Alcohol Reduction: Product Challenges, Approaches, and Application of Flavors

Alcohol-free beer and wine are attractive products for the brewing industry and consumers alike. It is a fast-growing segment of the beverage market worldwide nowadays. Innovative biological and physical methods have been developed to produce these reduced alcohol products. However, their aroma and taste are usually negatively different from their full-alcohol counterparts, including various flavor imperfections and sometimes off-flavors. One improvement approach is to add natural aroma-active compounds, while another is aroma recovery and reintroduction. This chapter will provide an overview of this subject in the following order: (1) the history of alcoholic beverages and their classification, (2) health concerns of alcohol overconsumption, (3) ethanol’s physical properties, (4) the ethanol removal process, (5) the impact of ethanol removal on sensory properties, (6) procedures for replacing sensory properties lost during ethanol removal, and (7) major challenges and future perspectives.