Flavours and fragrances
the environmental impact.” Indeed, traditional methods of flavouring both alcoholic and non- alcoholic beer, with natural botanicals and aroma hops, are extremely water-intensive, take land away from food growing and are air-mile heavy. Other alternate synthetic flavourings often rely on the heavy use of petrochemicals. As Kampranis sees it, being able to better refine the flavour profile of non-alcoholic alternatives will be critical to the future success of the sector. “These days,” he says, “customers tend to enjoy more flavourful beers like IPAs.” The subtext: booze-free alternatives need to align with market direction if they’re to stand any chance at surviving. Radhakrishnan agrees, arguing that for those competing against full-strength alcoholic products, matching customer expectations of feel and flavour will be critical. As he explains, that’s why Quarter chose to go with low-alcohol drinks rather than cutting booze out altogether. “We’re not trying to cheat people into thinking our drink is the same experience as a full-strength product,” he says. “They will know on mouthfeel – but we do want to deliver the right flavour and a tipsy feeling.” No wonder Radhakrishnan stresses that getting flavour right is central to the Quarter mission. Retailing 12% gin and tequila alternatives, these tipples are designed to form part of cocktails and mixes drinkers already recognise. To ensure the flavour profile retained the complexity and vigour of full-strength counterparts, even when diluted as part of a mixed drink or cocktail, Radhakrishnan’s drinks team spent eight months taking traditionally enjoyed spirits down to discrete ingredient and flavour parts. They then tested how these flavours would perform at higher dilutions, ensuring they’d get the balance right within newly reformed low-booze products. “Light doesn’t have to mean less flavour,” is how Radhakrishnan puts it. “Even in traditional cocktails, with low alcohol alternatives, you can get the recognisable sweet bitterness of a Negroni.”
The future of booze-free
Radhakrishnan is steadfast in his belief that drinker reception to the flavour profiles of non- or low- alcohol drinks will also rest on truthful marketing. “It’s fairly simple,” he says, “it’s a gin and tonic or a Negroni – just a lighter version.” He believes that this kind of expectation management is crucial. At the same time, Radhakrishnan is exploring where the drinks market will head next. Quarter, for its part, is preparing to introduce another low-alcohol alternative, with the firm’s London-based founder suggesting that as replication of full-strength flavour profiles improves, mood enhancers and adaptogens
Ingredients Insight /
www.ingredients-insight.com
will take centre stage. As Radhakrishnan puts it: “Who knows what will become possible in the next few years?”
Kampranis is similarly curious about what tomorrow might bring – not least given the rising pressure on the sector to adapt. Especially as the effects of climate change become apparent, he suggests that hop harvests are likely to become more unreliable. As such, he thinks alternative brewing methods are bound to become more interesting – and important – to producers and consumers alike. “We’re moving towards looking at this [the yeast] solution for non-alcoholic wine, which you can imagine is a big flavour challenge,” he says. “In principle, this technology can do all the flavours and fragrances of beer – and even cosmetics and household products – that currently use chemicals, but we can replace them with natural aromas to make them more sustainable.” While yeast-scented washing powder might not quite hit Fitzgeraldian levels of excess, in short, it does speak to the sobering time we all live in. I’ll raise a glass to that.
To better compete with full-strength drinks, Quarter opted for low- alcohol – rather than no- alcohol – beverages.
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