Australian Institute for Machine Learning designs AI beer with Barossa Valley Brewing

It took 260,000 recipes but an SA brewery and two students reckon they’ve got a guaranteed crowd pleaser after testing this product of machine-learning.

Machines are taking over, even venturing into the dark arts of beer brewing in an artificial intelligence experiment at Lot Fourteen.

Using the computer power at the Australian Institute for Machine Learning, two Adelaide University students trawled through 260,000 recipes for craft beer, and filtered results for what the crowd likes.

Then they collaborated with Barossa Valley Brewing to actually make the stuff.

The first taste testing was at Lot Fourteen, where it was served by a robotic bartender built by AIML engineers. The robot detects an empty glass placed on the bar and automatically refills it.

“It tastes like the future – no, seriously, it’s a fruit-driven IPA which I’m very proud of,” Barossa Valley Brewing founder Denham D’Silva said.

Australian Institute for Machine Learning interns from Adelaide University Jash Vira and Christopher Fusco taste test the beer with Barossa Valley Brewing founder Denham D’Silva. Picture: Emma Brasier

Beer essentially consists of four ingredients – malt, hops, water and yeast.

Complexity lies in variations in the ingredients and precise changes to times and temperatures during the brewing process, the two computer science intern students, Christopher Fusco and Jash Vira, said.

Using AI to design a beer that actually tastes good was quite difficult.

“We had to come up with our own mathematical formula, using statistics from the original recipes,” Mr Fusco said.

They established more than 60 data points on the ingredients, handling, processing and predictions of bitterness, colour and alcohol content.

They overlaid a popularity indicator by how many views a recipe had online, how many people said they’d brewed it and what comments they made.

This produced a shortlist of 30, with Barossa Valley Brewing then picking the final candidate.

The can designed for The Rodney AI2PA beer.

Robot inventor Rodney Brooks.

The beer – named Rodney AI2PA in honour of Australian robotics pioneer and autonomous vacuum cleaner inventor Rodney Brooks – will be on sale at limited independent outlets and pubs from January 15, at about $22 for a 4-pack.

Mr D’Silva said he’s always been keen to try something new, and while it was super-exciting it was also a little terrifying to place faith in AI. But he has been well and truly converted.

“South Australia’s economy is so dependent on artisans – making cheese, wine, chocolate – and people are concerned that AI and machines are going to take away everyone’s jobs,” he said.

“But what we found it that this has made what we do even better. As humans we couldn’t have looked at over 200,000 recipes, but we added our artisanal knowledge to give us the advantage.”

The label was designed by Ben Lawrence and incorporates lots of coding to unpack.

Mr D’Silva said drinkers would be invited to make comments, with feedback to be applied in refining the beer or developing the next batch – possibly a seasonal change.