We could have told you that,  in fact we do all the time, but then we’re not noted German scientists.

Here’s the deal…

Using cutting edge methods, German scientists have discovered the metabolic complexity (read: the drink’s chemical structure) of commercial beers from around the world.

“Beer is an example of enormous chemical complexity,” said corresponding author Prof Philippe Schmitt-Kopplin, head of the Comprehensive Foodomics Platform at the Technical University of Munich and of the Analytical BioGeoChemistry research unit at the Helmholtz Center in Munich….

 “And thanks to recent improvements in analytical chemistry, comparable in power to the ongoing revolution in the technology of video displays, with ever-increasing resolution, we can reveal this complexity in unprecedented detail. Today it’s easy to trace tiny variations in chemistry throughout the food production process, to safeguard quality or to detect hidden adulterations.”

Using new technology with names we could barely decipher,  the German research team studied the metabolites (the substance made or used when the body breaks down food, drugs or chemicals, or its own tissue) in 467 types of beer brewed in the US, Latin America, Europe, Africa, and East Asia. These included a wide spectrum of beers such as lagers, craft and abbey ales, and even some sours.

In an article that was published in Frontiers in Chemistry on July 20, the authors found approximately 7,700 charged molecules with unique masses and formulas, 80%  of them not yet described in any chemical databases anywhere!

“Here we reveal an enormous chemical diversity across beers, with tens of thousands of unique molecules,” said first author Stefan Pieczonka, a PhD student at the Technical University of Munich….

“We show that this diversity originates in the variety of raw materials, processing, and fermentation. The molecular complexity is then amplified by the so-called ‘Maillard reaction’ between amino acids and sugars, which also gives bread, meat steaks, and toasted marshmallow their ‘roasty’ flavor.”

So yes, beer is complex, very complex, maybe one of the most complex drinks in human history.

Want more beer science? There’s this…

RESEARCHERS ON WHY BEER COASTERS DON’T FLY LIKE FRISBEES

And this….

THE LATEST FINDINGS ABOUT BEER AND EXERCISE