I didn't read the article. Said I was too lazy this morning, so I proved it.
Edit - you also have my subjective impression that the beers were different. The correct water for the beef had the preferred taste.
Haha! Well, the cliff notes version:
A statistically significant portion of tasters were able to distinguish between the different beers
So did I in the Palmer presentation.
The APA with the correct water chemistry tasted, well, like an APA. With the Stout water chemistry it tasted chalky, muddy if you will. The stout with the right chemistry tasted rather neutral, finished nice without off flavors. The one with the pale ale profile was sharp to the taste ant not stout like.
I hope that gives more to my "cliff notes" version. It was 2007, and it sent me off a path to look into water chemistry before many others.