Low-extract alcoholic beverage with reduced off-flavors and method for producing the same

Abstract

To provide an acidulant-contained alcoholic beverage having reduced odd taste while having a low extract content.SOLUTION: An alcoholic beverage has an extract content of 0.5 w / v% or less, the alcoholic beverage comprising at least one component selected from the group consisting of phytic acid, lactic acid and phosphoric acid.SELECTED DRAWING: None

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a low - extract low - alcohol beverage with reduced off - flavors and a method for producing the same.

Background Art

[0002] In the alcoholic beverage market, numerous products are launched every year. Among them, in so - called RTDs (Ready - to - Drink), various flavors have been developed, and most of them are based on fruits (such as citrus fruits). On the other hand, in recent years, so - called "dry - type chu - hai" has been developed. Although it does not have a fruit - based flavor, new flavor - designed products that are suitable for meals, have a refreshing taste, and are easy to drink have been developed.

[0003] For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an alcoholic beverage that focuses on drinkability and flavor sharpness. The alcoholic beverage is apple fruit wine, and the extract content is 0.9 w / v% or more.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

[0005] In developing a new chu - hai with a refreshing sharpness and good throat - feel, the inventors came up with a flavor design that minimizes the extract content in order to improve the throat - feel. However, when adding an acidulant to express the sharpness peculiar to chu - hai while maintaining the throat - feel, they found a problem that off - flavors, which were not a problem in ordinary chu - hai containing a large amount of extract, became prominent.

[0006] Now, the inventors have found that by adding phytic acid, lactic acid, or phosphoric acid, which also acts as an acidulant, to an alcohol beverage with a low extract content, the off - flavors are reduced. The present invention is based on this finding.

[0007] Therefore, the present invention provides an alcoholic beverage containing an acidulant that has a low extract content while reducing off-flavors, and a method for producing the same.

[0008] In other words, the present invention provides the following invention. (1) An alcoholic beverage having an extract content of 0.5 w / v% or less, comprising at least one component selected from the group consisting of phytic acid, lactic acid, and phosphoric acid. (2) The alcoholic beverage according to (1) above, further comprising sodium. (3) The alcoholic beverage described in (1) or (2) above, wherein the sodium concentration is 6 to 100 mg / 100 mL as sodium. (4) An alcoholic beverage according to any of (1) to (3) above, wherein when the concentration of phytic acid is A (w / v%), the concentration of lactic acid is B (w / v%), and the concentration of phosphoric acid is C (w / v%), A + B + C is 0.001 to 0.5. (5) An alcoholic beverage according to any of (1) to (4) above, which contains distilled spirits as an alcohol source. (6) An alcoholic beverage that is a chuhai beverage, as described in any of (1) to (5) above. (7) A method for producing an alcoholic beverage having an extract content of 0.5 w / v% or less, comprising the step of including at least one component selected from the group consisting of phytic acid, lactic acid, and phosphoric acid. (8) A method for reducing off-flavors in an alcoholic beverage having an extract content of 0.5 w / v% or less, comprising the step of adding at least one component selected from the group consisting of phytic acid, lactic acid, and phosphoric acid to the alcoholic beverage. (9) The method according to (7) or (8), further comprising the step of adding sodium.

[0009] According to the present invention, off-flavors can be reduced in low-extract alcoholic beverages. Furthermore, according to the present invention, the richness of flavor can be enhanced in low-extract alcoholic beverages. Moreover, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide low-extract alcoholic beverages that, despite being low in extract, have reduced off-flavors, a smooth finish, and a crisp taste. Specific description of the invention

[0010] In this invention, "alcoholic beverage" means a beverage with an alcohol content of 1% or more that is considered an alcoholic beverage under the Liquor Tax Act.

[0011] In this invention, "off-flavor" refers to the rough, scratchy sensation felt when the beverage goes down the throat. In this invention, "richness of flavor" refers to the body or satisfying taste felt when the beverage is consumed. In this invention, "crispness" refers to the refreshing sensation felt in the mouth when the beverage is consumed. In this invention, "smoothness" refers to the sensation felt in the throat when the beverage is swallowed, and is an evaluation item that considers it good if the beverage can be drunk without feeling any unpleasant aftertaste after swallowing.

[0012] The alcoholic beverage of the present invention contains at least one component selected from the group consisting of phytic acid, lactic acid, and phosphoric acid. Such a beverage can be produced by adjusting the concentration of the component in the beverage. The concentration of the component may be adjusted by adding the component, or by blending a raw material containing the component, or by increasing or decreasing the amount of such blend.

[0013] According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the alcoholic beverage of the present invention contains phytic acid and / or lactic acid, and more preferably contains phytic acid.

[0014] The concentration of the above-mentioned components in the alcoholic beverage of the present invention is not particularly limited, as long as it is adjusted so that the alcoholic beverage becomes acidic. For example, it can be adjusted so that the pH is less than 4.6, more preferably less than 4.2, and even more preferably less than 4.0. For example, when the concentration of phytic acid is A (w / v%), the concentration of lactic acid is B (w / v%), and the concentration of phosphoric acid is C (w / v%), A + B + C can be set to 0.001 to 0.5, preferably 0.001 to 0.3, more preferably 0.005 to 0.3, and even more preferably 0.01 to 0.2.

[0015] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the alcoholic beverage of the present invention contains phytic acid at a concentration of 0.001 to 0.5 w / v%, preferably 0.001 to 0.3 w / v%, more preferably 0.005 to 0.3 w / v%, and even more preferably 0.01 to 0.2 w / v%.

[0016] According to another embodiment of the present invention, the alcoholic beverage of the present invention contains lactic acid at a concentration of 0.001 to 0.5 w / v%, preferably 0.001 to 0.3 w / v%, more preferably 0.005 to 0.3 w / v%, and even more preferably 0.01 to 0.2 w / v%.

[0017] According to another embodiment of the present invention, the alcoholic beverage of the present invention contains phosphoric acid at a concentration of 0.001 to 0.5 w / v%, preferably 0.001 to 0.3 w / v%, more preferably 0.005 to 0.3 w / v%, and even more preferably 0.01 to 0.2 w / v%.

[0018] The concentration of phytic acid in the alcoholic beverage of the present invention can be measured by ion chromatography. The concentrations of citric acid, lactic acid, and phosphoric acid in the alcoholic beverage of the present invention can be measured by capillary electrophoresis. In this case, for more accurate concentration measurement, it is desirable to use a calibration curve created based on measurement values ​​of several control samples with known concentrations.

[0019] According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the alcoholic beverage of the present invention contains sodium. Such a beverage can be produced by adjusting the concentration of sodium in the beverage. The concentration of sodium may be adjusted by adding sodium, or by blending a sodium-containing ingredient, or by increasing or decreasing the amount of such ingredient.

[0020] The sodium in the alcoholic beverage of the present invention may be in any form, such as sodium, sodium salt, or sodium ions. The concentration of sodium in the alcoholic beverage of the present invention is not particularly limited, but is preferably 6 to 100 mg / 100 mL, more preferably 6 to 50 mg / 100 mL, and even more preferably 10 to 30 mg / 100 mL, as sodium (converted to the weight of sodium in its form). The concentration of sodium in the beverage can be measured by a method known in the art, for example, by sodium analysis using an ICP emission spectrometer (Inductivity coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer; ICP-OES). 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.

[0021] The sodium used in the production of the alcoholic beverage of the present invention may be any form of material, including various forms of substances such as sodium, sodium salts, and sodium ions, as well as raw materials containing these. The sodium salt is not particularly limited, but examples include sodium chloride, sodium citrate (e.g., monosodium citrate, disodium citrate, trisodium citrate), sodium tartrate, sodium lactate, sodium fumarate, sodium malate, sodium succinate, and sodium acetate, and preferably sodium chloride and / or sodium citrate can be used.

[0022] The alcoholic beverage of the present invention is an alcoholic beverage with a low content of extract or without extract. Here, the "extract" is a non-volatile component defined in the Liquor Tax Law of Japan, and is defined as the number of grams of non-volatile components contained in 100 cubic centimeters of the original volume at a temperature of 15°C. The content of the extract in the beverage can be measured using the prescribed analysis method of the National Tax Agency of Japan. In this specification, the content of the extract is shown as the percentage by weight (unit: w / v%) in a prescribed volume of the alcoholic beverage.

[0023] The content of the extract in the alcoholic beverage of the present invention can be 0.5 w / v% or less, preferably 0.4 w / v% or less, more preferably 0.3 w / v% or less, and still more preferably 0.2 w / v% or less. The content of the extract can be kept low by using distilled liquor as the alcohol source or reducing the amount of raw materials with a high content of solids such as fruit juice and sugar. However, as long as the content of the extract is below the above content, it is possible to use raw materials and food additives that give the extract, such as fruit juice, dietary fiber, spices, plant extracts, animal extracts, acidulants, pigments, sugar, sweeteners, etc.

[0024] In this specification, it has been demonstrated that the off-flavor becomes strong in the tasting sample containing citric acid alone as the acidulant, and the off-flavor is reduced in the tasting sample in which part or all of this citric acid is replaced with phytic acid, lactic acid or phosphoric acid. Therefore, citric acid is considered to be an acidulant that gives an off-flavor in a low-extract alcoholic beverage, and it is desirable that its content is low also in the alcoholic beverage of the present invention. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the content of citric acid in the alcoholic beverage of the present invention is less than 0.15 w / v%.

[0025] The alcohol concentration of the alcoholic beverage of the present invention is not particularly limited, but is preferably 1 to 20 v / v%, more preferably 3 to 15 v / v%, and even more preferably 6 to 12 v / v%. The adjustment of the alcohol concentration can be carried out by adding an ethanol-containing material whose safety as a food has been confirmed. As the ethanol-containing material, distilled liquor, brewed liquor, alcohol for raw materials, etc. can be used, but preferably distilled liquor is used. Examples of preferred distilled liquors include vodka, spirits, whisky, shochu, etc.

[0026] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the alcoholic beverage of the present invention contains a citrus extract. Examples of such citrus extracts include, for example, the flavor-improving composition described in JP-A-2019-115264. Furthermore, the alcoholic beverage of the present invention may contain a cereal fermentation extract.

[0027] The alcoholic beverage of the present invention can be any type of alcoholic beverage, for example, a citrus-flavored alcoholic beverage, a soft fruit (fruit other than citrus) - flavored alcoholic beverage, a dry type (plain type) alcoholic beverage, etc. Here, the dry type (plain type) alcoholic beverage can generally be understood as an alcoholic beverage with a refreshing taste that suppresses sweetness. For example, it may be an alcoholic beverage that does not have the flavor of fruit, and preferably an alcoholic beverage that does not contain any of fruit juice, citrus flavor, and soft fruit flavor. Many commercially available products of such dry type (plain type) alcoholic beverages are flavor-designed to be compatible with food.

[0028] According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the alcoholic beverage of the present invention is a chu-hi beverage. Also, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the alcoholic beverage of the present invention is an alcoholic beverage other than a beer-taste beverage.

[0029] The alcoholic beverage of the present invention may contain other components used in the manufacture of beverages. Such other components may include, for example, sweeteners (e.g., sugar, glucose, fructose, oligosaccharides, isomerized liquid sugar, sugar alcohols, high-intensity sweeteners, etc.), acidulants (e.g., citric acid, malic acid, tartaric acid, itaconic acid, fumaric acid, gluconic acid, adipic acid, acetic acid, or salts thereof, etc.), colorants, food additives (e.g., foaming and foam retention enhancers, bittering agents, preservatives, antioxidants, thickening and stabilizing agents, emulsifiers, dietary fiber, pH adjusters, etc.) as appropriate.

[0030] The alcoholic beverage of the present invention can be a carbonated beverage, in which carbon dioxide is injected under pressure. The carbon dioxide pressure can be adjusted as appropriate according to preference, for example, within the range of 0.05 to 0.4 MPa (gas pressure at 20°C).

[0031] The alcoholic beverage of the present invention is preferably provided as a packaged beverage. The container used for the alcoholic beverage of the present invention may be any container that is normally used for filling beverages, such as metal cans, barrels, plastic bottles (e.g., PET bottles, cups), paper containers, bottles, pouches, etc., but preferably metal cans / barrels, plastic bottles (e.g., PET bottles), or bottles.

[0032] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the alcoholic beverage of the present invention can be manufactured according to a conventional method for manufacturing alcoholic beverages, except for adjusting the concentration of the above-mentioned components. For example, first, an acidulant, a flavoring agent, and optionally a sugar or sweetener are added to an aqueous solution containing alcohol in a tank to adjust the flavor. Then, carbon dioxide gas is added to the flavored aqueous solution to produce a carbon dioxide-containing beverage. The alcoholic beverage of the present invention can be manufactured by appropriately adding the above-mentioned components or materials containing the above-mentioned components at any stage of such a manufacturing process.

[0033] According to another aspect of the present invention, a method is provided for reducing off-flavors in an alcoholic beverage having an extract content of 0.5 w / v% or less, comprising the step of adding at least one component selected from the group consisting of phytic acid, lactic acid, and phosphoric acid to the alcoholic beverage. [Examples]

[0034] The present invention will be specifically described based on the following embodiments, but the present invention is not limited to these embodiments.

[0035] Tasting sample In the following examples, each tasting sample was prepared based on a base beverage sample containing the following ingredients: Alcohol concentration: 9v / v%; Extract content: 0.2 w / v% at 15℃; • Flavoring (shochu-like flavoring): appropriate amount.

[0036] Tasting samples were prepared by adding the ingredients listed in the table below to the base beverage sample described above.

[0037] Sensory evaluation The sensory evaluation was conducted by six or seven well-trained panelists. The evaluation criteria included off-flavors (the rough, scratchy sensation felt as the beverage goes down the throat), crispness (the refreshing sensation derived from acidity felt in the mouth when drinking the beverage), throat feel (the ability to drink the beverage without any unpleasant aftertaste), and flavor body (the body or satisfying taste felt when drinking the beverage).

[0038] The sensory evaluation of "off-flavors" was conducted using a five-point scoring system with increments of 1: 1 (strong off-flavors), 2 (somewhat strong off-flavors), 3 (somewhat weak off-flavors), 4 (weak off-flavors), and 5 (no off-flavors). For the evaluation of off-flavors, the score for test group 1-2 (containing only 0.15 w / v% citric acid as an acidulant, and not containing phytic acid, lactic acid, or phosphoric acid, nor sodium) in Table 1 was fixed at 1 point, and the score for test group 1-1 (not containing any acidulants, nor sodium) was fixed at 5 points.

[0039] The sensory evaluation of "crispness" was conducted on a five-point scale with increments of 1: 1 (no crispness), 2 (almost no crispness), 3 (crispness), 4 (somewhat crispness), and 5 (very crispness). For the crispness evaluation, the score for test group 1-1 (no acidulants and no sodium) in Table 1 was fixed at 1 point, and the score for test group 1-2 (containing only 0.15 w / v% citric acid as an acidulant, and not containing phytic acid, lactic acid, or phosphoric acid, and also not containing sodium) was fixed at 5 points.

[0040] The sensory evaluation of "throat feel" was rated "yes" if the throat feel of the sample was equivalent to that of water, and "no" otherwise.

[0041] The sensory evaluation of "flavor intensity" was conducted using a 5-point scale from 1 (average) to 5 (strong), in increments of 1. For the evaluation of flavor intensity, the score of test group 2-1 (containing only 0.2 w / v% phytic acid as an acidulant and no sodium) in Table 2 was fixed at 1 point, and the score of test group 2-5 (containing only 0.2 w / v% lactic acid as an acidulant and 19 mg / 100 mL of sodium) was fixed at 5 points.

[0042] The evaluation results were presented as the mean and standard deviation of the scores of 6 or 7 participants.

[0043] Example 1: Confirmation of the effects of phytic acid, lactic acid, and phosphoric acid. Tasting samples were prepared with phytic acid, lactic acid, phosphoric acid, citric acid, and malic acid added at predetermined concentrations as acidulants. Seven panelists then performed sensory evaluations of off-flavors, crispness, and throat feel. The results are shown in Table 1.

[0044] [Table 1]

[0045] Table 1 shows that, comparing test group 1-1 and test group 1-2, in the low-extract beverage samples, the addition of citric acid provided a crispness, but also intensified off-flavors. Next, comparing test group 1-2 with test groups 1-3 to 1-5, it was found that when citric acid was replaced with phytic acid, the off-flavors were significantly reduced depending on the amount of phytic acid. Furthermore, the results from test groups 1-6 to 1-9 showed that lactic acid and phosphoric acid also had an off-flavor reduction effect similar to phytic acid. In addition, the results from test groups 1-10 and 1-11 showed that replacing citric acid with malic acid did not reduce off-flavors, indicating that this effect is not achieved with all acidulants.

[0046] Example 2: Confirmation of the effect of sodium Tasting samples were prepared by adding phytic acid, lactic acid, and phosphoric acid at predetermined concentrations as acidulants, and then adding a predetermined amount of sodium. Seven panelists performed sensory evaluations of these tasting samples for off-flavors, crispness, and throat feel, and six panelists performed sensory evaluations for flavor depth. The results are shown in Table 2.

[0047] [Table 2]

[0048] Table 2 shows that sodium, when combined with phytic acid, lactic acid, or phosphoric acid, enhances the depth of flavor while maintaining its effects on throat feel, crispness, and off-flavors.

Claims

1. An alcoholic beverage having an extract content of 0.5 w / v% or less, comprising at least one component selected from the group consisting of phytic acid and lactic acid, It further contains sodium, with a sodium concentration of 14-100 mg / 100 mL as sodium. An alcoholic beverage having a concentration of at least one component selected from the group consisting of phytic acid and lactic acid of 0.075 to 0.5 w / v%.

2. The alcoholic beverage according to claim 1, wherein when the concentration of phytic acid is A (w / v%) and the concentration of lactic acid is B (w / v%), A + B is 0.075 to 0.

5.

3. An alcoholic beverage according to claim 1 or 2, comprising distilled spirits as an alcohol source.

4. An alcoholic beverage according to any one of claims 1 to 3, which is a chuhai beverage.

5. A method for producing an alcoholic beverage having an extract content of 0.5 w / v% or less, comprising the steps of: including at least one component selected from the group consisting of phytic acid and lactic acid; and including sodium, wherein the concentration of sodium is adjusted to 14 to 100 mg / 100 mL as sodium, and the concentration of at least one component selected from the group consisting of phytic acid and lactic acid is adjusted to 0.075 to 0.5 w / v%.

6. A method for reducing off-flavors and enhancing the depth of flavor in an alcoholic beverage having an extract content of 0.5 w / v% or less, comprising the steps of: adding at least one component selected from the group consisting of phytic acid and lactic acid to the alcoholic beverage; and adding sodium, wherein the concentration of sodium is adjusted to 14 to 100 mg / 100 mL as sodium, and the concentration of at least one component selected from the group consisting of phytic acid and lactic acid is adjusted to 0.075 to 0.5 w / v%.

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