# Effect of Production Technique on Pilsner-Style Non-Alcoholic Beer (NAB) Chemistry and Flavor
## 3 Results and Discussion
### Evaluating the Impact of Production Technique on the Volatile Chemistry of the Different NABs
** \\ \hline Aroma & Taste & **1.00** & & & & & & & & & \\ Taste & Aroma & **0.88** & **1.00** & & & & & & & & \\ Hop aroma & aroma & **0.48** & **0.58** & **1.00** & & & & & & & \\ Sweenness & Sweenness & 0.44 & 0.24 & 0.20 & **1.00** & & & & & & \\ Sweenness & Sources & \(-\)0.32 & \(-\)0.25 & 0.04 & \(-\)**0.63** & **1.00** & & & & & \\ Bitterness & Bitterness & 0.02 & 0.09 & 0.42 & \(-\)0.12 & 0.19 & **1.00** & & & & \\ Bitterness & Bitterness & 0.40 & **0.59** & **0.47** & \(-\)0.07 & \(-\)0.10 & \(-\)0.20 & **1.00** & & & \\ Equality & (quality) & (quality) & (\(\,\)) & & & & & & & & \\ Estery & Estery & 0.34 & 0.44 & **0.67** & 0.00 & 0.16 & \(-\)0.06 & **0.54** & **1.00** & & \\ Worty & Worty & 0.20 & \(-\)0.05 & \(-\)0.34 & **0.74** & \(-\)**0.62** & \(-\)0.26 & \(-\)0.36 & **-0.53** & **1.00** & & \\ Mouthieel & Mouthieel & **0.65** & **0.59** & 0.23 & **0.75** & \(-\)**0.61** & 0.06 & 0.06 & 0.00 & **0.60** & **1.00** & \\ Afterstate & (duration) & Afterstate & 0.33 & 0.09 & 0.21 & 0.27 & \(-\)0.25 & 0.42 & \(-\)0.42 & \(-\)0.19 & 0.35 & 0.37 & **1.00** \\ Overall & Overall & Overall & **0.72** & **0.86** & **0.68** & 0.23 & \(-\)0.30 & 0.02 & **0.74** & **0.57** & \(-\)0.19 & **0.45** & \(-\)0.06 & **1.00** \\ harmony & harmony & harmony & 0.23 & 0.40 & **0.45** & 0.25 & 0.22 & 0.26 & 0.41 & 0.12 &except for ethyl nicotine which on average was the highest in the vacuumed distilled NABs. However, as outlined previously these differences likely have a small impact on sensory because the sensory profiles of the membrane and vacuum distilled treatments were statistically similar (Table S6). Further, a higher percentage of the variation between the samples in the first two components can be explained if one reduces the input variables and processes the data only considering the differences in sensory (i.e., 65.5%) or only the differences in chemistry (i.e., 44.7%) using principle component analysis (data not shown). Given all the data that is reported in the manuscript and/or in the supplemental information, this can be explored further by an interested reader. As outlined previously, numerous studies [1,14,15,17,38] have identified worry character as a key quality attribute in NAB. It is generally perceived to be a negative attribute associated with the presence of high concentrations of Strecker aldehydes. In this study, none of the volatiles measured were significantly positively correlated with worry character (Table 2). One possible explanation for this result could be that the perception of worry character might not be due to one specific volatile and that the presence/absence of other compositional factors might contribute more to the perception of worry quality. For example, there were several volatiles, most of them fermentation-related, that were negatively correlated to worry character (i.e., ethyl nicotine, decanal, ethyl hexanoate, ethyl octanoate, ethyl acetate, 2-methyl-1-butanol, 3-methyl-1-butanol, and phenyl ethanol, Table 2). This suggests that along with preventing the production of Strecker aldehydes, the presence of these volatiles in NAB, which may result in higher concentrations due to flavor extract/hop additions, special yeast fermentations, etc. are crucial considerations to modifying and masking the perception of worry quality in NAB. This agrees with [PERSON], [PERSON], [PERSON], and [PERSON] [21] who found that the addition of fruity flavors and bitterness can mask worry character in NAB. However, the observation that high concentrations of individual Strecker aldehydes were not directly correlated with high worry character is particularly interesting. For example, the physically dealcoholized membrane treated NAB (M1) had the highest concentrations of Strecker aldehydes but this NAB was also perceived to be one of the lowest in worry character amongst the NABs (Table S6). In comparison, the restricted fermentation treatment (RF3) contained moderate levels of Strecker aldehydes but was perceived to be one of the highest in worry character.