Axcell: women better beer tasters

Champion Joanna Wasilewska of Bialystock brewery

Female tasters top SABMiller global challange

Female beer tasters have risen to the top in SABMiller’s annual internal competition to determine who amongst its 2,000 panellists worldwide possesses the most reliable taste buds.

Women, who account for 20% of SABMiller tasters, were over-represented amongst this year’s finalists, claiming three of the top six spaces. Joanna Wasilewsa, of the Bialystock brewery in Poland, took the top taster award for the second year running. She was joined in the final by Joanna Sundermeier from North America and Frieda Dehrmann of South Africa.

SABMiller group chief brewer Barry Axcell commented, “I have always believed that women are better beer tasters than men, and the results have once again proved this to be true.”

The annual competition pits the top beer tasters in each of SABMiller’s six regions – Europe, Africa, North America, Latin America and Asia – against each other. Wasilewsa, who scored more than 90%, narrowly pushed Dehrmann in second place. Sundermeier finished joint third with Jose Luis Magana Fajardo of Latin America. Rounding out the six finalists were Jeremiah Kamambi, representing Africa; and Jaideep Wanchoo for Asia. 

The finalists were put through their tasting test at the same time in their home countries with their answers submitted electronically to an independent adjudicator, FlavorActiV. SABMiller’s top 800 beer tasters are regularly audited by FlavorActiV, the UK-based provider of beer-flavour training services and products.

SABMiller does not have any specific female-only tasting panels. According to a company spokeswoman, panels with higher percentages of female participants are pulled together when researching drinks targeted at female consumers, such as Redd’s. Each of SABMiller’s 140 breweries has a group of trained tasters.

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