Relationships of Sensory Bitterness in Lager Beers to Iso-α-Acid Contents

摘要

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.