How do we serve the sober curious market?
With Laetizia Antoine – Senior Flavourist - R&D Manager, Nactis Flavours
1: What are the key categories you’re working on?
Non-alcoholic beverages have been around for a while. We focus primarily on beer and then seeping into spirit, hard seltzer, mocktails or wine.
We tested over 20 beers (IPA, lager, pale ale…) and spirit (gin, white rum, brown rum…) currently available in the market. Not only in France but also from Asia and the US to understand what customers are expecting worldwide.
2: What are the biggest challenges ?
Our biggest challenge in developing non-alcoholic drink is to find the realistic taste that consumer expect in theses beverages. When working on drinks with a low ABV, you tend to decrease many attributes you would expect in a standard alcoholic drink such as the bitterness or burning sensation from the alcohol content. We are working on solutions to overcome these losses.
These solutions are working on the mouthfeel as well as the alcohol pungency and bitter/hot sensation.
3: When it comes to non-alcoholic spirits, how can we match the authentic taste profile of a traditional spirit?
1 - First we have to evaluate what kind of spirit it is :
Depending on the type, the ingredients used will differ. For instance, gin has a completely different mouthfeel and colour than rum.
We do a sensory analysis of the benchmark product as well as an analytical one to fully understand our target. Key molecules for each spirit are very important to get the specific profile of each different category.
2 - Our team works in building blocks to develop the spirit alcoholic taste flavour.
a) Natural flavour, extract, and distillates are first selected to reproduce the respective taste. Thanks to Aromata comprehensive expertise in extraction, distillation, and infusion techniques, we can give your nolo spirit the best taste profile.
b) Alcoholic sensation booster are used to give back the alcohol sensation (bitterness, burning etc) and the alcohol mouthfeel.
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c) Alcoholic top note brings the alcoholic pungent first smell.
4: Alcohol free wine can either come from de-alcoholised wine or unfermented grape juice. Can you explain the impact of each process on the taste?
Alcohol-free wines that began as regular fermented wine and then had the alcohol removed are the closest to real wine taste and texture but are not guaranteed to be 0.00% alcohol. Whereas those which were not fermented and made with an infusion of grapes are guaranteed 0.00% ABV but it can be more challenging to deliver on taste. Thanks to specific analytical tools we are able to recreate the signature of each wine like a Chardonnay or a Pinot by identifying the key molecules for each wine.
5: What is the alcohol content in the final NOLO solution?
The alcohol content in the final recipe may also differ depending on the type of solution.
Many flavours, extract and distillates are based on ethanol - they are often very complex and volatile, which makes 0.0% very complex to achieve.
For 0.5% alcohol products, ingredients that have a higher alcoholic content can be used as a carrier. For 0.0% the flavour used may only have a very low alcohol content or they have to be based on an alternative carrier such a propylene glycol. Again, here you have to pay attention to the maximum amount of limited substances (country-specific regulations apply).
6: When it comes to visual aspects of the wine, beer or spirits, what colour options are available?
The visual aspect helps us to create a multisensorial beverage experience. As part of Nactarome, we can leverage the colour expertise of FiorioColori. They have several colour ranges (natural and synthetic) which are suitable for beverage applications.
7: Now, what are the major challenges you have to overcome in the current NOLO industry landscape?
We keenly follow how no and low alcoholic beverage offerings are evolving in the market.
One of our development axes is to work with market leader on recreating their own product in 0.0 version. For example, not only can we offer a general rum or beer profile, but we also have developed specific well known product profiles. Think about the rum that you use in your mojito on Friday nights, we have it!
Mocktails (meaning cocktails with no alcohol) are also a worldwide success from the basics like mojito and cuba libre to the most creative ones. We can support our customers in their beverage development. To find the right balance between soda and alcohol taste, to achieve the alcohol sensation and to create an addictive product for their own customers.
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?As a group, Nactarome focus on providing a comprehensive portfolio of all-in-one natural flavourings, extracts, colourings and functional ingredients for the global food and beverage industry. Get in touch via our website www.nactarome.com and find out how we can support your product developments.?
Group CEO at NACTAROME Spa
2 年No-alcohol and low-alcohol (NOLO) continue to be a strong driver of growth in the beverage market and Nactarome solutions at the top of performance for quality and taste .