Volatile flavor compounds in low alcohol beers.

Kavanagh, T.E., Clarke, B.J., Gee, P.S., Miles, M. and Nicholson, B.N.

Abstract
In Australia, low alcohol beers (defined in that country as containing between 1.15 and 3.5% alcohol by volume) are increasingly popular, largely because of stricter legislation against drunk driving but also because of price reductions resulting from changes in the taxation system, and the local brewing industry has consequently devoted considerable effort to the development of low alcohol beer production techniques. Such beers can be produced either by restricted fermentation (curtailed fermentation times, using worts low in fermentable sugars, etc.) or by brewing a normal beer and partially dealcoholising it (usually by vacuum evaporation or reverse osmosis). The effects of these processes on the volatile compounds composition, and thus on the aroma and flavour, of the beer are discussed. Although there is some variation between processes and according to processing conditions, all low alcohol beers studied have significantly lower concentrations of flavour volatiles than full strength beers, the difference in concentration (other things being equal) being proportional to the difference in alcohol content.
Keywords : aroma beer composition concentration flavour low alcohol volatile compound