Italian Grape Ale Beers Obtained with Malvasia di Candia Aromatica Grape Variety: Evolution of Phenolic Compounds during Fermentation

Abstract

Italian grape ale (IGA) beers have been categorized by the Beer Judge Certification Program as a sub-category of fruit beers in which grape, or grape must, is added during the brewing process to provide additional characteristics to the final beer. In the present work, IGA beers have been produced with must and pomace of the Malvasia di Candia Aromatica (MaCA) grape variety, which were added before fermentation at two different percentages (10% and 20%). The (poly)phenolic profile of IGA beers have been characterized with HPLC-MS/MS and compared to a golden ale control beer (produced in the same conditions without the addition of grape-derived ingredients). A series of sub-samples have been collected to monitor the (poly)phenol profile at time 0 and during the different phases of the fermentation process (1, 3, 5, 7 30, 65 days). Results demonstrated how the addition of pomace allowed to significantly enrich (p < 0.05) final beers in total (poly)phenols detected by MS, while must addition did not influence that amount if compared to the control sample. However, a PCA cluster analysis identified strong similarities among IGA beers and differentiated them to control beer samples. This study underlined how the addition of must and pomace from the MaCA grape variety improved the (poly)phenolic profile of beer from both a qualitative and quantitative point of view.

Novelty of Italian Grape Ale (IGA) beer: Influence of the addition of Gamay macerated grape must or dehydrated Aleatico grape pomace on the aromatic profile

“…In 2015, a new subcategory of fruit style beer was proposed with the name of Italian Grape Ale (IGA) and introduced in Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) as a product resulting from the addition of grape matrices to beer [ 1 ]. As reported by Beer Judge Certification Program (2021) [ 2 ] the grape content can account for up to 40% of the entire grist.…”

“…Lambrusco red grapes to a lager wort before primary fermentation and found the addition of must enriched beers in color, acids, phenols, and volatile compounds, giving a sensory evaluation of more complexity to beers. Leni et al (2023) [ 1 ] followed another strategy of addition: they added not only must of white cv. Malvasia di Candia Aromatica but also pomace (10 and 20%); the addition of pomace allowed to significantly enrich final beers in total polyphenols.…”