Application of flavoromics approach to evaluate aroma characteristics in malts: Current trends and future outlooks

Abstract

Background

While barley malt has a long-standing tradition in global brewing, the role of malt in shaping malt aroma and beer flavor, particularly in the production of specialty malts within the rapidly growing craft beer market, appears to been explored only to a limited extent. Traditional aroma analysis often focuses on pre-selected specific aromas, making it challenging to comprehensively capture the formation and evolution of malt aroma, as well as the dynamic effects of barley genetics, environmental variations, and malting processes. Recently, the emergence of flavoromics has offered a highly promising new approach to addressing these limitations.

Scope and approach

This review provides a comprehensive overview of current trends of flavoromics in malt aroma for the first time. Specifically, untargeted flavoromics investigates all potential volatiles without prior assumptions, providing a comprehensive molecular fingerprint; while targeted flavoromics focuses on the precise quantitation of specific well-characterized aromas. Pseudo-targeted flavoromics bridges the two approaches by performing an initial broad screening and subsequently concentrating on the most relevant aroma markers. Additionally, the mechanisms of malt aroma formation, extraction, and evaluation methods were reviewed.

Key findings and conclusions

The application of flavoromics in malt aroma remains limited. Flavoromics not only characterizes the changes in aromas, but also unlocks the relations between mating parameters and malt aroma generation and development. Moreover, the concept of ‘aroma boundary composition’ can be further condensed to serve as an efficient tool for quality assurance during malting. Future emphases on applications of flavoromics should focus on the discovery of non-volatile tastants in relation to varied malting circumstances, especially in specialty malt.