Sensory Discrimination Tests for Low- and High-Strength Alcohol

Research is limited on consumers’ ability to detect perceptible sensory differences between low- and high-strength alcoholic beverages. This study, therefore, conducted three pilot experiments using ISO sensory analysis methods to assess accuracy for evaluating beverages of different strengths. Participants were food production professionals trained in sensory analysis. Experiment 1 used a wide-range discrimination test to estimate low- to high-strength beverages (0–60% alcohol by volume (ABV) in 10% intervals). Experiment 2 included a narrower range of intermediate to high strengths (25–45% ABV in 5% intervals). Experiment 3 used 3-alternative forced choice tests (ISO 13301) to discriminate between beverages of varying strengths. Experiment 1 (n = 16) indicated that estimation ability was dependent upon the beverages’ ABV; as ABV increased, estimation significantly decreased (p < 0.005). These findings were not replicated in Experiment 2 (n = 13). In Experiment 3 (n = 17), a significant perceptible difference between high- and low-strength samples was observed in two of nine conditions (35% vs. 31% ABV (p = 0.009); 41% vs. 37% ABV (p = 0.037)). While people can detect large differences in beverage ABVs, they may have a moderate to poor ability to discriminate between beverages of similar strengths. These findings provide support for public health interventions that promote lower-strength alcoholic beverages.