Beer-taste fermented alcoholic beverage and production method therefor

Abstract

To provide a novel beer-taste fermented alcoholic beverage having favorable taste intensity, aftertaste, and balance while reducing a carbohydrate concentration.SOLUTION: The present invention provides a beer-taste fermented alcoholic beverage having a carbohydrate concentration of 2.5 g / 100 mL or less, wherein: the glycine concentration is 5.5 mg / L or more; the alanine concentration is 4.4 mg / L or more; and the total concentration of glycine and alanine is 10 mg / L or more and 180 mg / L or less.SELECTED DRAWING: None

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a fermented beer-taste alcoholic beverage and a production method thereof, and more specifically to a fermented beer-taste alcoholic beverage with a reduced carbohydrate concentration and a production method thereof. [Background technology]

[0002] Due to the growing health consciousness in recent years, there is a demand for beer-flavored beverages with reduced sugar content. To date, various technologies have been developed with the aim of producing beer-flavored beverages with reduced sugar content.

[0003] For example, a technique that uses assimilable monosaccharides and assimilable disaccharides as sugar sources is known as a technique for stably producing a low-sugar beer-flavored fermented alcoholic beverage (Patent Document 1). Also, a technique for producing a low-sugar beer-flavored beverage with a significantly low risk of microbial contamination is known as a technique for using a specific range of oligosaccharide content in the carbohydrate raw material (Patent Document 2). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] JP 2009-131202 A [Patent Document 2] JP 2012-157323 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] The present invention aims to provide a novel beer-flavored fermented alcoholic beverage that has a reduced carbohydrate concentration but has a good sweetness, lingering flavor and good balance. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The present inventors have found that in a beer-flavored fermented alcoholic beverage with a reduced carbohydrate concentration, by adjusting the glycine concentration, alanine concentration, and their total concentration to predetermined values, the carbohydrate concentration can be reduced while still achieving a good sweetness, lingering flavor, and balance. The present invention is based on this finding.

[0007] According to the present invention, the following inventions are provided. [1] A beer-flavored fermented alcoholic beverage having a carbohydrate concentration of 2.5 g / 100 mL or less, a glycine concentration of 5.5 mg / L or more, an alanine concentration of 4.4 mg / L or more, and a total concentration of glycine and alanine of 10 mg / L or more and 180 mg / L or less. [2] A beer-flavored fermented alcoholic beverage according to the above [1], in which the total concentration of glycine and alanine is 20 mg / L or more and 130 mg / L or less. [3] A beer-flavored fermented alcoholic beverage according to [1] or [2] above, in which the total concentration of glycine and alanine is 20 mg / L or more and 35 mg / L or less. [4] A beer-flavored fermented alcoholic beverage described in any one of [1] to [3] above, having a carbohydrate concentration of 0.5 g / 100 mL or less. [5] A beer-flavored fermented alcoholic beverage according to any one of [1] to [4] above, wherein the malt usage ratio is 25% by mass or more. [6] A beer-flavored fermented alcoholic beverage according to any one of [1] to [5] above, having an alcohol concentration of 10.0 v / v% or less. [7] A method for producing a beer-flavored fermented alcoholic beverage having a carbohydrate concentration of 2.5 g / 100 mL or less, the method comprising a step of incorporating glycine and alanine such that the produced beverage has a glycine concentration of 5.5 mg / L or more, an alanine concentration of 4.4 mg / L or more, and a total concentration of glycine and alanine in the produced beverage is 10 mg / L or more and 180 mg / L or less. [8] A method for improving the flavor of a beer-flavored fermented alcoholic beverage having a carbohydrate concentration of 2.5 g / 100 mL or less, the flavor improving method comprising a step of adding glycine and alanine so that the glycine concentration of the produced beverage is 5.5 mg / L or more, the alanine concentration of the produced beverage is 4.4 mg / L or more, and the total concentration of glycine and alanine in the produced beverage is 10 mg / L or more and 180 mg / L or less.

[0008] According to the present invention, in a fermented beer-flavored alcoholic beverage with a reduced carbohydrate concentration, by adjusting the glycine concentration, alanine concentration, and their total concentration to predetermined values, it is possible to provide a fermented beer-flavored alcoholic beverage with a reduced carbohydrate concentration, yet with a good sweetness, lingering flavor, and good balance. Therefore, the present invention is advantageous in that it can meet various needs of consumers, such as health consciousness.

[0009] In the present invention, the "beer taste" refers to the taste and aroma unique to beer that can be obtained when beer is produced in the usual manner, i.e., when beer is produced based on fermentation by yeast or the like.

[0010] In the present invention, "fermented alcoholic beverage with a beer taste" refers to a beverage fermented by yeast using a carbon source, a nitrogen source, water, etc. as ingredients, and includes beer, happoshu, and beverages obtained by adding alcohol to beer or happoshu that use malt as an ingredient (for example, a new genre of liqueur-based beverages classified as "Liqueur (sparkling) (2)" under the Liquor Tax Act). A preferred embodiment of a fermented alcoholic beverage with a beer taste is a fermented alcoholic beverage with a beer taste that uses malt and / or ungerminated wheat as at least a part of the ingredient (i.e., a fermented malt alcoholic beverage with a beer taste).

[0011] The beer-taste fermented alcoholic beverage of the present invention may be one that uses malt and / or ungerminated malt as at least a part of the raw material, and preferably uses at least malt (e.g., wheat malt, barley malt) as the raw material derived from malt. When the beer-taste fermented alcoholic beverage of the present invention uses malt as at least a part of the raw material, it can achieve a rich flavor regardless of the malt usage ratio, but in this case, the malt usage ratio can be, for example, 20% or less, 20% or more, less than 25%, 25% or more, 30% or less, 30% or more, 40% or less, 40% or more, less than 50%, 50% or more, 55% or less, 55% or more, 60% or less, 60% or more, 65% or more, 70% or less, 70% or more, 80% or less, 80% or more, 90% or less, 90% or more, 95% or less, 95% or more, or 100%, and these upper and lower limits can be arbitrarily combined. In this specification, the "malt usage ratio" refers to the ratio of the mass of malt to the mass of all raw materials excluding hops and brewing water. When the fermented beer-flavored alcoholic beverage of the present invention uses malt as at least a part of the raw materials, it is called a beer-flavored fermented malt alcoholic beverage. In addition, in the present invention, beer is a product obtained by fermenting malt, hops, water and other certain auxiliary raw materials, or a product obtained by adding hops or certain auxiliary raw materials to these and fermenting them, and which satisfies the following two conditions (limited to those with an alcohol content of less than 20%): Malt ratio must be 50 / 100 or more The weight of the fruits (including dried, boiled or concentrated fruit juice) and certain flavorings used does not exceed 5 / 100 of the weight of the malt (including those not used). (See the Liquor Tax Act (Act No. 6 of 1953), which was amended by the "Act for Partial Amendment of the Income Tax Act, etc." (Act No. 4 of 2017) and came into effect on April 1, 2018.)

[0012] The alcohol concentration of the fermented alcoholic beverage with a beer taste of the present invention can be set arbitrarily, but the lower limit of the alcohol concentration (above or above) can be, for example, 1.0 v / v%, 1.5 v / v%, 2.0 v / v%, 2.5 v / v% or 3.0 v / v%, and the upper limit (below or below) can be, for example, 11.0 v / v%, 10.5 v / v%, 10.0 v / v%, 9.5 v / v%, 9.0 v / v%, 8.5 v / v%, 8.0 v / v%, 7.5 v / v%, 7.0 v / v%, 6.5 v / v% or 6.0 v / v%. These lower and upper limits can be arbitrarily combined, and the alcohol concentration of the fermented alcoholic beverage with a beer taste of the present invention can be, for example, 1.0 to 10.0 v / v%, preferably 3.0 to 6.0 v / v%.

[0013] The alcohol concentration (ethanol concentration) in a beverage is widely known to those skilled in the art, and can be measured, for example, by the method described in the "National Tax Agency Specified Analytical Method."

[0014] The fermented beer-flavored alcoholic beverage of the present invention is a low-sugar beverage with a reduced sugar concentration. Specifically, the upper limit of the sugar concentration of the fermented beer-flavored alcoholic beverage of the present invention (not more than or lower than) is 2.5 g / 100 mL, and the lower limit of the sugar concentration is 2.4 g / 100 mL, 2.3 g / 100 mL, 2.2 g / 100 mL, 2.1 g / 100 mL, 2.0 g / 100 mL, 1.9 g / 100 mL, 1.8 g / 100 mL, 1.7 g / 100 mL, 1.8 ... g / 100mL, 1.6g / 100mL, 1.5g / 100mL, 1.4g / 100mL, 1.3g / 100mL, 1.2g / 100mL, 1.1g / 100mL, 1.0g / 100mL, 0.9g / 100mL, 0.8g / 100mL, 0.7g / 100mL, 0.6g / 100mL, 0.5g / 100mL, 0.4g / 100mL, 0.3g / 100mL or 0.2g / 100mL. Beverages with a carbohydrate concentration of less than 0.5g / 100mL qualify as "zero carbohydrate beverages."

[0015] The carbohydrate concentration can be measured by known methods, and can be calculated by subtracting the amounts of water, protein, lipids, ash and dietary fiber from the mass of the sample to be measured (see the Nutrition Labeling Standards (Partially revised, Consumer Affairs Agency Notification No. 9, December 16, 2009)).

[0016] The fermented beer-flavored alcoholic beverage of the present invention may have a reduced purine concentration. Specifically, the upper limit of the purine concentration of the fermented beer-flavored alcoholic beverage of the present invention (not more than or lower than) is 3.5 mg / 100 mL, 3.4 mg / 100 mL, 3.3 mg / 100 mL, 3.2 mg / 100 mL, 3.1 mg / 100 mL, 3.0 mg / 100 mL, 2.9 mg / 100 mL, 2.8 mg / 100 mL, 2.7 mg / 100 mL, 2.6 mg / 100 mL, 2.5 mg / 100 mL, 2.4 mg / 100 mL, 2.3 mg / 100 mL, 2.2 mg / 100 mL, or less. mL, 2.1mg / 100mL, 2.0mg / 100mL, 1.9mg / 100mL, 1.8mg / 100mL, 1.7mg / 100mL, 1.6mg / 100mL, 1.5mg / 100mL, 1.4mg / 100mL, 1.3mg / 100mL, 1.2mg / 100mL, 1.1mg / 100mL, 1.0mg / 100mL, 0.9mg / 100mL, 0.8mg / 100mL, 0.7mg / 100mL, 0.6mg / 100mL, 0.5mg / 100mL, 0.4mg / 100mL, 0.3mg / 100mL or 0.2mg / 100mL. Beverages with a purine concentration of less than 0.5mg / 100mL are considered "zero purine beverages."

[0017] Purines can be measured by known methods, for example, by a method of hydrolysis with perchloric acid followed by detection using LC-MS / MS (liquid chromatography mass spectrometry) (see "Guide to microanalysis of purines in alcoholic beverages", Japan Food Research Laboratories, URL: http: / / www.jfrl.or.jp / item / nutrition / post-31.html). In this specification, "purine concentration" refers to the total amount of four purine bases, adenine, xanthine, guanine, and hypoxanthine.

[0018] The beer-taste fermented alcoholic beverage of the present invention is characterized in that the glycine concentration is a predetermined value. Specifically, the lower limit of the glycine concentration (not less than or exceeding) is 5.5 mg / L, and the lower limit of the glycine concentration is 5.6 mg / L, 5.7 mg / L, 5.8 mg / L, 5.9 mg / L, 6.0 mg / L, 6.1 mg / L, 6.2 mg / L, 6.3 mg / L, 6.4 mg / L, 6.5 mg / L, 6.6 mg / L, 6.7 mg / L, 6.8 mg / L, 6.9 ...2 mg / L, 6.3 mg / L, 6.4 mg / L, g / L, 7.0mg / L, 7.1mg / L, 7.2mg / L, 7.3mg / L, 7.4mg / L, 7.5mg / L, 7.6mg / L, 7.7mg / L, 7.8mg / L, 7.9mg / L, 8.0mg / L, 8.1mg / L, 8.2mg / L, 8.3mg / L, 8.4mg / L, 8.5mg / L, 8.6mg / L, 8.7mg / L, 8.8mg / L, 8.9mg / L, 9.0mg / L, 9.1mg / L, 9.2mg / L, 9.3mg / L, 9.4mg / L, 9.5mg / L, 9.6mg / L, 9. 7mg / L, 9.8mg / L, 9.9mg / L, 10.0mg / L, 10.5mg / L, 11.0mg / L, 11.5mg / L, 12.0mg / L, 12.5mg / L, 13.0 mg / L, 13.5 mg / L, 14.0 mg / L, 14.5 mg / L, 15.0 mg / L, 15.5 mg / L, 16.0 mg / L, 16.5 mg / L, 17.0 mg / L, 17.5 mg / L, 18.0 mg / L, 18.5 mg / L, 19.0 mg / L, 19.5 mg / L or 20.0 mg / L. In the beer-taste fermented alcoholic beverage of the present invention, the upper limit of the glycine concentration (less than or equal to) can be set as appropriate, for example, 120.0 mg / L, 115.0 mg / L, 110.0 mg / L, 105.0 mg / L, 100.0 mg / L, 95.0 mg / L, 90.0 mg / L, 85.0 mg / L, 80.0 mg / L, 75.0 mg / L, 70.0 mg / L, 65.0 mg / L, 60.0 mg / L, 55.0 mg / L, or 50.0 mg / L. These lower and upper limits can be combined in any desired manner.

[0019] The beer-taste fermented alcoholic beverage of the present invention is characterized in that the alanine concentration is a predetermined value. Specifically, the lower limit of the alanine concentration (or more than or equal to) is 4.4 mg / L, and the lower limit of the alanine concentration is 4.5 mg / L, 4.6 mg / L, 4.7 mg / L, 4.8 mg / L, 4.9 mg / L, 5.0 mg / L, 5.1 mg / L, 5.2 mg / L, 5.3 mg / L, 5.4 mg / L, 5.5 mg / L, 5.6 mg / L, 5.7 mg / L, 5.8 mg / L, 5.9 mg / L, 6.0 mg / L, 6.1 mg / L, , 6.2mg / L, 6.3mg / L, 6.4mg / L, 6.5mg / L, 6.6mg / L, 6.7mg / L, 6.8mg / L, 6.9mg / L, 7.0mg / L, 7.1mg / L, 7.2mg / L, 7.3mg / L, 7.4mg / L, 7.5mg / L, 7.6mg / L, 7.7mg / L, 7.8mg / L, 7.9mg / L, 8.0mg / L or more, 8.1mg / L or more, 8.2mg / L or more , 8.3 mg / L or more, 8.4 mg / L or more, 8.5 mg / L, 8.6 mg / L or more, 8.7 mg / L or more, 8.8 mg / L or more, 8.9 mg / L or more, 9.0 mg / L, 9.1 mg / L, 9. 2mg / L, 9.3mg / L, 9.4mg / L, 9.5mg / L, 9.6mg / L, 9.7mg / L, 9.8mg / L, 9.9mg / L, 10.0mg / L, 10.5mg / L, 11.0mg / L, 11.5mg / L, 12.0mg / L, 12.5mg / L, 13.0mg / L, 13.5mg / L, 14.0mg / L, 14.5mg / L, 15.0mg / L, 15.5mg / L, 16.0mg / L, 16.5mg / L, 17.0mg / L, 17.5mg / L, 18.0mg / L, 18.5mg / L, 19.0mg / L, 19.5mg / L or 20.0mg / L. In the beer-flavored fermented alcoholic beverage of the present invention, the upper limit of the alanine concentration (not more than or less than) can be, for example, 60.0mg / L, 55.0mg / L, 50.0mg / L, 45.0mg / L or 40.0mg / L. These lower and upper limits can be combined in any combination.

[0020] The beer-taste fermented alcoholic beverage of the present invention is characterized in that the total concentration of glycine and alanine is a predetermined value. Specifically, the lower limit of the total concentration of glycine and alanine (not less than or exceeding) is 10 mg / L, and it can also be 11 mg / L, 12 mg / L, 13 mg / L, 14 mg / L, 15 mg / L, 16 mg / L, 17 mg / L, 18 mg / L, 19 mg / L, 20 mg / L, 21 mg / L, 22 mg / L, 23 mg / L, 24 mg / L, 25 mg / L, 26 mg / L, 27 mg / L, 28 mg / L, 29 mg / L, or 30 mg / L. The upper limit of the total concentration of glycine and alanine (less than or equal to) is 180 mg / L, and can be 175 mg / L, 170 mg / L, 165 mg / L, 160 mg / L, 155 mg / L, 150 mg / L, 145 mg / L, 140 mg / L, 135 mg / L or 130 mg / L. These lower and upper limits can be arbitrarily combined, and can be, for example, 10 to 180 mg / L, preferably 20 to 130 mg / L or less. The total concentration of glycine and alanine is calculated by adding up the respective concentrations.

[0021] When glycine and alanine are added in the production of the beer-flavored fermented alcoholic beverage of the present invention, they may be in any form suitable for food production, and their form may be any form that is easily soluble in an aqueous solvent, such as liquid, powder, solid, or a combination thereof.

[0022] In the beer-taste fermented alcoholic beverage of the present invention, the glycine concentration and alanine concentration can be measured by high performance liquid chromatography, or by separating amino acids with a cation exchange resin, adding a ninhydrin reaction solution and reacting at 135° C., followed by quantification with a UV-VIS detector. For example, the concentration can also be measured using a commercially available amino acid analyzer according to the method described in the Examples below.

[0023] The beer-flavored fermented alcoholic beverage of the present invention is characterized by having good sweetness, aftertaste, and balance, despite the reduced sugar concentration. Low-sugar beer-flavored fermented alcoholic beverages (particularly low-sugar beer and happoshu) have problems such as a low sweetness and an insufficient aftertaste, resulting in poor balance, due to the peculiarities of the method of adjusting the sugar content to low. The beer-flavored fermented alcoholic beverage of the present invention has improved sweetness, aftertaste, and balance, and can solve the above problems of low-sugar fermented beer-flavored alcoholic beverages. Here, "sweetness" refers to the degree of sweetness that is characteristic of beer. Furthermore, "aftertaste" refers to the degree of aftertaste that lingers after drinking. Furthermore, "balance" refers to a flavor in which each of the taste elements that make up the natural taste of beer (sweetness, bitterness, sourness, umami, etc.) is not prominent, and is well-balanced like beer.

[0024] The beer-taste fermented alcoholic beverage of the present invention is not limited in its production procedure, so long as the carbohydrate concentration is reduced to within a predetermined range, and the glycine concentration, alanine concentration, and their total concentration are contained at a predetermined value, and can be produced, for example, as follows. That is, a beer-taste fermented alcoholic beverage can be produced by adding fermentation yeast to wort prepared from brewing raw materials such as malt, hops, auxiliary materials, and brewing water, fermenting the wort, storing the resulting fermented liquid at a low temperature, and then removing the yeast by a filtration process. The carbohydrate content in the beverage can be reduced according to a known method described below. The beer-taste fermented alcoholic beverage of the present invention can be produced by adding glycine and alanine to the beer-taste fermented alcoholic beverage thus obtained with a reduced carbohydrate concentration so that the content of glycine and alanine is a predetermined content and the total content of glycine and alanine is a predetermined value. Glycine and alanine can be added to the beer-taste fermented alcoholic beverage by adding them to the fermentation liquid after fermentation, and in this way, a beer-taste fermented alcoholic beverage with a reduced carbohydrate concentration and containing glycine and alanine can be produced.

[0025] The sugar content in a fermented beer-flavored alcoholic beverage can be reduced by a known method. Non-limiting examples of methods for reducing the sugar concentration in a fermented beer-flavored alcoholic beverage include a method of adding glucoamylase during the saccharification process, a method of adding glucoamylase during the fermentation process (see Enzyme Utilization Technology Encyclopedia: From Basics and Analysis to Modification, Advanced Functionalization, and Industrial Use (edited by Komiyama Makoto, NTS Co., Ltd., 2010)), a method of reducing sugar content by using liquid sugar containing a large amount of sugar that can be assimilated by yeast to increase assimilation by yeast (see JP 2009-131202 A), and a method of filtering wort during the saccharification process (see JP 2012-147780 A).

[0026] The purine content in a beer-flavored fermented alcoholic beverage can be reduced by a known method. Non-limiting examples of methods for reducing the purine concentration in a beer-flavored fermented alcoholic beverage include a method for reducing the purine content in the beverage by contacting a pre-fermentation liquid or a fermentation liquid with an adsorbent such as activated carbon or zeolite (see JP 2003-169658 A, JP 2004-290071 A, JP 2004-290072 A, JP 2015-112090 A, etc.), and a method for reducing the purine content in the beverage by using a raw material other than malt that contains less purine (e.g., soybean protein, corn grits) (see JP 2014-117204 A, JP 2014-117205 A, etc.).

[0027] In the above-mentioned production procedure, the wort can be produced according to a conventional method. For example, a mixture of brewing raw materials and brewing water is saccharified, filtered to obtain wort, and hops are added to the wort, followed by boiling and cooling the boiled wort to prepare the wort. The wort can also be produced by adding a commercially available enzyme preparation during the saccharification process. For example, a protease preparation can be used for protein degradation, an α-amylase preparation, a glucoamylase preparation, a pullulanase preparation, etc. can be used for carbohydrate degradation, and a β-glucanase preparation, a cellulase enzyme preparation, etc. can be used for cellulolysis, or a mixture of these preparations can be used.

[0028] In the production of the beer-flavored fermented alcoholic beverage of the present invention, in addition to malt, other ingredients may be used, such as ungerminated wheat and barley (for example, ungerminated barley (including extracts), ungerminated wheat (including extracts)); rice, corn, koryan, potatoes, starch, sugars (for example, liquid sugar), fruits (for example, fruit juice, concentrated fruit juice), coriander or its seeds, spices or ingredients thereof (for example, pepper, cinnamon, Japanese pepper), herbs (for example, chamomile, sage, The brewing ingredients that can be used include auxiliary ingredients such as basil), vegetables (e.g., sweet potato, pumpkin), buckwheat or sesame, carbohydrate-containing substances (e.g., honey, brown sugar), salt, miso, flowers, tea, coffee, cocoa (including preparations of tea, coffee, and cocoa), and seafood (e.g., oysters, kelp, wakame, and bonito flakes); nitrogen sources such as protein hydrolysates and yeast extract; and other additives such as flavorings, colorants, foaming and foam retention improvers, water quality conditioners, and fermentation aids. The raw materials used in the fermented alcoholic beverage with a beer taste of the present invention, other than the brewing water, can be at least malt and hops, and in some cases, sugars, rice, corn, starch, and the like can also be used as raw materials. It goes without saying that all-malt beer, one of the fermented alcoholic beverages with a beer taste, can be produced from malt, hops, and water.

[0029] The glycine and alanine concentrations in the fermented beer-taste alcoholic beverage of the present invention can also be adjusted by adjusting the ratio of malt used, using raw materials such as fruits with high glycine and / or alanine contents, etc. Apart from these steps, the beverage can be produced according to a normal production method for a fermented beer-taste alcoholic beverage while implementing the method for reducing the carbohydrate concentration in the beverage to within a predetermined range, as described above.

[0030] In the fermented beer-taste alcoholic beverage of the present invention, the concentration of ethyl acetate can be, for example, 100 ppm or less, and from the viewpoint of improving sweetness, aftertaste and balance, it can be preferably 50 ppm or less, more preferably 40 ppm or less, and even more preferably 30 ppm or less. In the fermented beer-taste alcoholic beverage of the present invention, the concentration of ethyl acetate can be, for example, 1 ppm or more, 2 ppm or more, or 3 ppm or more. The ethyl acetate concentration of the fermented beer-taste alcoholic beverage can be adjusted by known methods (for example, using yeast with low ethyl acetate production ability, adjusting brewing conditions such as fermentation temperature, etc.).

[0031] The concentration of ethyl acetate in the beer-flavored fermented alcoholic beverage of the present invention can be measured by a headspace gas chromatograph with FID as described in "8.22" of the BCOJ Beer Analysis Method (revised and expanded in 2013). For example, the concentration of ethyl acetate can be measured by introducing the gas phase of a beer sample heated in a vial into a gas chromatograph with an FID detector, reading the area of ​​ethyl acetate from the gas chromatogram, and calculating the amount of each component from the ratio to the area of ​​the internal standard (n-butanol). In this case, for more accurate concentration measurement, it is desirable to use a calibration curve created based on the measured values ​​of several control samples with known concentrations.

[0032] In the fermented beer-taste alcoholic beverage of the present invention, the malic acid concentration can be, for example, 20 to 120 ppm, and preferably 30 to 100 ppm. The malic acid concentration in the fermented beer-taste alcoholic beverage can be measured, for example, by the capillary electrophoresis method described in "8.24.2" of the BCOJ Beer Analysis Method (revised and expanded in 2013).

[0033] In the present invention, the term "bitterness value (BU)" refers to a value measured according to the method for bitterness value described in "8.15" of the BCOJ Beer Analysis Method (revised and expanded in 2013). Specifically, after adding an acid to a sample beverage, it is extracted with isooctane, the absorbance (275 nm) of the isooctane layer is measured, and the measured value is multiplied by 50 to obtain the bitterness value.

[0034] The bitterness value (BU) of the beverage of the present invention is, for example, 2 to 60, and from the viewpoint of obtaining a beer-flavored fermented alcoholic beverage with a more favorable flavor, it can be, for example, 3 to 30, preferably 4 to 25, more preferably 5 to 22, and even more preferably 5.5 to 20.

[0035] In the present invention, the method for adjusting the bitterness value (BU) is not particularly limited, but a suitable example is a method for adjusting the amount of hops and / or hop processed products used in the production of a fermented alcoholic beverage with a beer taste and / or the boiling time. In general, increasing the amount of hops and / or hop processed products used and / or the boiling time increases the concentration of iso-α acids, etc. in the fermented alcoholic beverage with a beer taste, thereby increasing the BU of the fermented alcoholic beverage with a beer taste, and decreasing the amount of hops and / or hop processed products used and / or the boiling time decreases the concentration of iso-α acids, etc. in the fermented alcoholic beverage with a beer taste, thereby decreasing the BU of the fermented alcoholic beverage with a beer taste. Examples of the hops that can be used include fresh hops, hop pellets that have been crushed and processed into pellets in advance, hop pellets that contain a lot of lupulin by sieving lupulin grains in advance during the processing, and hop extracts in which the bitterness of lupulin, essential oils, etc. are extracted. Furthermore, examples of hop processed products that can be used include low hops, hexahops, tetrahops, and isomerized hop extracts (isomerized hop extracts).

[0036] The pH of the fermented beer-taste alcoholic beverage of the present invention can be 2.0 or more and 7.0 or less, preferably 2.3 or more and 5.0 or less, more preferably 3.0 or more and 4.7 or less, and most preferably 3.5 or more and 4.5 or less. The pH of the fermented beer-taste alcoholic beverage of the present invention can be adjusted using a pH adjuster. The pH of the fermented beer-taste alcoholic beverage can be measured using a commercially available pH meter (e.g., HORIBA Scientific tabletop pH meter, Horiba Advanced Techno Co., Ltd.).

[0037] The beverage provided by the present invention can be provided as a bottled beverage after being subjected to a step of adding carbon dioxide gas as the case may be, and further subjected to steps such as a filling step and a sterilization step. Sterilization may be performed before or after filling into the container. In addition, when the pH of the beverage is adjusted to less than 4, it is also possible to directly perform the filling step without going through the sterilization step to produce a bottled beverage.

[0038] The container used for the beverage of the present invention may be any container that is normally used for filling beverages, such as metal cans, barrel containers, plastic bottles (e.g., PET bottles, cups), paper containers, bottles, pouch containers, etc., with metal cans, barrel containers, plastic bottles (e.g., PET bottles), and bottles being preferred.

[0039] According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for producing a beer-taste fermented alcoholic beverage having a carbohydrate concentration of 2.5 g / 100 mL or less, the method comprising a step of incorporating glycine and alanine such that the produced beverage has a glycine concentration of 5.5 mg / L or more, an alanine concentration of 4.4 mg / L or more, and a total concentration of glycine and alanine in the produced beverage is 10 mg / L to 180 mg / L. According to the production method of the present invention, the flavor of the produced fermented beer-taste alcoholic beverage is improved. Here, "improved flavor" or "improved flavor" of a fermented beer-taste alcoholic beverage means that the fermented beer-taste alcoholic beverage has a good sweetness, lingering flavor, and good balance despite a reduced carbohydrate concentration. The production method of the present invention can be carried out in accordance with the above and the description of the fermented beer-taste alcoholic beverage of the present invention.

[0040] According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for improving the flavor of a beer-taste fermented alcoholic beverage having a carbohydrate concentration of 2.5 g / 100 mL or less, the method comprising the step of incorporating glycine and alanine such that the glycine concentration of the produced beverage is 5.5 mg / L or more, the alanine concentration of the produced beverage is 4.4 mg / L or more, and the total concentration of glycine and alanine in the produced beverage is 10 mg / L or more and 180 mg / L or less. According to the flavor improvement method of the present invention, it is possible to improve the flavor of a beer-taste fermented alcoholic beverage having a reduced carbohydrate concentration. In addition to the above, the flavor improvement method of the present invention can be carried out according to the description of the beer-taste fermented alcoholic beverage and the production method thereof of the present invention. EXAMPLES

[0041] The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the following examples, but the present invention is not limited to these examples.

[0042] Measuring alcohol concentration The alcohol concentration (ethanol concentration) was measured according to the method described in the "National Tax Agency Specified Analytical Method."

[0043] Carbohydrate concentration analysis The carbohydrate concentration based on the Nutrition Labeling Standard was measured according to the method described in the well-known 5th Edition of the Analysis Manual for the Standard Tables of Food Composition in Japan, which was calculated by subtracting the amounts of water, protein, lipid, ash and dietary fiber from the mass of the sample beverage.

[0044] Measurement of purine concentration The purine concentration was measured as follows: after hydrolysis with perchloric acid, it was detected using LC-MS / MS (liquid chromatography mass spectrometry) (see "Guide to trace analysis of purines in alcoholic beverages", Japan Food Research Laboratories, URL: http: / / www.jfrl.or.jp / item / nutrition / post-31.html).

[0045] Measurement of amino acid concentrations The amino acid concentration was measured as follows. That is, the filtrate obtained by filtering various samples through a 0.45 μm filter was used as a sample solution for amino acid analysis. The sample was subjected to amino acid analysis using a high-speed amino acid analyzer LA8080 (Hitachi High-Tech Science Corporation). The glycine concentration and alanine concentration were calculated from a calibration curve prepared using the standard. The total concentration of glycine and alanine was calculated by adding up the respective concentrations.

[0046] Example 1: Preparation and evaluation of beer-flavored beverages In Example 1, tasting samples of beer-taste beverages were prepared and evaluation tests were conducted on each sample.

[0047] (1) Method A. Preparation of test samples Malt was saccharified using an enzyme, and the mixture was filtered to obtain wort. Hops and liquid sugar mainly containing assimilable sugar were added to the obtained wort, and the mixture was boiled at 100°C. Next, the wort was left to stand to separate the coagulated protein (trube), and then cooled to obtain a pre-fermentation liquid. Bottom-fermenting yeast was added to the obtained pre-fermentation liquid, and main fermentation and post-fermentation were performed to obtain a fermentation liquid. The obtained fermentation liquid was stored at a low temperature to stop the fermentation, and filtered to obtain a beer-flavored fermented alcoholic beverage (malt usage ratio 53%). Then, the beer-flavored fermented alcoholic beverage was diluted and brewing ethanol (95%), glycine, and alanine were added to prepare a base beverage (Test Group 1 shown in Table 1). Each test sample of Test Groups 2 to 18 shown in Table 1 was prepared by adding brewing ethanol (95%), glycine, and alanine to this base beverage.

[0048] B. Evaluation test The test was carried out by four trained panelists. The evaluation criteria for taste, aftertaste, and balance are shown in Table 1. The score for each evaluation item in Test Plot 1 was set at 1.50, and Test Plots 2 to 18 were evaluated based on the sensory evaluation of Test Plot 1.

[0049] [Table 1]

[0050] (2) Results The results are shown in Table 2. When the individual concentrations of glycine and alanine and the combined concentration of the two were at the specified values, good results were obtained with scores of 3.0 or more for sweetness, lingering flavor, and balance.

[0051] [Table 2] TIFF2025007494000003.tif62146TIFF2025007494000004.tif63146

Claims

1. A beer-flavored fermented alcoholic beverage having a carbohydrate concentration of 2.5 g / 100 mL or less, The glycine concentration is 5.5 mg / L or more; The alanine concentration is 4.4 mg / L or more, and A beer-flavored fermented alcoholic beverage having a total concentration of glycine and alanine of 10 mg / L or more and 180 mg / L or less.

2. 2. The beer-taste fermented alcoholic beverage according to claim 1, wherein the total concentration of glycine and alanine is 20 mg / L or more and 130 mg / L or less.

3. 3. The beer-taste fermented alcoholic beverage according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the total concentration of glycine and alanine is 20 mg / L or more and 35 mg / L or less.

4. The beer-taste fermented alcoholic beverage according to any one of claims 1 to 3, having a carbohydrate concentration of 0.5 g / 100 mL or less.

5. The beer-taste fermented alcoholic beverage according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the proportion of malt used is 25% by mass or more.

6. The beer-taste fermented alcoholic beverage according to any one of claims 1 to 5, having an alcohol concentration of 10.0 v / v % or less.

7. A method for producing a beer-flavored fermented alcoholic beverage having a carbohydrate concentration of 2.5 g / 100 mL or less, the method comprising a step of incorporating glycine and alanine such that the produced beverage has a glycine concentration of 5.5 mg / L or more, an alanine concentration of 4.4 mg / L or more, and a total concentration of glycine and alanine in the produced beverage is 10 mg / L or more and 180 mg / L or less.

8. A method for improving the flavor of a beer-flavored fermented alcoholic beverage having a carbohydrate concentration of 2.5 g / 100 mL or less, the method comprising a step of incorporating glycine and alanine such that the produced beverage has a glycine concentration of 5.5 mg / L or more, an alanine concentration of 4.4 mg / L or more, and a total concentration of glycine and alanine in the produced beverage is 10 mg / L or more and 180 mg / L or less.

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