Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre hopes study will support future marketing campaigns that use the terroir effect
Malt barley varieties and growing locations have a significant impact on a beer’s overall quality, but these differences are difficult to identify by taste, according to research by the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre.
Marketing campaigns for craft beer often emphasize taste qualities of a specific malt barley variety, or that specific growing regions provide a flavour quality.
Some large brewing and malting companies also say certain malt barley varieties are better at achieving the flavour of their beer brand, said Yueshu Li, director of malting and brewing operations at the CMBTC.
Read Also
Heat waves combine sunshine and sinking air
As we continue our look at heat waves, I figured we should first define what they are by looking at the criteria Environment Canada uses to define heat events.
However, the flavour origins of beer are not well defined because there are few studies that support claims on the flavour difference of growing location, or of malt barley varieties commonly grown in Canada.
This is why the CMBTC devised a study that examines the effects of barley varieties, growing location and their interactions on beer flavour.
In the study, AAC Connect, CDC Bow, CDC Copeland and Harrington barley malts were grown in Brandon Man., Saskatoon and Lacombe Alta.
Harvested samples were brewed for malt with identical brewing procedures using a nano-brewing system at the CMBTC. Trained panelists were then used to detect nine specific sensory components.
Li said the panelists rated the beers without knowing which beer they were drinking.
“Over the two years of the study the panelists almost couldn’t tell the varietal difference,” Li said.
“Based on the sensory attributes evaluated in our study, the data didn’t strongly suggest that variety A is better than variety B.”
Eight of the nine sensory attributes tasted showed no significant affect and the one attribute where panelists could taste a difference was acetaldehyde.
CDC Copeland beer had acetaldehyde levels higher than Harrington beer.
The study also examined the effects of variety on volatile and non-volatile compounds detected in the beers.
“We used more sophisticated instruments to analyze the organic compounds, the volatile or non-volatile compounds in the beer, or the wort sample. The wort means before fermentation or added yeast,” Li said.
“That data strongly indicates particular flavour compounds, or even non-volatile compounds. There are varietal differences and also there is a growing location difference.”
Out of the 64 volatile compounds detected in the 2019 crop, 43 showed significant varietal differences.
Out of the 32 non-volatile compounds detected in the beers of the 2019 crop, 21 showed significant varietal effect and eight showed a significant location effect.
Li said the limited influence on the nine sensory attributes evaluated in the study may suggest the four barley varieties evaluated in the study are relatively close to each other in terms of taste.
He said the study provides some support for the claims that maltsters and brewers make on specific malt barley varieties, and there is a potential for future marketing campaigns to try to use the terroir effect to sell beer.
Terroir is how a particular region’s climate and soils affect the taste of wine. The same idea is possible for malt barley growing regions on the Prairies.
