Effects of alcohol content information on sensory perception and satisfaction of full portions of regular beers and beer alternatives consumed at home

Abstract

Reduced/non-alcohol beers are often less liked than regular beers. However, it is not clear whether this is only due to poor sensory characteristics of beer alternatives or to negative expectations regarding them as well. The objective of this study was to test the effect of alcohol content information on sensory perception and satisfaction of full portions of regular beers and beer alternatives. Japanese beer consumers tasted six beers with alcohol by volume levels of 5 %, 0.5 %, or 0 % (two different products for each alcohol level). Of the participants (N = 271), 137 were users of beer alternatives with less than 1 % alcohol content, and 134 were non-users. First, the consumers tasted the beers without information about their alcohol content. Then, they tasted the same beers with information about the corresponding alcohol content (“5 %” or “less than 1%”). The consumers evaluated full portions of the beers at home based on sensory perception and satisfaction. Results showed that the beer alternatives were significantly less appreciated than the regular beers for both users and non-users of beer alternatives, with this effect being stronger in non-users. The satisfaction scores for beer alternatives among non-users decreased significantly when the “less than 1 %” information was displayed, but this was not the case for users. Only among non-users, the perception of the intensity of aftertaste, body, and malty attributes decreased significantly when the information was displayed. These results suggest that a cognitive bias due to non-users' negative expectations regarding beer alternatives may affect sensory perception and decrease satisfaction.