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Glasgow Scientists Build Artificial Tongue to Detect Fake Whiskies

Dominique Adams


whisky cheers night backdrop

The AI tool could be used to crackdown on fake alcohol – thought to cost the UK roughly £1 billion a year.

Researchers at the University of Glasgow’s School of Engineering have created an artificial tongue, which they say is so sophisticated it can tell the difference between different drams of whisky.

The team behind the tongue says it has an accuracy rate of more than 99% and could be used as a tool to crackdown on fake alcohol – thought to cost the UK roughly £1 billion a year.

The device uses the properties in gold and aluminium to test differences between spirits. The tech is so sensitive that it can discern the differences between the same brand of whisky that has been aged in different barrels, according to the researchers. It can apparently also identify differences between whiskies aged for 12, 15 and 18 years.



“We’re not the first researchers to make an artificial tongue, but we’re the first to make a single artificial tongue that uses two different types of nanoscale metal ‘tastebuds’, which provides more information about the taste of each sample and allows a faster and more accurate response.



A selection of whiskies, including Glenfiddich, Glen Marnoch and Laphroaig, were used during the tests, which were carried out by engineers from the universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde.




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Dominique Adams

Marketing Content Manager, Trickle

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