Chance and Challenge: Non-Saccharomyces Yeasts in Nonalcoholic and Low Alcohol Beer Brewing – A Review

Non-Alcoholic and Craft Beer Production and Challenges

“…Globally, NABs and LABs market experienced a total volume growth of 20% between 2011 and 2016 and is forecasted to grow another 24% until 2021. Middle East, Africa, and Western Europe are the biggest markets in terms of volume and value [29]. Particularly, German LAB market is one of the biggest in the world.…”

“…The brewers need to keep up with the consumers' interests and needs while designing novel beers [28]. Brewers have adapted to such demands with continuous improvements and attempts to minimize the alcohol content of their products while maintaining other characteristics [29]. Consumers are looking for products as close as possible to the conventional types, from a sensory point of view, especially in what regards flavor characteristics [3,30].…”

“…Currently, a wide variety of beers are available and most of them belong to one of three groups: High (or top) fermentation, known as ale; low (or bottom) fermentation, known as lager; non-alcoholic-beers (NAB), which includes the low-alcohol beers (<2.5%, v/v) and alcohol-free beers (≤1% v/v) [31]. Low-alcohol beer (LAB), also known as "low alcoholic beer," "lower-alcohol beer," "low-point beer," "alcohol-reduced beer," and sometimes referred to as "light beer," has different definitions and the alcohol by volume limits depend on laws in different countries [29]. In Germany, the USA, and in China, this limit is no more than 0.5% v/v; in Spain, the maximum value is 1% v/v alcohol; while in France, is of 1.2% v/v alcohol [32].…”

Brewing Characteristics of the Maltotriose-Positive Yeast Zygotorulaspora florentina Isolated from Oak

“…First, a long trend of increasing beer production volumes peaked in 2013 at 1.97 billion hL [1], but has been steadily decreasing ever since [2]. Second, the craft beer boom made small-scale breweries serious players in beer markets and third, towards the end of the decade, the low and non-alcoholic beer category started to live up to the expectations set up for years [3]. These trends reflect the changes in the habits of beer drinkers.…”

“…Although consumers are still spending more money on beer products [4], there is greater focus on the overall experience and the health aspects rather than volume. Hence, there is a general interest in new processes to differentiate beers and a growing appreciation of the potential of non-conventional yeast species to create novel flavor profiles, or limit alcohol content [3,5,6].…”