Rice could be key to brewing better non-alcoholic beer

There is increasing consumer demand for low- or non-alcoholic beers, and science is helping improve both the brewing process and the flavor profiles of the final product. One promising approach to better non-alcoholic beer involves substituting barley malt with milled rice, according to two recent papers—one published in the International Journal of Food Properties and the other published in the Journal of the American Society of Brewing Chemists.

The chemistry of brewing beer is a very active area of research. For instance, earlier this year, we reported on Norwegian scientists who discovered that sour beers made with the sugars found in peas, beans, and lentils had similar flavor profiles to your average Belgian-style sour beer, yet the brewing process was shorter, with simpler steps. The pea-sugar beers had more lactic acid, ethanol, and flavor compounds than those brewed without them, and they were rated as having fruitier flavors and higher acidity. And sensory panelists detected no trace of undesirable “bean-y” flavors that have limited the use of pea-based ingredients in the past.

But replacing barley malt with rice still might strike some beer aficionados as sacrilege. In Germany, “purity laws” dictate that any beverage classified as a beer—including non-alcoholic beers—must only be made from malted barley, hops, water, and yeast. This produces non-alcoholic beers that have more “worty” flavors (due to higher levels of aldehyde) than might ideally be desired. But not every country is as stringent as Germany. The US is much more flexible when it comes to selecting raw materials, including rice, for brewing beers. In fact, Arkansas just passed a bill this spring creating incentives for using rice (grown in Arkansas, of course) in the production of sake and beer.

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