Table of Contents
An exploratory study toward describing hop aroma in beer made with American and European Hop Cultivars
Sharp, D. C., Qian, Y., Clawson, J. and Shellhammer, T. H.
Notable differences exist between American and traditional European hops in terms of the types of flavor they contribute to beer. Brewers tend to describe the former as contributing citrusy, fruity and in some instances floral aromas, while the latter are often described as contributing herbal, tobacco, woody, and spicy notes. Single-hop brewing trials were carried out with Cascade, Chinook, Centennial, Citra, Simcoe, East Kent Goldings, Hallertau Mittelfrueh and Saaz to identify differences between the hop-derived volatiles characteristics of American and European hop aroma in beer. The eight resultant beers were evaluated using both sensory and instrumental analyses. The sensory analysis identified Centennial as having the highest piney and green hop aromas, while Citra and Simcoe were characterized as being very fruity, citrusy, and tropical (especially Citra). The Hallertau Mittelfrueh was similar to the East Kent Goldings, and these two were more floral and rose-like than the Saaz sample with more melon than the American cultivars. Volatile analysis of the beer samples was performed using a stir-bar sorptive extraction (SBSE) of the beer samples followed by quantification by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Principal components analysis of the instrumental data identified distinct differences between the citrusy American cultivars (Centennial, Chinook and Citra) and the non-citrusy European cultivars (East Kent Goldings, Hallertau Mittelfrueh and Saaz). Mapping the sensory data with the instrumental data via Generalized Procrustes Analysis revealed interrelationships between the aromatic descriptors and the individual volatile compounds that were separated by the GC.
Descriptors: SBSE GC-MS, descriptive analysis, hop aroma, principle component analysis, eneralized procrustes analysis
BrewingScience - Monatsschrift für Brauwissenschaft, 69 (November/December 2016), pp. 112-122