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Sugar, Hop α-Acid, and Amino Acid Contents Contribute to the Differential Profile Between Nonalcoholic and Alcoholic Beers

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Abstract

There is an increasing trend of nonalcoholic beer intake that motivates an effort to improve its taste. This study was conducted to assess the main differences in the polar and mid-polar chemical profile between alcoholic and nonalcoholic beers. A set of differential compounds was characterized through a metabolomics approach with ultraperformance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS) measurements with further data analysis by partial least square discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). Anhydrohexose, a disaccharide, and myoinositol along with phenylalanine, tyramine, and some hop α-acids (desdimethyl-hexahydro/octahydro-iso-cohumulone, tetrahydro-n/ad-humulone, and iso-n/ad-humulone) were shown as the main compounds stablishing differences in the chemical profile between alcoholic and nonalcoholic beers. Further analysis by principal components (PCA) using the content of the selected compounds clearly separated the alcoholic and nonalcoholic beers as well as different brands within these two groups. Cluster analysis provided a clear view of the similarity between the diverse beer brands but with slightly different outcomes to the PCA. Results of this study are expected to help breweries to improve the nonalcoholic beer taste.

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Acknowledgements

Marta Velasco is thanked for her excellent technical assistance. The Instituto para la Competitividad Empresarial de Castilla y León (ICECyL) is greatly acknowledged for its laboratory facilities at Boecillo’s Technological Park Bioincubator.

Funding

Financial support from the Junta de Castilla y León (VA332A12-2) is gratefully acknowledged.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. High Pressure Process Group, Department of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Technology, Escuela de Ingenierías Industriales – Sede Mergelina, University of Valladolid, 47011, Valladolid, Spain

    Cristina Andrés-Iglesias

  2. Departamento de Ingeniería Agrícola y Forestal (Área de Tecnología de los Alimentos), E.T.S. Ingenierías Agrarias, Universidad de Valladolid, Avda. de Madrid 44, 34004, Palencia, Spain

    Carlos A. Blanco

  3. Centre for Biotechnology Development (CDB-DICYL). Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), Francisco Vallés, 8, 47151, Boecillo, Valladolid, Spain

    Olimpio Montero

Authors
  1. Cristina Andrés-Iglesias
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  2. Carlos A. Blanco
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  3. Olimpio Montero
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Olimpio Montero.

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Conflict of Interest

Cristina Andrés-Iglesiasa declares that she has no conflict of interest. Carlos A. Blanco declares that he has no conflict of interest. Olimpio Montero declares that he has no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study as authors of it.

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Andrés-Iglesias, C., Blanco, C.A. & Montero, O. Sugar, Hop α-Acid, and Amino Acid Contents Contribute to the Differential Profile Between Nonalcoholic and Alcoholic Beers. Food Anal. Methods 12, 59–68 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-018-1338-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-018-1338-3

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