Molecular insights into the contribution of oak barrel aging to the aroma of beer with high alcohol content using SAFE-GC-O/AEDA and OAV calculation

Xueli Pang; Hua Yin; Jing Li; Yaqi Shi; Zhaoxia Yang

doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2025.145329

Molecular insights into the contribution of oak barrel aging to the aroma of beer with high alcohol content using SAFE-GC-O/AEDA and OAV calculation

Food Chem. 2025 Jun 24:491:145329. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2025.145329. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Xueli Pang¹, Hua Yin², Jing Li³, Yaqi Shi², Zhaoxia Yang⁴

Affiliations

¹ Tobacco Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Qingdao 266101, China. Electronic address: pangxueli@caas.cn.
² State Key Laboratory of Biological Fermentation Engineering of Beer, Tsingtao Brewery Co. Ltd., Qingdao 266061, People's Republic of China.
³ Tobacco Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Qingdao 266101, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Biological Fermentation Engineering of Beer, Tsingtao Brewery Co. Ltd., Qingdao 266061, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: yangzx@tsingtao.com.cn.

PMID: 40580599
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2025.145329

Abstract

Wooden barrel aging has currently been used to increase the flavour complexity of beers. To investigate the aroma evolution of beer with high alcohol content after bourbon barrel aging, the aroma of beer before and after aging (BBA and BAA) was comparatively studied at both sensory and molecular levels. QDA revealed that BBA was characterised by a pronounced "fruity", "caramel-like", "wine-like" and "alcoholic" aroma, whereas BAA was rich in "coconut", "woody", and "vanillin" notes. Thirty-three odourants with OAV > 1 were identified and verified. Both additive and subtractive aging took place during bourbon barrel aging and 12 odourants were screened by Orthogonal Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (OPLS-DA) and validated by spiking experiment as potential odor-active markers for BBA and BAA discrimination. The molecular insights into the effect of bourbon barrel aging on beer aroma provided herein will provide guidance for beer aroma quality control and for aroma evolution mechanism investigation.

Keywords: Aroma profile; Beer; Bourbon barrel aging; Odor active marker; Odor activity value (OAV).