Do You Know What is in Your Beer?

Citrus, grapefruit, toffee, spice, apple, pear, biscuit, caramel… the list of flavors and aromas associated with beer is vast but how are they produced during the brewing process? The hop variety used in the brewing process is responsible for the bitterness, aroma, and flavor characteristics. These compounds can be extracted from hops by steam distillation, liquid-liquid extraction and analyzed using GC-MS.

 

This article was written by John Langley (Head of Characterization and Analytics, University of Southampton)