Impact of the crop year on the aromatic quality of botanicals and

aromatised beers
Filip VAN OPSTAELE, Gert De Rouck, Melissa Oyaert, Valérie Winne, Guido Aerts, and Luc De Cooman
INTRODUCTION MATERIALS AND METHODS
Botanicals from different origins and crop years (2015, 2016): coriander (Ukraine,
Non-consistent flavour quality of specialty beers and spirits due to year-to-year variability
Italy, Romania), orange peel (Ghana, Turkey, Senegal), cinnamon (China, Vietnam,
of the essential oil of botanicals used for aromatisation represents a serious problem in
Madagascar, Indonesia), juniper (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia), anise
brewing and distilling practice. In this study, the aromatic quality of various botanicals from
(Turkey, Syria); Volatile fingerprinting: HS-SPME GC-MS; Statistical analysis: PCA;
different origins was investigated via analytical and sensory protocols for the crop years
Sensory evaluation of alcohol extracts (4g ground raw material in 40 mL Ethanol/water
2015 and 2016. The potential impact of crop year variability on the final beer flavour quality
(75/25% v/v), 7 days) and (aromatised) beers: triangular and descriptive tests;
was further studied via beer aromatisation experiments with alcohol extracts.
Experimental non-aromatised top fermented beers.

VOLATILE FINGERPRINTING
Comparison of the total volatile content of different botanicals PCA analysis: measurement of the intrinsic aromatic properties of
crop years 2015 and 2016 different botanicals crop years 2015 and 2016

CORIANDER 1.6E+11
JUNIPER ORANGE PEEL CINNAMON
7E+10
1.4E+11 Indonesia 2015-2
6E+10 Indonesia 2015-1
1.2E+11 Indonesia 2015-3
5E+10
Total Peak Area
Total Peak Area

1E+11
4E+10
Senegal 2015-1
8E+10 Senegal 2015-3
Senegal 2015-2
3E+10
6E+10 Turkey 2016-3
2E+10 Turkey 2015-3 Senegal 2016-2
4E+10 Turkey 2016-2
Turkey 2015-2 Senegal 2016-1
1E+10 2E+10 Turkey 2015-1 Senegal 2016-3
Turkey 2016-1

Different relative composition

0 0
Ukraine
Oekraïne Italy
Italië Romania
Roemenië Bosnia-
Bosnië Servië
Serbia Kosovo
Kosovo Macedonië
Macedonia China 2015-2
2015 2016 Herzegovina
2015 2016 China 2015-1

4.5E+11
ORANGE PEEL 1.2E+11 CINNAMON China 2016-2
China 2015-3
Vietnam 2015-3
Madagascar 2015-3
China 2016-3 Vietnam 2015-2
Vietnam 2015-1 Madagascar 2015-1
4E+11 1E+11 Ghana 2016-2 Vietnam 2016-3 China 2016-1 Madagascar 2015-2
3.5E+11 Vietnam 2016-3
Total Peak Area
Total Peak Area

3E+11 8E+10
Ghana 2016-1 Vietnam 2016-1
Madagascar 2016-1
2.5E+11
6E+10
Ghana 2015-3 Ghana 2016-3 Madagascar 2016-2
2E+11
Indonesia 2016-1 Madagascar 2016-3
1.5E+11 4E+10 Indonesia 2016-2
1E+11 Ghana 2015-1 Indonesia 2016-3
2E+10
Ghana 2015-2
5E+10
0 0
Ghana
Ghana Senegal Turkije
Turkey
Vietnam
Vietnam China
China Madagascar
Madagascar Indonesie
Indonesia
Senegal
2015 2016
2015 2016

The total volatile content (expressed as the sum of the peak areas of the detected The orange peel (Ghana) and cinnamon samples (Indonesia) from different crop year
volatiles under the experimental HS-SPME conditions) is significantly different in 50 % of have a significantly different relative volatile composition. For all the other samples the
the samples due to the crop year. Via sensory evaluations it was demonstrated that: relative composition is highly comparable. Sensory evaluations demonstrated that:

TOTAL VOLATILE CONTENT IS RELATED TO ODOUR/AROMA INTENSITY THE RELATIVE VOLATILE COMPOSITION IS RELATED TO THE INTRINSIC
ORGANOLEPTIC CHARACTERISTICS

SENSORY EVALUATIONS
Alc. Extract 2015 vs 2016 Beers Aromarised with Alc. Extract 2015 vs 2016
Botanical/origin
sign. level a ('reason for difference') Equal volume Adjusted Volume
Sensory Evaluations of Alcohol extracts
Coriander 500 µL/L Total volatile level Impact compounds Triangular tests between alcohol extracts from different crop years demonstrate a
Ukraine 0.001 ('Intensity') 0.001 ('Intensity') 0.01 ('Intensity') > 0.4 significant difference in organoleptic characteristics in 55% of the cases. This is in
Italy > 0.4 > 0.4 n.a. n.a.
line with the differences observed in the total volatile content of the samples. When
Romania 0.01 ('Intensity') 0.01 ('Intensity') 0.01 ('Intensity') > 0.4
Orange Peel 1000 µL/L
different, crop year variability is ascribed to differences in odour/aroma intensity (80%) or
Ghana 0.001 ('Intensity', 'Description') 0.001 ('Description') 0.01 ('Description') 0.001 ('Description') both odour/aroma intensity and description (20%)
Turkey 0.01 ('Intensity') 0.01 ('Intensity') 0.01 ('Intensity') > 0.4
Senegal 0.01 ('Intensity') > 0.4 n.a. n.a.
Sensory Evaluations of Beers Aromatised with Alcohol Extracts
Juniper 600 µL/L  The beer matrix masks the variability observed for the alcohol extracts in 20% of
Bosnia-Herz. > 0.4 > 0.4 n.a. n.a. the cases as demonstrated by adding equal alcohol extract volumes of crop year 2015
Serbia > 0.4 > 0.4 n.a. n.a.
Kosovo > 0.4 > 0.4 n.a. n.a.
and 2016 to experimental non-aromatised beer
Macedonia 0.01 ('Intensity') 0.01 ('Intensity') 0.01 ('Intensity') > 0.4  When adding variable volumes of the extracts (addition level based on the total level of
Cinnamon 600 µL/L volatiles for the botanicals) the variability is still present
China 0.001 ('Intensity') 0.001 ('Intensity') 0.01 ('Intensity') > 0.4
Vietnam 0.1 ('Intensity') > 0.4 n.a. n.a.  Adding variable volumes of the extracts (addition level based on the level of
Madagascar > 0.4 > 0.4 n.a. n.a. aroma-impact compounds for each botanical) reduces the variability (sensory
Indonesia 0.001 ('Intensity', ‘Description') 0.001 ('Description') 0.01 ('Description') 0.001 ('Description') difference only noticed in 25% of the cases)
Anise 500 µL/L
Turkey > 0.4 > 0.4 n.a. n.a.  Addition of variable volumes of the orange peel extract origin Ghana and cinnamon
Syria > 0.4 > 0.4 n.a. n.a. extract origin Macedonia does not overcome crop year variability. The basic
Colour legend Sign. Difference a<0.1 No Difference a>0.1 n.a.: no adjustment
organoleptic properties of both botanicals are too different for the crop years. (see PCA)

Determination of the total volatile content + relative composition of volatile fraction

CONCLUSIONS = appropriate measurement/prediction of the aromatic characteristics of botanicals
Variable addition levels, based on odour-impact compounds, improve consistency of botanical-derived flavours in beer
Acknowledgements: Flanders Innovations Entrepreneurship (Vlaio) is thanked for financial support of the TETRA-project 150155 ‘Consistent production of alcoholic beverages aromatised with herbs’
KU Leuven, Technology Campus Ghent| Faculty of Engineering Technology | Dept. Microbial and Molecular Systems (M2S) |
Cluster Bio-engineering Technology (CBeT) | Lab of Enzyme, Fermentation, and Brewing Technology (EFBT) | Gebroeders De Smetstraat 1, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium |
E filip.vanopstaele@kuleuven.be