Perception of Beer Flavour Associates with Thermal Taster Status

Beer flavour, and thus much of the consumer experience of beer, is determined by the sensations elicited when it is taken into the mouth. Thus, individual differences in the perception of these oral sensations may contribute to the variation in consumer behavior A new taste phenotype shown to associ...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the Institute of Brewing 2010, Vol.116 (3), p.239-244
Main Authors: Pickering, Gary J, Bartolini, Jon-Alexander, Bajec, Martha R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis of variance
Beer
beer flavour
beer liking
Beers
Binomials
Biological and medical sciences
bitterness
carbonation
consumer behavior
Fermented food industries
Flavours
Food industries
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Lager
Perception
phenotype
psychophysics
sourness
Stimulation
sweetness
taste
taste genetics
thermal taste
TNT
tongue
wheat
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Summary:Beer flavour, and thus much of the consumer experience of beer, is determined by the sensations elicited when it is taken into the mouth. Thus, individual differences in the perception of these oral sensations may contribute to the variation in consumer behavior A new taste phenotype shown to associate with the intensity of oral sensations elicited by simple solutions is thermal taster status (TTS). Thermal tasters (TTs) perceive 'phantom' tastes with thermal stimulation of the tongue, while thermal nontasters (TnTs) do not. Here, we investigate the effect of TTS on the perceived intensity of bitterness, sourness, sweetness, fullness, carbonation and overall flavour intensity elicited by seven beers representing classic styles - wheat beer, brown ale, pale ale, low-alcohol lager, standard lager, high-alcohol lager and stout. A strong trend was observed for TTs (n = 20) to rate attributes higher than TnTs (n = 20) for all beers except the stout, with these differences significant in many instances (ANOVA or binomial analysis). It is concluded that TTS may be an important determinant of individual differences in the perception of beer flavour, but beer liking and preference are more complex phenomena than can be accounted for by this phenotype alone.
ISSN:0046-9750
2050-0416
DOI:10.1002/j.2050-0416.2010.tb00426.x