A chemometrics approach for distinguishing between beers using near infrared spectroscopy

Thirty-eight beers from different producing areas and/or makers were distinguished by principal component analysis (PCA) of the near infrared (NIR) spectra acquired by a portable NIR spectrometer. Classsification of Akita beers: beers locally produced in Akita prefecture, Japan, from other famous brand beers could be successfully performed, especially when the PCA was calculated on the standard normal variate (SNV) spectra. The classification equations use information related to water and CH₂ absorption that reflected the differences in chemical composition of beers due to different production processes. In addition, the compositions of total polyphenol and total nitrogen were estimated from NIR spectra by multiple linear regression (MLR). This study showed that NIR spectroscopy is promising for beer quality evaluation, both for identifying multifarious beers including Akita beers using PCA and for rapid in-line quality control and inspection for beer production using the quantitative MLR analysis.