Comprehensive analytical and sensory profiling of non‐alcoholic beers and their pale lager beer counterparts

Abstract

In this study, the major differences between commercial pale lager beers (PLB) and their non-alcoholic (NAB) counterparts were characterised by chemical-analytical and sensory analysis. Chemical-analytical profiling was performed using standard brewery analyses in addition to gas and liquid chromatography for quantifying volatile and non-volatile compounds. NAB differed in analytical composition from the PLB, in sugar, aroma, and amino acid profiles. Generally, the PLB contained higher levels of volatile aroma constituents (in particular, significantly higher levels of 2-methylbutan-1-ol, 3-methylbutan-1-ol, ethyl acetate, ethyl hexanoate and ethyl octanoate), specific amino acids (including cysteine, glutamine and alanine), sulphite, glycerol and proteins. NAB show significantly higher concentrations of fermentable sugars (maltose, glucose, fructose and maltotriose), as well as higher levels of amino acids (including threonine, serine and asparagine) and trans-2-nonenal. The PLB was similar in analytical composition, whereas the NAB could be discriminated into two clusters, reflecting different sugar profiles, reflecting the production technology. Organoleptic assessment described the flavour of the NAB as 'worty', 'sweet' and 'watery', while the PLB scored higher in 'bitterness intensity' and 'fullness'. Interestingly, those NAB where the analytical profile differed the most from their PLB counterparts exhibited the largest differences in sensory properties. Furthermore, this study suggests synergistic and/or antagonistic effects between groups of chemical compounds which may explain the flavour differences. For instance, high sugar levels suppress the perception of bitterness, whereas sugars, aldehydes and esters impact on the worty flavour of NAB.

Assessing the ageing process of commercial non‐alcoholic beers in comparison to their lager beer counterparts

“…The position of NAB A0, compared to the other NAB, is related to the low content of amino acids in this beer (Supplementary table 5). The major observations are in line with our previous study (Bauwens et al, 2021), in which the chemical‐analytical differences between fresh commercial PLB and NAB are discussed in more detail.…”

“…Forced ageing for 90 days at 30°C is a common ageing method for beer (Baert et al, 2018; Gernat et al, 2020; Paternoster et al, 2019), since beers aged in this way show sensory ageing scores comparable to beers stored for 1 year (the shelf‐life of PLB in Belgium) at room temperature (20°C) (Paternoster et al, 2019). The seven pairs of beers were sourced from the same breweries as previously (Bauwens et al, 2021), where the main chemical‐analytical and sensory differences between fresh commercial PLB and NAB were investigated. In the study, different production batches of the beers were investigated.…”

“…When the aldehyde/amino acid data of NAB and PLB are combined, intermediate/strong correlations remain (Table 3). This suggests that the main analytical differences between the PLB and NAB matrices (alcohol content, levels of sugar and aroma markers) (Bauwens et al, 2021) have little or no effect on the formation of Strecker aldehydes upon ageing. The concentration of amino acids in fresh NAB and PLB are therefore useful indicators for corresponding Strecker aldehyde formation upon ageing.…”

“…The packaged beers were obtained from the warehouses of major supermarket chains to assure the best possible freshness. Based on the chemical‐analytical data (Bauwens et al, 2021), NAB B0, D0, E0, F0 and G0 with higher contents of fermentable sugars are produced via limited fermentation processes or combination methods, whereas NAB A0 and C0 were from fully fermented beers (Bauwens et al, 2021). Besides the standard pale lager beer ingredients, additional ingredients included maize (A/A0), glucose syrup (B), wheat (E/E0, F/F0).…”

“…Non‐alcoholic beers (NAB) have become more prominent in the market (Bellut and Arendt, 2019), and their flavour characteristics have been investigated in several recent studies (Bauwens et al, 2021; Lafontaine et al, 2020; Müller et al, 2021; Piornos et al, 2020; Ramsey et al, 2021). Typically, fresh NAB show very different flavour profiles compared to their fresh pale lager beer (PLB) counterparts, with NAB showing lower ‘fullness’ and ‘bitterness’, as well as a higher perception of ‘sweetness’ and ‘worty’ character (Bauwens et al, 2021). Furthermore, commercial NAB exhibit a variety of different flavour characteristics (Lafontaine et al, 2020; Ramsey et al, 2021), which can satisfy different segments of the market (Ramsey et al, 2021).…”