found that people who are prone to taking risks are more likely to prefer bitter, pale ale-style beers. And its findings run in opposition to previously established research that indicates greater perceived bitterness leads to decreased intake of bitter foods and drinks.

“Traditionally, most researchers find that people who experience bitterness more intensely avoid bitter food or drink—so with heightened bitterness, they like it less, and therefore consume it less,” said John Hayes, associate professor and co-author of the study told Lab Equipment, (yep that’s a real site)…. “But here, we find that people who seek higher sensations and are more risk-taking, they like bitter beer such as India Pale Ales, if they also have greater bitter taste perception.”

Translation: people who perceive bitterness to a greater degree and tend to avoid it in foods, are more intensely attracted to bitter beer styles like pale ales.

Hops are the key bittering agent in beer. For the study, the researchers presented 109 beer consumers with three different beers that range with regard to their bitterness.

Budweiser (of course) is the bestselling beer produced by Anheuser-Busch. It’s a lager as opposed to a pale ale, and if you consider the “King of Beers” to be bitter, we suggest you avoid beer entirely and just stick with soda or Gatorade.

Founders All-Day IPA was presented to participants as the study’s moderately bitter option. First introduced by Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Founders Brewing in 2009, it was the nation’s first Session IPA (read: lower alcohol content) and remains an American craft beer favorite today.

Tröegs Perpetual IPA was the study’s other pale ale. Brewed with almost reckless amounts of Bravo, Chinook, Mt. Hood, Nugget, Cascade and Citra hops by the Hershey, Pennsylvania brewery, this India Pale Ale is aggressively hopped, the strongest of the three beers used in the study, and definitely the most bitter…

In blind laboratory conditions, the participants rated their enjoyment and the intensity of all three beers, and the pale ales were found to correlate more positively with the high sensation, more risk-taking personality trait.

And given that the American craft beer industry was largely built on the back of big, hoppy (read: bitter) pale ales, you can loosely interpret these findings in a lot of fun, less academic ways…

Like craft beer fans are a riskier breed (so possibly more fun to drink with?).

Or maybe just Budweiser fans are boring…