Smoking ruins the taste of beer

By Markham Heid

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Still smoking? Don't bother pairing it with a heavenly IPA - you won't enjoy the full flavour

The craft beer movement has supercharged the popularity of bitter, hop-heavy brews. But if you smoke tobacco, you may have a hard time enjoying the full flavor of your IPA—or even a good cup of coffee, finds new research from France.

During a taste test, roughly 20 per cent of smokers were unable to identify bitter flavors. That number jumped to 27 per cent among former smokers, according to the study.

The toxic compounds in cigarettes could damage bitter taste receptors in your tongue and throat, explains study coauthor Dr Nelly Jacob, of the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital APHP in Paris. Even if you quit and your taste buds regrow, it’s possible that your bitter-flavor receptors don’t regenerate fully, or that the info pathways that allow your brain to interpret bitter flavors may be damaged, Dr. Jacob adds.

You should ditch the cancer sticks anyway, but if you want to fully enjoy the delicious bitter notes of your hoppy beer or morning joe, stay away from cigarettes and cigars, the study suggests.

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