A Phenomenology of Taste: Brewmasters and the production of lived taste experience

Abstract

Using a phenomenological account of perception drawn largely from the work of Merleau-Ponty (1962) and Gibson (1966; 1974), this thesis explores how perceptual experience is created and modified through practices and discourses. The project examines how a specific perceptual experience--the taste of beer--is formed through the practices and discourses of production. It investigates how both the nuanced taste experiences of brewmasters and the less precise taste experiences of their customers are cultivated in relation to a set of production concerns surrounding the manufacture of a consistent brand. Ultimately, it is argued that the production of brands--the urge to produce products which are identical to themselves--is a characteristic of consumer-oriented late capitalism which illustrates how mechanical reproduction influences the formation of contemporary sensory experiences and lifeworlds.