A new beer brain study reveals that a small slip of beer may be enough to trigger the release of the pleasure chemical dopamine in the brain.

The study conducted by researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine providing a group of 49 men tiny tastes of beer to scan the men's brains. It showed that taste of beer is the trigger to the brain to release the pleasure chemical, dopamine.

The beer brain study was published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology on April 15 revealing that the effect was even greater among men who had a family history of alcoholism.

"We believe this is the first experiment in humans to show that the taste of an alcoholic drink alone, without any intoxicating effect from the alcohol, can elicit this dopamine activity in the brain's reward centers," the study's senior author, neuroscientist David Kareken of the Indiana University School of Medicine, said in a statement.

The participants were provided with 15 milliliters (ml) of their favorite beer over the course of 15 minutes, which is enough to provide the taste of beer but not enough for the alcohol to affect the body.

"This paper demonstrates that taste alone impacts on the brain functions associated with desire," Peter Anderson, a professor of substance use, policy and practice at Newcastle University, U.K., said in a statement. But Anderson noted that "With regard to the family history effect, this is quite difficult to assess and know what it means so we can't be too sure of an effect or how strong it might be."