Consumers around the world love the taste of nature. Consequently, naturalness is generally popular, both in mature and emerging markets. Symrise has always followed this trend closely and now has consolidated its resulting expertise into its strategic platform Code of Nature and developed beverage concepts that are attractively based on naturalness. In this context, Symrise has analysed naturalness from many different perspectives: consumer needs, expert knowledge, cutting-edge technologies and application areas.
Brewed Creativity
One field Symrise has identified in this context is craft beverages. They are one of the hottest topics in the brewing scene. In a traditional environment, curious young brewers have brought the spark of innovation to a fairly steady industry.
It all started in the 1980s in the USA. Craft brewers began creating extraordinary beers that combine tradition and innovation. The results are intriguing taste profiles – beers that really stand out from the widely marketed beers. Thus, craft brews have become the game changers in the brewing industry.
The craft movement has impacted the brewing scene in many parts of the world – including European markets. Starting in the UK, the trend has now gained ground in Scandinavia, and many others. It is even finding popularity in some countries that are quite conservative when it comes to brewing such as Germany. The number of newly formed small craft breweries is growing steadily. In the meantime, the big brewers have adopted this trend in one way or another.
Surprisingly to this day, there is no legally binding definition of “craft” as a term, although there are several approaches available from brewing associations that define rules for this platform. Looking at them, it becomes obvious that they have one thing in common. They acknowledge the fact that “craft” is closely linked with credibility and perception.
To offer beverage producers and other customers both credible and well-perceived craft beverages, Symrise has collected elements that influence the credibility of “craft.” They include the following:
So, to produce both credible and well-perceived craft beverages, producers should comply with these items – and if not with all, at least with the major ones. One of the key elements on the ingredients side is hops. The talk is not about the bitter hops. It is all about the aromatic hops. Based on the ingredients contained in those special hop varieties, brewers can achieve remarkable flavour profiles such as zesty, spicy, herbal and tropical notes among others.
To allow beverage producers to achieve those profiles Symrise offers a special hops edition. Their hops are treated with care to preserve the desired flavoring properties of the different varieties. The special processing also leads to hop extracts that are clear soluble. The manufacturers can add them at the end of the brewing process (even after filtration), enabling “dry hopping” wherever legally permissible.
Harald Schmidt, category director alcoholic beverages said: “The advantages for our customers from this special process are obvious – no losses due to heat impact during the brewing process, little to no filtration losses, no risk of sedimentation or hazing. This is the most efficient solution when it comes to impact on profiles and cost.”
Extensive shelf life tests with Symrise hop extracts have also shown that the extremely high stability of the products could also benefit the stability of the final beer. Symrise offers a good range of profiling hops such as Symrise Eagle, Emerald and others, and also aromatic hop extracts such as wood, citro, herba and spicehop.
For other applications than beer, all hop extracts are also available as natural flavours.
Beyond Hops – Botanical Extracts
Another application area of craft brewing goes even further. Symrise has determined a selection of extracts from botanicals that are relevant craft beer profiles, for example, coriander seed, citrus peels, oak woods and many others. They are suitable for co-fermentation in the brewing process and offer a clear advantage: best quality in a standardised format. There are no differences from batch to batch or with different crops as would be the case with solid botanicals.
Craft Enhancers
Beverage producers also gain maximum freedom of application. With its creative approach to design bespoke “instant crafted” beers, Symrise has adopted the concept of “liquid water enhancers,” well known for non-alcoholic beverages. This range of craft drops contains exclusively natural flavoring ingredients from Symrise’s fruit and botanical essentials, developed under its Code of Nature platform. It contains innovative compositions, such as spicy blue, herbaceous green and roasted black. When added to a bottle or a glass of beer, the beverage instantly adopts a craft-like character. The effect is added complexity, taste, and an exciting aroma to beers.
And there is no limit to creativity as one may add the craft enhancers to all types of beer such, as ale, pilsner, wheat, etc. resulting in distinct taste sensations. Using the various craft enhancers in a mix-and-match approach leaves room for unlimited creativity.
Blurring Boundaries
In the meantime, the craft movement has spread to other beverage segments. The liquor industry, for instance, embraced the trend at a very early stage and transferred it to products that have long been ignored, like rye whisky in the USA. Further potential for craft liquor could also lie in the discovery of traditional, homemade flavoured spirits or liqueurs.
Cider producers, too, have detected the potential of craft by adding aromatic hop extracts to boost the flavour profile and add complexity to their drinks. A number of products have already hit the shelves.
And more is to come. Hop-infused carbonated soft drinks, flavoured waters and other non-alcoholic beverages are being targeted by producers for the same reasons as ciders. They want to add complexity, premium elements and new taste sensations to their drinks.
Cornelia Weiblen, marketing director beverages EAME said: “Code of Nature is our strategic platform for our naturalness expertise. Working across various disciplines, we are continuously feeding in new information – findings and developments – so that we can offer our customers innovative beverage concepts for their brands. With its hop flavours and craft drops, Symrise has created a highly relevant flavor collection. It is based on our latest insights from consumer research on naturalness and on the market trend towards more artisanal products.”
Under the umbrella Code of NatureSymrise has combined its expertise in botanical processing and applied all traditional and unique novel separation technologies along with its decades of experience in selecting only the finest natural raw materials. Only the best natural ingredients – directly derived from the fruit or botanical that gives the flavour its name – are being used.
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