酷兔英语


Rhonda Dannenberg, a suburban mother of three, stuck her nose in six glasses of beer at the MillerCoors brewery here and swished a bit of each in her mouth. Then she delivered the kind of frank verdict that's shaking up the mens-club world of beer tasting.


达•丹嫩贝格(Rhonda Dannenberg)住在密尔沃基郊区,是三个孩子的妈妈,此时她正在米勒康胜啤酒公司(MillerCoors brewery)品酒,只见她将鼻子探进6只啤酒杯中,从每杯里品了一小口。然后,她得出了一个坦率的结论,正是这种结论改变了由男性主宰的啤酒品尝行业。



'I got a strong bruised fruit,' Ms. Dannenberg, 36 years old, said of one of the Miller Lite batches, drawing a few nods from the three other women and two men at the table. 'Slight cardboard taste. Oxidized. Unacceptable.'


"我尝到了强烈的烂果子味",36岁的丹嫩贝格说的是美乐淡啤(Miller Lite)某个批次的产品,她的话让桌旁的其他三位女士和两位男士纷纷点头。"有点纸板的味道。氧化过度。不可接受。"





在许多公司中,品酒小组成员都是男性,他们通常是酿酒大师和其他技术型专家。而这也是有道理的。根据电视广告判断,男人比女人更喜欢啤酒,有时甚至比喜欢女性更甚。



At many companies, the assembled panelists would have been men, typically brew masters and other technical types. And it makes sense. To judge from TV commercials, men like beer better than women do and sometimes even seem to like beer more than they like women.


但英国南非米勒啤酒公司(SABMiller PLC)几年前决定,在员工中深入发掘擅长品酒的人才,邀请市场营销人员、秘书和其他人来一试身手。该公司得出的结论是,女性能把男性喝到桌子底下去。



But the British company SABMiller PLC decided several years ago to reach deeper into its employee pool to find adept tasters, inviting marketers, secretaries and others to try their hand. The company concluded that women were drinking men under the table.


"我们发现,女性通常对啤酒的味道等级更敏感",南非米勒啤酒公司的首席酿酒师巴里•阿克塞尔(Barry Axcell)说。他说,接受品酒师培训的女性表现要胜过她们的男性同行。



'We have found that females often are more sensitive about the levels of flavor in beer,' says Barry Axcell, SABMiller's chief brewer. Women trained as tasters outshine their male counterparts, he says.


如果说熟能生巧,那么男性在啤酒品尝上应该有明显优势,因为根据市场调研企业Datamonitor Group提供的数据,他们消费的啤酒占世界啤酒销量的72.8%。但是除了米勒(Miller)和康胜(Coors)以外还生产皮尔森(Pilsner Urquell)、佩罗尼(Peroni)和高胜(Grolsch)等品牌的南非米勒啤酒公司说,该公司的经验证据显示,在检测3-甲基-2-丁烯-1-硫醇这种让啤酒有"臭味"的不良化学成份时,女性的表现更优。



If practice makes perfect, men should have the clear edge in beer tasting, since they account for 72.8% of the world's beer sales, according to market-research firm Datamonitor Group. But SABMiller, which makes Pilsner Urquell, Peroni and Grolsch in addition to Miller and Coors brands, says its empirical evidence shows that females are the superior sex when it comes to detecting such undesirablechemicals as 3-methyl-2-butene-1-thiol, which makes beer 'skunky.'


找到最好的品酒师对于啤酒业来说至关重要。品酒小组确保每天从酒桶中流出的啤酒都符合每种品牌的特定味道──例如银子弹啤酒(Coors Light)清淡的水果味和佩罗尼啤酒干净的余味。品酒师还能帮助酿酒师决定啤酒能在商店货架上保持新鲜多长时间,以及应该推出何种新产品。



Finding the very best tasters is crucial to the beer industry. Tasting panels ensure that the beer spilling out of the tanks each day conforms with the specific characteristics for each brand -- such as the mild fruit flavor in Coors Light or the dry finish of Peroni. Tasters also help brewers decide how long their beers will stay fresh on store shelves, and what new products to introduce.


阿克塞尔说,现在,南非米勒啤酒公司的1,000名高级品酒师中,有30%是女性。10年中,女性品酒师的人数增加了三倍左右。



Today, 30% of SABMiller's 1,000 advanced-level tasters are female, Mr. Axcell says. The number of women tasters has roughly quadrupled in 10 years.


丹嫩贝格在大学里学的是微生物学,在到这家公司担任检测新品种的试验酿酒师以前,曾在一家奶酪厂工作。她因对啤酒味道的生动描述而闻名,比如"鱼缸味"。"我们不想要这种味道",她说。



Ms. Dannenberg studied microbiology in college and worked at a cheese factory before landing a job here as a pilot brewer testing new styles. She's known for her colorful descriptions of beer flavors, like 'fish tank.' 'We don't want that,' she says.


"有时男人看到的是红色或褐色,而女人却能看到其中的阴影",30岁的杰森•普拉特(Jason Pratt)说,他和丹嫩贝格同在一个小组工作,是一位酵母和发酵科学家。



'Sometimes guys will see red or brown and women will see shades in it,' says Jason Pratt, 30, a yeast and fermentationscientist who serves on the panel with Ms. Dannenberg.


去年,普拉特赢得了金鼻子奖,每年这座奖杯都会颁发给密尔沃基最优秀的米勒康胜品酒师。他说,他找了女性品酒师作指导老师,认真听取了她们的建议,比如苏•汤普森(Sue Thompson),她负责南非米勒啤酒公司和美加摩森康胜啤酒公司(U.S.-Canadian Molson Coors Brewing Co.)共同所有的米勒康胜公司的品酒小组。



Last year, Mr. Pratt took home the Golden Nose, the trophy that goes each year to the top MillerCoors taster in Milwaukee. He says he has sought out female tasters as tutors, listening closely to the advice of such women as Sue Thompson, who runs the tasting panels for MillerCoors, which is co-owned by SABMiller and U.S.-Canadian Molson Coors Brewing Co.


"我们之间的友情多于竞争",他解释说。"实话实说吧,我们是靠喝啤酒来赚钱的。"



'There's more of a camaraderie than a competition,' he explains. 'Let's be honest. We are getting paid to drink beer.'


但他说,他仍然希望男性在南非米勒啤酒公司的年度品酒师大赛中有更好的表现。在这场比赛中,全世界2,000名该公司的品酒小组成员将通过盲品辨别啤酒类型、特定化学成份的香味和浓度。曾在南非米勒啤酒公司位于波兰比亚韦斯托克(Bialystok)的啤酒厂担任秘书、今年33岁的乔安娜•瓦西莱夫斯基(Joanna Wasilewska)在迄今为止举办过的两届比赛中均赢得了胜利。



Still, he says, he would like the men to make a better showing in SABMiller's annual taster-of-the-year competition, in which its 2,000 panelists in blind tastings around the world identify beer types, aromas and the intensity of specificchemicals. Joanna Wasilewska, a 33-year-old former secretary at its brewery in Bialystok, Poland, has won both events held so far.


这项工作也有缺点。"有时这让你很难融入应酬酒宴的氛围。"28岁的劳拉•多普金斯(Laura Dopkins)说,她是米勒康胜公司的品酒小组成员,拥有食品学硕士学位,曾为家乐氏公司(Kellogg Co.)试吃谷物糕点。"当你用'金属味'来形容啤酒时,其他人会觉得和你一起喝酒很无趣。"



There are downsides to the job. 'It's hard to be a social drinker sometimes,' says Laura Dopkins, 28, a MillerCoors panelist, who has a master's degree in food science and used to taste cereal bars for Kellogg Co. 'Other people don't find it fun to drink around you' when you refer to beer as 'metallic.'


有些啤酒公司不愿就女性品酒师是否更优秀发表评论。丹麦啤酒公司嘉士伯公司(Carlsberg A/S)称,今年该公司的一次品酒小组成员测试显示,女性的表现优于男性。这"让我们吃了一惊",集团质量总监戴维?伯吉斯(David Burgess)说。尽管如此,他还是说:"我们的观点是,男性和女性在这点上没有差别。"



Other brewers are reluctant to say whether women make better tasters. Carlsberg A/S, the Danish brewer, says a test of its tasting panelists this year showed its women outperforming the men. This 'surprised us,' says David Burgess, group quality director. Nonetheless, he says, 'our view is there is no difference between men and women.'


比利时百威英博公司(Anheuser-Busch InBev)的供应部副总裁,本身也是品酒小组成员的皮特•克雷默(Pete Kraemer)说,在他们公司的北美分部,关于啤酒品酒师的数据显示,不同性别的品酒水平没有明显区别。



At the North American division of Belgium's Anheuser-Busch InBev, data on its beer tasters show no significantdifference between the sexes, says Pete Kraemer, vice president of supply and a beer-tasting panelist himself.


有些喝啤酒的男性也不太相信女性的味觉更敏锐。"这听起来不可信",最近一天下午,22岁的卡洛斯•洛佩斯(Carlos Lopez)一边在芝加哥一家名为Stocks and Blondes的酒吧中品着一杯Leinenkugel的Summer Shandy一边说。



Some male beer drinkers doubt that women are better, too. 'It doesn't seem credible,' said Carlos Lopez, 22, while sipping a glass of Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy one recent afternoon at Stocks and Blondes, a Chicago bar.


他的一位女性朋友阿什莉•夏普诺(Ashley Siapno)却不敢苟同。"我认为在所有方面,我们对品味优劣的感觉都更敏锐",她说。"食物、衣服、啤酒。"



A female friend, Ashley Siapno, begged to differ. 'I think we have a better sense of what tastes better in all aspects,' she said. 'Food, clothes, beer.'


英国Cara Technology有限公司的比尔•辛普森(Bill Simpson)为公司提供培训和评价啤酒品酒师方面的咨询服务,他说,每五个尝试过啤酒公司品酒测试的人中──不管是男性还是女性──只有大约一人能达到公司品酒小组成员的水平。他还说,有天赋的人必须经过至少数月的培训,才能辨认出众多味道,以符合专家小组成员的资格。



Only about one of every five people -- male or female -- who try out for tasting at breweries ascend to the level of corporate panelist, says Bill Simpson of Cara Technology Ltd. in the U.K., who consults companies on training and evaluating beer tasters. People with natural ability must go through at least several months of training and be able to recognize numerous flavors to qualify as an expert panelist, he adds.


然而,科学家们仍然称,女性可能拥有生理上的优势。研究显示,她们的嗅觉更好。费城的一家研究机构,莫耐尔化学感官中心(Monell Chemical Senses Center)的科学家马西娅•佩尔沙(Marcia Pelchat)说,这是辨别啤酒味道的一个关键因素。



Still, scientists say women may have a physiological edge. Research shows they have a better sense of smell, a critical part of identifying flavors in beer, says Marcia Pelchat, a scientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, a researchinstitute in Philadelphia.


波兰的啤酒品酒师瓦西莱夫斯基几年前曾担任比亚韦斯托克啤酒公司董事会的秘书兼助理,当时她决定参加一次选拔,看看自己是否有品酒的天赋。该公司很快就意识到,在识别极低水平的不良化学成份方面,她拥有不寻常的能力。



Ms. Wasilewska, the Polish beer taster, was working as a secretary and assistant to the board of the Bialystok brewery several years ago when she decided to attend a screening to see whether she might have an aptitude for tasting. The company soon realized she had an unusual knack for identifying extremely low levels of troublesome chemicals.


现在,瓦西莱夫斯基在品酒小组中担任感官评价协调人。她说,她不知道自己为何如此擅长品尝啤酒,但她认为这或许和她长期锺情于香水有关。"还是个小女孩时,我就试着默记每一种香水",她说。"我从没幻想过我会使用这种技能。"



Now Ms. Wasilewska runs tasting panels as a sensory evaluation coordinator. She says she doesn't know why she is so good at beer-tasting but thinks it may have something to do with her long love affair with perfumes. 'As a young girl, I tried to learn every single perfume by heart,' she says. 'I never dreamed that I might use my skills.'


David Kesmodel
  • flavor [´fleivə] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.滋味 vt.给....调味 (初中英语单词)
  • account [ə´kaunt] 移动到这儿单词发声 vi.说明 vt.认为 n.帐目 (初中英语单词)
  • addition [ə´diʃən] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.加;加法;附加物 (初中英语单词)
  • female [´fi:meil] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.女(性)的 n.女人 (初中英语单词)
  • cheese [tʃi:z] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.干酪,乳酪 (初中英语单词)
  • annual [´ænjuəl] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.每年的 n.年刊 (初中英语单词)
  • competition [,kɔmpi´tiʃən] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.比赛;竞争 (初中英语单词)
  • identify [ai´dentifai] 移动到这儿单词发声 vt.认出;鉴定;验明 (初中英语单词)
  • director [di´rektə] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.指导者;....长;导演 (初中英语单词)
  • differ [´difə] 移动到这儿单词发声 vi.不同;有差别 (初中英语单词)
  • ascend [ə´send] 移动到这儿单词发声 v.登;上升;追溯 (初中英语单词)
  • ability [ə´biliti] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.(办事)能力;才干 (初中英语单词)
  • expert [´ekspə:t] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.&a.专家;内行 (初中英语单词)
  • chemical [´kemikəl] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.化学的 n.化学制品 (初中英语单词)
  • research [ri´sə:tʃ] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.&vi.调查;探究;研究 (初中英语单词)
  • institute [´institju:t] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.学院 vt.建立;设置 (初中英语单词)
  • working [´wə:kiŋ] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.工人的;劳动的 (初中英语单词)
  • assistant [ə´sistənt] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.助手;助理;助教 (初中英语单词)
  • unusual [ʌn´ju:ʒuəl] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.不平常的;异常的 (初中英语单词)
  • extremely [ik´stri:mli] 移动到这儿单词发声 ad.极端地;非常地 (初中英语单词)
  • perfume [´pə:fju:m, pə´fju:m] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.香味 vt.使发香 (初中英语单词)
  • technical [´teknikəl] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.技术的;专门性的 (高中英语单词)
  • decided [di´saidid] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.明显的;决定的 (高中英语单词)
  • sensitive [´sensitiv] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.敏感的;感光的 (高中英语单词)
  • specific [spi´sifik] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.具体的;特有的 (高中英语单词)
  • shelves [ʃelvz] 移动到这儿单词发声 shelf的复数 (高中英语单词)
  • roughly [´rʌfli] 移动到这儿单词发声 ad.粗糙地;毛糙地 (高中英语单词)
  • studied [´stʌdid] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.故意的;有计划的 (高中英语单词)
  • scientist [´saiəntist] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.(自然)科学家 (高中英语单词)
  • intensity [in´tensiti] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.激烈;强度;深度 (高中英语单词)
  • poland [´pəulənd] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.波兰 (高中英语单词)
  • cereal [´siəriəl] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.谷类制食物;谷物 (高中英语单词)
  • significant [sig´nifikənt] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.重要的;意义重大的 (高中英语单词)
  • critical [´kritikəl] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.批评的;关键性的 (高中英语单词)
  • verdict [´və:dikt] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.裁决,判决;判定 (英语四级单词)
  • miller [´milə] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.磨坊主;铣床(工) (英语四级单词)
  • drawing [´drɔ:iŋ] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.画图;制图;图样 (英语四级单词)
  • cardboard [´kɑ:dbɔ:d] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.纸板;卡纸 (英语四级单词)
  • trophy [´trəufi] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.战利品;奖品 (英语四级单词)
  • reluctant [ri´lʌktənt] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.勉强的;难得到的 (英语四级单词)
  • danish [´deiniʃ] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.&n.丹麦人(语)(的) (英语四级单词)
  • chicago [ʃi´kɑ:gəu] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.芝加哥 (英语四级单词)
  • polish [´pəuliʃ] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.波兰(人)的 n.波兰语 (英语四级单词)
  • suburban [sə´bə:bən] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.郊区的 n.郊区居民 (英语六级单词)
  • inviting [in´vaitiŋ] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.动人的 (英语六级单词)
  • undesirable [,ʌndi´zaiərəbəl] 移动到这儿单词发声 a.&n.不受欢迎的(人) (英语六级单词)
  • landing [´lændiŋ] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.登陆;降落;楼梯平台 (英语六级单词)
  • fermentation [,fə:men´teiʃən] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.发酵;骚动 (英语六级单词)
  • burgess [´bə:dʒis] 移动到这儿单词发声 n.(英国)市民,镇民 (英语六级单词)