Abstract
Beer is the most consumed alcoholic beverage in the world and the third most popular beverage after water and tea. Emerging health-oriented lifestyle trends, demographics, stricter legislation, religious prohibitions, and consumers’ preferences have led to a strong and steady growth of interest for non-alcoholic beers (NABs), low-alcohol beers (LABs), as well for craft beers (CBs). Conventional beer, as the worlds most consumed alcoholic beverage, recently gained more recognition also due to its potential functionality associated with the high content of phenolic antioxidants and low ethanol content. The increasing attention of consumers to health-issues linked to alcohol abuse urges breweries to expand the assortment of conventional beers through novel drinks concepts. The production of these beers employs several techniques that vary in performance, efficiency, and usability. Involved production technologies have been reviewed and evaluated in this paper in terms of efficiency and production costs, given the possibility that craft brewers might want to adapt them and finally introduce novel non-alcoholic drinks in the market.
Highlights
Beer is one of the oldest fermented drink and most widely consumed alcoholic beverages in the world, produced 4th-millennium B.C. in the East, and later spread in ancient countries such as Egypt and Rome [1]
In the USA, in 2018, craft beers (CBs) sales grew at a rate of 4% by volume, while in the UK, the Society of Independent Brewers Association reported an increase in craft beer production of 0.8% amongst its members [10]
Consumers seem to prefer CBs because they have a variety of flavors, such as notes of malted barley, chestnut, and honey, which might increase the probability of perceiving craft beers to be of a higher quality
Summary
Beer is one of the oldest fermented drink and most widely consumed alcoholic beverages in the world, produced 4th-millennium B.C. in the East, and later spread in ancient countries such as Egypt and Rome [1]. Perhaps given the global trend of wanting a healthier lifestyle and of improving product qualities, in the last decade the market of special beers has evolved significantly offering additional product traits such as enhanced functionality, new flavors, and tastes These improvements went beyond the use of hops, which are vital for the brewing industry [21], as they contribute significantly to the sensory properties of beer [22,23,24]. NABs are experiencing an unprecedented boom on the craft side of the market This segment of no/low ABV beer has changed drastically and quickly mainly due to the consumer demand (sportives, mothers, drivers, etc.) and advanced technology to brew non-alcoholic beer. This review’s purpose is to evaluate and discuss the production techniques of special beers such as NABs, LABs, and CBs focusing on the methods employed to improve their sensory characteristics appeal and to improve their popularity among consumers’
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