Photo: Dan D’Ippolito
IBM’s Watson computer system, which you may remember from the decidedly one-sided man vs. machine Jeopardy! series when it was first unveiled, is now trying its hand as a psychoanalyst. Personality Insights takes sample text and returns a “spectrum of cognitive and social characteristics. With Watson Analyzes This, we see what Watson has to say about our beers from their Beers Page description, then run our own, human-powered analysis of its work.
On The Couch: Black Chocolate Stout
Lineage: Russian-American
Favorite Color: Benthic Zone Blue
Favorite Metal: Black Metal
Watson Says:
You are adventurous: you are eager to experience new things. You are imaginative: you have a wild imagination. And you are independent: you have a strong desire to have time to yourself.
Your choices are driven by a desire for prestige.
You are unconcerned with tradition: you care more about making your own path than following what others have done. You consider achieving success to guide a large part of what you do: you seek out opportunities to improve yourself and demonstrate that you are a capable person.
Doctor Rozmus says:
Watson, you beautiful, blinking, semi-sentient machine. You’ve nailed it!
Of course Black Chocolate Stout is adventurous. Of course it’s imaginative. And you can be sure it’s an independent-minded, achievement-driven piece of work. The beer has international medals like a less-controversial Michael Phelps. We’re talking the first imperial stout to assume the designation of “American” instead of the traditional Russian moniker. Why? A hell of a lot of American and Canadian malts, a truckload of American hops, and a handful of straight-up sass, that’s why.
This is the beer that Garrett Oliver and Steve Hindy first discussed when the former was considering coming over the river to join the Brooklyn Brewery full time. Every year, the winter’s release is just as robust and wondrous as we recalled. But behind cellar walls, years of stockpiled bottles and kegs slowly age to reach new heights of smooth, rippling power.
If you’re seeing this in the wild, get it. Get it, put some ice cream in it, and hide the rest in the basement of a loved one. Trust Watson on this one.
Check out Watson’s inner workings here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xcmh1LQB9I