Consumers' preference and sensory profile of bottom fermented red beers of the Italian market

The patterns of consumers' preferences for bottom fermented red beers (BFRBs) available on the Italian market\r\nwere explored. 246 regular beer consumers hedonically rated eight BFRBs of different styles readily available in\r\nthe off-premise chain of the Italianmarket on a 9-point hedonic scale in a natural environment of consumption. A\r\ntrained panel (n = 8) evaluated 34 sensory properties of the eight beers. The relations between consumers'\r\nhedonic scores and the sensory characteristics of the BFRBs were investigated with PLS-Regression.\r\nStatistically significant differences (p b 0.05) among the eight BFRBs were found for the 34 sensory properties\r\nevaluated in this study. Principal Component Analysis of the mean descriptive data showed that BFRBs were\r\nprimarily distinguished on the basis of malt derived sensory attributes, and secondarily on the basis of their\r\nperceived level of body along a sweetness gradient that separated medium bodied, moderately sweet BFRBs\r\nfrom full bodied samples moderately high to high in sweetness.\r\nConsumers' hedonic responses to BFRBswere extremely heterogeneous across samples (p b 0.001). The source of\r\nthe variability appeared to be a specialty BFRB, which contains added red fruits. It was highly appreciated and\r\nsignificantly preferred over other BFRBs, which were moderately liked and not distinguishable from each other.\r\nPLS-Regression clustered the consumers in homogeneous groups according to their liking of the beers and the\r\nsensory characteristics of those beers. Nearly 4 consumers out of 10 (Sweet Seekers) highly appreciated sweet\r\nand fruity samples, which were perceived as having a high level of alcohol. Nearly one consumer out of five\r\n(Mild Flavor Lovers) tended to prefer samples brewed from less intensively kilned/roasted malts. Those beers\r\ncarry mild flavors and are perceived as having a lower level of alcohol. One consumer out of seven (Sweet\r\nAvoiders) equally liked all the BFRBs served to them but beer A. This beer was perceived as too bodied and\r\nrich in alcohol, and too intense fruity, and sweet, with solvent-like notes. One consumer out of seven (Flavor\r\nSeekers) disliked less alcoholic BFRBs. Those BRFBs, brewed frommoderately kilned/roasted malts, have amilder\r\nflavor and less intense mouthfeel perceptions.\r\nGender and age were not significant predictors of preference, althoughmale consumers weremore frequent beer\r\ndrinkers, exhibited more variable beer choice, sought flavor more and avoided flavor less than did female beer\r\ndrinkers.\r\nThe findings of this study should help brewers and restaurateurs understand consumer preference patterns for\r\nBFRBs and enable them to engineer optimal strategies to target specific segments of the beer market.