Novel Creation of a Rum Flavor Lexicon Through the Use of Web‐Based Material

Abstract

Flavor lexicons help both manufacturers and consumers communicate the intricacies of flavor nuances they experience within a product. Lexicon development typically requires the use of a trained sensory panel to evaluate a representative sample set of the product category to generate terms that describe certain product attributes. In the case of rum, there is considerable variation in terms of style, flavor characteristics, and the sheer number of rums produced making it difficult to create a lexicon in this manner. Furthermore, sensory fatigue from the high alcohol content can also hinder lexicon development. This is the first study to create a rum flavor lexicon using web-based material (comprising blogs, company descriptions, and review websites) to minimize the time and cost and to allow for the inclusion of a greater number of rum products. Reviews for over 1000 different rums were utilized, comprising evaluations that described an array of rums, including white, gold, aged, and agricole. Each evaluation was coded for aroma, aroma-by-mouth, and taste attributes using NVivo software to amass the sensory terms. Word frequency analysis was conducted on coded attributes. The analysis yielded 147 terms, sorted into 22 different categories. The most prominent terms included vanilla, oak, caramel, fruity, molasses, and baking spices.

Characterization of Sensory Differences in Mixing and Premium Rums Through the Use of Descriptive Sensory Analysis

“…The DA panel was conducted to describe and quantitate the sensory differences perceived in the 9 rum samples, 2 mixing and 7 premium rums. Additionally, the DA panel provided validation for the rum lexicon that was previously developed through the use of web‐based material (Ickes and others ).…”

“…The first 3 d of the panel consisted of free term generation, where the panelists were unaided in the identification of the attributes present in the sample. During days 4 to 6 panelists were provided with the previously developed rum flavor wheel (Ickes and others ) to aid in term generation.…”

“…The aim of this study was to evaluate and quantitate the sensory differences of a variety of premium aged rums and mixing rums as well as to validate the developed rum flavor lexicon (Ickes and others ). It was hypothesized that mixing rums would be easily distinguishable from the premium rums.…”

Effect of ethanol on flavor perception of Rum

“…Panelists were presented with a dilution series of samples labeled with random three‐digit codes and asked to generate the attributes they perceived in the rum samples for aroma, aroma‐by‐mouth, mouthfeel, taste, and aftertaste modalities. Panelists were provided with a rum flavor wheel (Ickes, Lee, & Cadwallader, ) to aid in term generation. Through group discussion, panelists identified the terms to be used, developed a precise definition of each attribute, and determined a corresponding reference.…”

Sensory Descriptor Analysis of Whisky Lexicons through the Use of Deep Learning

“…The process of identifying meaningful descriptors from free-text product descriptions and combining synonymous terms is known as comment analysis (or free text analysis), and its adoption within Sensory Science has made it possible to utilize existing sources of descriptive text as sensory data. Comment analysis of existing text data has previously been used to produce or modify lexicons for rum [ 7 ], wine [ 8 ], and whisky [ 9 ] and to identify terms that drive liking or price in wine [ 10 , 11 ]. Like all descriptive lexicons, these will never be truly universal—a new product can have a new taste, or a new consumer can have a new perspective on the products—but lexicons are universalizable: they are “intersubjectivity engines” that allow structured communication about the subjective, perceptual qualities of foods, beverages, and other consumer products [ 5 , 12 , 13 ].…”