# Effect of alcohol content information on satisfaction and sensory perception of full portions of regular beers and reduced-alcohol beer alternatives consumed at home

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Takahiro Wakihira¹,²*, Michel Visalli²,³, Pascal Schlich²,³

¹ Brewing Science Laboratories, ASAHI QUALITY & INNOVATIONS, LTD.

² Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, AgroSup Dijon, CNRS, INRAE, Université Bourgogne

³ INRAE, PROBE Research Infrastructure, ChemoSens Facility

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## Introduction and Objective

* ✓ Non-alcoholic beer (NAB) is often less well liked than regular beer. However, is this due to certain sensory characteristics only, or is it also due to negative expectations regarding non-alcoholic beer?

* ✓ The objective of this study was to test the effect of alcohol content information on satisfaction and sensory perception of full portions of regular beers and reduced-alcohol beer alternatives consumed at home.

## Materials and Methods

### Test design

* ✓ Japanese beer consumers (N = 271) participated in two tasting sessions for six beers, with alcohol by volume levels of 5%, 0.5%, or 0% (2 products for each alcohol level).

* ✓ Of the 271 participants, 137 were users of beer alternatives with less than 1% alcohol content, while 134 were non-users.

* ✓ First, the consumers tasted the beers without any information about their alcohol content.

* ✓ Then they tasted the same beers with information about the corresponding alcohol content ("5%" or "less than 1%").

* ✓ Importantly, the "without" information test preceded the "with" information test to avoid any information bias toward the "without" information test. The consumers were not told that they tasted the same set of six beers in the two tasting sessions.

* ✓ The consumers evaluated full portions of the beers (one per day) at home based on satisfaction and 5-point scales of 10 sensory attributes at three time points during tasting: the first sip, halfway through the beer, upon finishing the beer.

* ✓ Data were collected using the TimeSens© V2 web app (INRAE, Dijon, France).

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### Data analysis

* ✓ ANOVA model for evolution of *Wanting*: $Wanting = Product + Step + Product*Step + Panelist + error$

Note: "Step" refers to "before the first sip," "after half of the portion," and "after the full portion." "Product" and "Step" were treated as fixed effects. "Panelist" was treated as a random effect.

* ✓ ANOVA model for *Satisfaction and Sensory perception*: $Satisfaction (Attribute) = ProductType + Information + NAB_User + ProductType*Information + ProductType*NAB_User + Information*NAB_User + ProductType*Information*NAB_User + Panelist(NAB_User) + error$

Note: "Attribute" refers to each of 10 sensory attributes; "ProductType" refers to the average score assigned by panelist to regular beers (P1 and P2) or alternative beers (P3, P4, P5 and P6); "Information" refers to without or with information; and "NAB_User" refers to users or non-users of beer alternatives. "ProductType", "Information" and "NAB_User" were treated as fixed effects.

The objective of the first model was to reveal the "step effect," i.e., to clarify changes in evaluations over time while drinking, without and with information about the alcohol content. The second model sought to clarify the difference in the "information effect" by product type (regular or alternative beers) among users and non-users of beer alternatives. In this model, the data were averaged across the three steps by product and by panelist.

## Results

### Wanting without and with information about alcohol content

* ✓ Significant effects were observed for Product effect, Step effect, and interaction between Product and Step for each of the two tasting conditions.

* ✓ Under both information conditions, *wanting* dropped significantly more for NAB than for regular beers (Fig. 1).

* ✓ *Wanting* before drinking dropped for NAB when information about alcohol content was shown ("less than 1%") (Fig. 1).

* ✓ *Wanting* for beers without information containing 0.5% alcohol (P3 and P4) was significantly higher than that for the alc. 0% beers (P5 and P6); however, no significant difference was observed between the alc. 0.5% and 0% beers once the alcohol content information was disclosed (with an exception of P4 and P6).

<table><thead><tr><th rowspan="2"></th><th colspan="3">p-values of tests of fixed effects</th><th colspan="6">Product LS-Means</th></tr><tr><th>Product</th><th>Step</th><th>Product*Step</th><th>P1<br>(Alc. 5%)</th><th>P2<br>(Alc. 5%)</th><th>P3<br>(Alc. 0.5%)</th><th>P4<br>(Alc. 0.5%)</th><th>P5<br>(Alc. 0%)</th><th>P6<br>(Alc. 0%)</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Without information</td><td>&lt; 0.001*</td><td>&lt; 0.001*</td><td>&lt; 0.001*</td><td>7.0c</td><td>6.9c</td><td>6.4b</td><td>6.3b</td><td>6.0a</td><td>5.7a</td></tr><tr><td>With information</td><td>&lt; 0.001*</td><td>&lt; 0.001*</td><td>&lt; 0.001*</td><td>7.1d</td><td>7.0d</td><td>5.5ab</td><td>5.8c</td><td>5.6bc</td><td>5.3a</td></tr></tbody></table>

Note: P-values with an asterisk showed a significant effect on satisfaction and wanting (p < 0.05).

Note: Means with two different letters are significantly different (p < 0.05).

<figure><img src="image_4.png" /><figcaption>Fig. 1. Evolution of product wanting without (A) and with (B) information about alcohol content.</figcaption></figure>

Note: "Regular" refers to regular beers (P1 and P2). "NAB" refers to alternative beers (P3, P4, P5 and P6).

### Sensory perception without and with information about alcohol content

* ✓ The perception of the intensity of *aftertaste*, *alcohol*, *body*, *malty*, and *refreshing* decreased significantly when the information about alcohol content was displayed on the beer alternatives (Fig. 2).

* ✓ The effect of information was significant only among non-users for *aftertaste*, *body*, and *malty*, indicating a cognitive bias due to non-users' negative expectations regarding beer alternatives for these sensations (Fig. 3).

<figure><img src="image_5.png" /><figcaption>Fig. 3. (Right) Sensory perception for NAB among non-users and users.</figcaption></figure>

### Satisfaction without and with information about alcohol content

<figure><img src="image_6.png" /><figcaption>Fig. 4. Satisfaction by product type.</figcaption></figure>

* ✓ NAB were significantly less appreciated than regular beers for both users and non-users, with this effect being stronger in non-users (Fig. 4).

* ✓ The satisfaction scores for NAB among non-users decreased significantly with information, but this was not the case for users (Fig. 4).

## Conclusions

* ✓ The alcohol content information for alternative beers ("less than 1%") resulted in decreases in *wanting*, *satisfaction* and *sensory perceptions*, particularly among non-users of beer alternatives.

* ✓ Among non-users, the perception for *aftertaste*, *body*, and *malty* decreased significantly when the alcohol information was disclosed, indicating the importance of understanding consumers' expectations and cognitive bias toward the products in this category. These findings would be useful in further marketing communication as well as formulation development, particularly when targeting current non-users of beer alternatives.