The impact of varying key sensory attributes on consumer perception of beer body

Beer body remains a poorly defined term, and although technical brewing experts currently describe it as the fullness of flavour and mouthfeel, little is known regarding the impact of different sensory factors on its perception. Previous studies have linked consumer understanding of beer body with viscosity (e.g. thickness, smoothness), alcohol warmth and flavour intensity. Therefore, modifications to these attributes in a base beer were explored. A commercial 0.05 % lager beer was used as the beer base, with ethanol additions at two levels to yield 2.8 and 4.5 % alcohol by volume (ABV), resulting in three levels in total for ethanol. Viscosity, bitterness and hoppy aroma were each increased to perceivably different levels by the addition of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), iso-alpha-acids, and hop oil extract, respectively, resulting in two levels for each (with addition and without). Beer samples (n = 18) were evaluated by naive UK beer consumers (n = 100) for overall liking, the intensity of perceived body and consumer-derived attributes using the Rate-All-That-Apply (RATA) technique. A 4-way ANOVA revealed significant positive effects of all four variables (p < 0.05) on body intensity ratings and significant impacts of ethanol, bitterness and aroma on overall liking. Correlation of RATA data with overall beer body ratings showed positive correlations with sensory attributes; smooth, overall flavour, overall aftertaste, hoppy flavour and negatively correlated with watery mouthfeel. Furthermore, cluster analysis was conducted on the body intensity ratings revealing three distinct consumer clusters based on the variables. This research suggests that beer consumers are not a homogenous group when it comes to body perception, and they place different levels of importance on different variables and their associated sensory attributes.