Sugar, Hop α-Acid, and Amino Acid Contents Contribute to the Differential Profile Between Nonalcoholic and Alcoholic Beers

There is an increasing trend of nonalcoholic beer intake that motivates an effort to improve its taste. This study was conducted to assess the main differences in the polar and mid-polar chemical profile between alcoholic and nonalcoholic beers. A set of differential compounds was characterized through a metabolomics approach with ultraperformance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS) measurements with further data analysis by partial least square discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). Anhydrohexose, a disaccharide, and myoinositol along with phenylalanine, tyramine, and some hop α-acids (desdimethyl-hexahydro/octahydro-iso-cohumulone, tetrahydro-n/ad-humulone, and iso-n/ad-humulone) were shown as the main compounds stablishing differences in the chemical profile between alcoholic and nonalcoholic beers. Further analysis by principal components (PCA) using the content of the selected compounds clearly separated the alcoholic and nonalcoholic beers as well as different brands within these two groups. Cluster analysis provided a clear view of the similarity between the diverse beer brands but with slightly different outcomes to the PCA. Results of this study are expected to help breweries to improve the nonalcoholic beer taste.