Although craft beer consumption has enjoyed a period of sustained growth in the past, growth within this market has slowed and, in some cases, declined. In this setting, gaining more insight into the hop-derived beer flavor (HDBF) preferences of North Americans is a key step to maximizing the competitiveness and potential market for craft beer. The purpose of this study is to establish HDBF preferences of North Americans. Beer drinkers from North America (N = 550) were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk for an online survey. Participants reported their craft beer consumption and were asked to rate the pleasantness of 12 hop-derived beer flavors. The four most popular HDBFs across all groups were citrus, red berry, green fruit, and sweet fruit. The two universally noted unfavorable flavors were grassy-hay and vegetal. Craft beer drinkers rated five HDBFs as more pleasant than mainstream (non-craft beer) drinkers: cream/caramel, wood aromatic, spicy, grassy-hay, and vegetal. No significant differences were found between craft beer drinkers and mainstream drinkers with respect to the other seven HDBFs. Several gender and age differences were also observed. The study demonstrated four HDBFs that were universally preferred by beer drinkers in North America. The study also demonstrated two flavors that were universally rated as unpleasant. These findings should help brewers understand which HDBFs may be most beneficial to include in beers, most notably those beers that are aimed at a wide or general North American audience.

Keywords: flavor, hop-derived beer flavor, hops