# Effect of Production Technique on Pilsner-Style Non-Alcoholic Beer (NAB) Chemistry and Flavor
## 1 Introduction  
Due to more consumer demand for healthy beverages, increased non-alcoholic beer (NAB) production has recently become an important economic consideration for breweries of nearly all sizes [1]. However, German brewers have been introducing and producing non-alcoholic counterparts to their flagship pilsner beers for decades. Historically, the main NAB styles produced (i.e., based on overall volume sold) have been pilsner and wheat styles followed by beer mixed beverages, such as non-alcoholic Radlers [2]. More recently, small and medium-sized craft breweries have also started to enter the NAB market which has resulted in more product diversity and specifically the increased production of non-alcoholic styles with hoppy flavor profiles, such as India pale ales (IPAs) [3]. The definition of NAB differs from country to country. In many European countries, products are labeled as \"non-alcoholic beer\" when they contain less than 0.5% alcohol by volume (ABV). In countries where NAB is defined by <0.5% ABV, the portfolio of many brewers may also include additional 0.0% ABV products. These beers are then specifically marketed as \"0.0\" NAB for religious and/or health reasons. In the industry, there exist countless approaches to produce NAB but generally these techniques can be split into two main categories: 1. brewing methods that rely on restricting ethanol formation (biological methods) and 2. those that rely on ethanol removal fromfully fermented beer (physical methods) [4; 5; 6; 7]. Within these two approaches, there exist several different techniques varying in performance, efficiency, and usability. In addition, it is important to point out that for decades the production of commercial non-alcoholic beer has been complex and that brewers have been employing a combination of methods to produce NABs with multifaceted and desirable profiles [8; 9]. From a commercial standpoint, one of the main advantages of biological techniques is that they can be usually implemented with equipment that already exists in a brewery. One of the most popular biological techniques used to produce NABs has been restricted fermentation (RF). Common approaches to restricted NAB fermentations are to produce unifermatable/slightly fermentable wort, to limit the contact time between wort and conventional brewing yeast, and/or to apply low fermentation temperatures [10]. Recently, the use of maltose intolerant (MI) Saccharomyces and/or non-Saccharomyces yeasts has also become an increasingly popular biological technique because there is evidence that some of these strains can produce NAB with more fruity flavor profiles [1]. The reviews by [PERSON] and [PERSON] [1] and [PERSON], [PERSON], [PERSON], and [PERSON] [10] are great resources to find more specific details on how biological techniques can be applied to produce NAB. In comparison, methods relying on ethanol removal require significant capital investment for new infrastructure in the brewery. Generally, the techniques used to physically dealcoholize can be divided into thermal and mechanical methods [11; 12]. Thermal dealcoholization removes ethanol based on its boiling point, while membrane-based processes rely on pressure or concentration differences to selectively remove ethanol with functionalized semipermeable membranes (i.e., pore size, polarity, charge, etc.). Again, comprehensive reviews by [PERSON], [PERSON], and [PERSON] [11] and/or [PERSON], [PERSON], [PERSON], and [PERSON] [12] provide much more specific details on the physical methods used for the dealcoholization of beer. Limited research investigating the main factors influencing the chemical and sensory profiles of NAB exists [13; 14; 15; 16; 17; 18]. [PERSON], [PERSON], [PERSON], [PERSON], [PERSON], [PERSON], [PERSON], [PERSON], and [PERSON] [15] recently performed one of the broadest surveys on NAB and found that even though pilsner NAB styles make up a majority of NAB offerings, the chemical and flavor profiles of commercial NAB being distributed globally are extremely diverse.