Relationships of Sensory Bitterness in Lager Beers to Iso-α-Acid Contents
Ittipon Techakriengkrai 1,
Alistair Paterson 1,3, Behnam
Taidi 2 and John R. Piggott 1
1 Centre for Food Quality, University of Strathclyde, Department of Bioscience, 204 George Street, Glasgow G1 1XW, Scotland, UK.
2 Scottish Courage Ltd, Technical Centre, Sugarhouse Close, 160 Canongate, Edinburgh EH8 8DD, Scotland, UK.
3 Corresponding author. E-mail: cdas01@strath.ac.uk
J. Inst. Brew. 110(1), 51–56, 2004 | VIEW ARTICLE
ABSTRACT
Iso-α-acids and their chemically modified variants play a large
role in evoking the bitter sensory attributes of lager character,
but individual consumers may vary in their perception of bitterness.
Sixteen lagers were scored in rank-rating for bitterness by
14 trained assessors and the concentrations of the six bitter components
in these beers were determined by high performance
liquid chromatography. Relationships between bitterness intensity
and the bitter components were modelled well using partial
least square regression with a correlation value of 0.92. When 8
assessors carried out time-intensity scoring of bitterness, profiles
for single products were very different. However, single assessor
profiles for multiple products showed qualitative similarities but
quantitative differences. That individual assessors perceived
bitter characters differently in relation to time has implications
for new product development.
Key words:
Beer, bitternesss, lager, iso-α-acid, sensory.
Publication no. G-2004-0310-213 ©2004 The Institute & Guild of Brewing