Blue Pacific Flavors unveils “alcohol-inspired” natural tastes capturing essences of wine, beer and cocktails

08 Mar 2022 --- Blue Pacific Flavors has launched its Alcohol-Inspired Flavors platform – a “bold new collection of complex and nuanced natural flavors” that replicate the layered tastes of popular spirits and alcoholic beverages, without the alcohol.

The platform draws its inspiration from liquor and spirits including gin, spiced rum, bourbon, tequila, champagne, rosé wine, vermouth and beer. Applications for these flavors range from beverages to confectionery and ice cream.

Speaking to FoodIngredientsFirst, Jessica Morton, the supplier’s senior sensory and consumer insights manager, details: “Our Alcohol-Inspired Flavors are crafted from natural flavor ingredients, including but not limited to fermented natural compounds and botanical and other extracts.”

“While these specific ingredients are proprietary, they are focused on mimicking the chemosensory impact of a high proof spirit such as palate burn, astringency and nasal pungency,” she reveals.

Alcohol-Inspired Flavors are crafted from natural flavor ingredients, including but not limited to fermented natural compounds and botanical and other extracts.“Reformulating products to remove or lower the alcohol content changes more than just the alcohol levels. Manufacturers must use creative solutions to overcome these product design challenges.”

A specialized art grounded in science
Significant changes to flavor, taste, mouthfeel, and complexity often occur when alcohol is removed from or reduced in a formulation. But the Californian producer of organic sweet flavors has discovered that simple formulation adjustments can replicate an authentic flavor experience.

Morton highlights: “Developing natural flavors that effectively mimic the sensory experience of traditional alcohol and cocktails truly is a specialized art – grounded in science.”

To advance its flavor innovation, Blue Pacific Flavors teamed up with senior flavorists, beverage engineers, food scientists and sensory experts.

“Blue Pacific Flavors has been crafting wine-based natural flavors and designing non-alcoholic wine beverages for over 15 years. In the past year, we increased our flavor portfolio to include popular spirit and beer flavors,” details Morton.

“To support applied use of these new flavors, we also designed over a dozen commercially relevant non-alcoholic cocktail formulations. The greatest challenge with these alcohol flavors and formulations is mimicking the chemosensory impact of ethanol and the flavor complexity of fermentation byproducts and barrel or bottle aging.”

To advance its flavor innovation, Blue Pacific Flavors teamed up with senior flavorists, beverage engineers, food scientists and sensory experts.

Bubbling with a variety of applications
Blue Pacific Flavors Alcohol-Inspired Flavors are suited for a variety of food and beverage applications, including:

• Beverage applications – Mocktails, low-alcohol beverages, shakes, smoothies, carbonated soft drinks, non-dairy creamers, coffee and tea.
• Sweet and confectionery applications – Chocolate, ice cream, frozen desserts, nutritional bars, baked goods, gummies and syrups.
• Savory applications – Sauces, marinades, salad dressings, fermented condiments, dips, spreads and salty snacks.

Alcohol-Inspired Flavors can be used in alcoholic beverage applications as well. Distillers and brewers use these flavors to achieve signature flavor profiles and unique combinations.

“Additionally, in the face of supply chain challenges, unanticipated price increases and shortages in natural raw materials, forward-thinking distillers and brewers have turned to these natural Alcohol-Inspired Flavors to help ensure consistency during times of seasonal variation or supply chain disruption,” the company states.

Drink up the teetotaler trend
Industry has aptly taken notice of the avoidance of alcohol quickly becoming the norm for a growing minority of global consumers.

Last November, taste and nutrition giant Kerry revealed its Botanicals Collection Zero 2.0, pegged by the company as an enhanced next-generation range of high-quality, authentic botanical extracts – containing 0% ethanol – designed specifically for the global rapid-growth low- and no-alcohol beverage arena.

According to a recent report from Innova Market Insights, this trend is most apparent in Generation Z consumers, with as many as a third of consumers aged 18 to 25 now saying that they never consume alcohol.

According to Innova Market Insights, as many as a third of consumers aged 18 to 25 now saying that they never consume alcohol.Acknowledging this shift, Tesco recently moved its stock of SkinnyBrands Premium Lager, Skinny Lager to the “Power Aisle” in its UK stores for a limited month-long period to see how it sells.

But even as consumers turn away from alcohol, they still embrace familiar spirit, wine, beer and cocktail flavors, notes Blue Pacific Flavors.

“Consumers are blurring the lines between alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages while also experimenting with adding traditional spirits to dessert applications,” Donald Wilkes, president and CEO of Blue Pacific Flavors.

“Key drivers for this trend are Millennials and others who are limiting their alcohol intake for health and social reasons. These consumers are demanding more options in low-ABV and no-ABV products.”

Recent developments in line with this theme include a new method to brew non-alcoholic beer that tastes just like regular beer, discovered by Danish researchers. In other moves, alcoholic beer is anticipated to be pushed out by sporty alternatives, such as alcohol-free beer infused with Rousselot’s bovine Peptan collagen protein.

By Benjamin Ferrer