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Consumers often identify “taste” as an important factor when selecting alcoholic beverages. Although it is assumed that reduced alcohol consumption in PROP super-tasters is due to a greater dislike of the nominally aversive sensations that they experience more intensely (e.g., bitterness) when compared to PROP non-tasters, this question has not been specifically asked to them. Therefore, we examined consumers’ self-reported aversion towards specific sensory attributes (bitter, hot/burn, dry, sour, sweet, carbonation) for four alcoholic beverage types (white wine, red wine, beer, spirits) using a convenience sample of U.S. wine consumers (n = 925). Participants rated 18 statements describing different combinations of sensory attributes and alcoholic beverages on a 5-point Likert scale (e.g., Beer tastes too bitter for me). Individuals who tended to agree more strongly with the statements (i.e., they were more averse, p(F) &lt, 0.05) tended to (i) consume less of all beverage types, (ii) consume a higher proportion of white wine (p(r) &lt, 0.05), and (iii) were more likely to be female or PROP super-tasters. The results suggest that self-reported aversion to specific sensory attributes is associated with not only lower overall intake of alcoholic beverages, but also a shift in the relative proportions of beverage type consumed, a key finding for studies investigating how taste perception impacts alcohol consumption.

Thermal taster status (TTS) is determined when the tongue is cooled or warmed, whereby thermal tasters (TT) experience a taste sensation while thermal nontasters (TnT) do not. The literature suggests that TT experience greater responsiveness (higher intensity ratings) to orosensory stimuli; however, small sample sizes and differences in classification schemes between studies confound our understanding of TTS. In addition, up to 50% of individuals (nonclassifiables, NC) have been excluded from previous studies and have yet to be characterized. Raw responses to the thermal-elicitation procedure were used to determine the TTS of the same participants using four published classification schemes, and concordance between the schemes was examined using Fleiss’ kappa. Using a large convenience sample (n = 708), we tested for differences in orosensory (ANOVA) and temperature (Mann-Whitney U) responsiveness between TT, TnT, and NC. TT are more responsive than TnT to both orosensations and temperature changes, regardless of the classification method used despite only moderate concordance between the schemes. Overall, the orosensory and temperature responsiveness of NC is intermediate to that of TT and TnT. However, the responses of NC are not homogeneous and subgroups are identified. The trend of TT being more responsive to orosensory and temperature stimuli is confirmed. The responsiveness patterns of NC subgroups suggest they are misclassified TT and TnT, and can be included in future studies examining thermal tasting. TTS is an important source of individual differences in orosensory responsiveness, and our findings inform best practices for thermal elicitation and classification.

Thermal taste status (TTS) describes a phenotype whereby some individuals experience a thermally-induced taste on thermal stimulation of the tongue (thermal tasters; TTs) and some do not (thermal non-tasters; TnTs). TTs experience a range of orosensations elicited by aqueous solutions and some beverages more intensely than TnTs. Whether this extends throughout ingestion duration is unknown, despite the fact that the evolution of flavour on the palate is a key component of consumer acceptance of food/beverages. We sought to use temporal-check-all-that-apply (TCATA) to determine how beer perception varies with TTS. A secondary aim was to investigate the effects of serving temperature and a concurrent auditory cue on TCATA responses and how these may interact with TTS. Forty-one female participants (21 TTs, 20 TnTs) were trained to identify seven dominant sensations elicited by a de-alcoholized beer (astringent, bitter, carbonation, fruity/hops, malty, sour, sweet). Beer samples were served in duplicate at either 6 °C or 21 °C with or without a concurrent auditory cue consisting of a sound clip of effervescence. TTs cited astringent and bitter more frequently than TnTs (p(F) ≤ 0.01), and the area under the curve (AUC) was greater for TTs for several sensations (p(t)

Ethanol is a complex stimulus that elicits multiple gustatory and chemesthetic sensations. Alcoholic beverages also contain other tastants that impact flavour. Here, we sought to characterize the binary interactions between ethanol and four stimuli representing the dominant orosensations elicited in alcoholic beverages: fructose (sweet), quinine (bitter), tartaric acid (sour) and aluminium sulphate (astringent). Female participants were screened for thermal taste status to determine whether the heightened orosensory responsiveness of thermal tasters (n = 21–22) compared to thermal non-tasters (n = 13–15) extends to these binary mixtures. Participants rated the intensity of five orosensations in binary solutions of ethanol (5%, 13%, 23%) and a tastant (low, medium, high). For each tastant, 3-way ANOVAs determined which factors impacted orosensory ratings. Burning/tingling increased as ethanol concentration increased in all four binary mixture types and was not impacted by the concentration of other stimuli. In contrast, bitterness increased with ethanol concentration, and decreased with increasing fructose concentration. Sourness tended to be reduced as ethanol concentration increased, although astringency intensity decreased with increasing concentration of fructose. Overall, thermal tasters tended to be more responsive than thermal non-tasters. These results provide insights into how the taste and chemesthetic profiles of alcoholic beverages across a wide range of ethanol concentrations can be manipulated by changing their composition.

© 2021 Wiley Periodicals LLC. The disgust elicited by food plays an important role in food choice and consumption. Recently, Hartmann and Siegrist (Food Quality and Preference, 2018, 63, 38–50) developed and validated in German the food disgust scale (FDS), a 32-item instrument designed to measure visceral disgust elicited by food. In Study 1, we tested the English language translation of the FDS and its shortened version (FDS-SHORT) in England (n = 85) and Canada (n = 70). The internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha and mean interitem correlation [MCI]) was acceptable for both the FDS (α =.90, MIC =.22) and the FDS-SHORT (α =.73, MIC =.25). Exploratory factor analysis revealed that the English and German versions of the FDS had similar underlying structure and good discriminant validity. In Study 2, female participants (n = 159) who completed the FDS where the anchor term disgusted was used had higher FDS-SHORT scores than either their male counterparts or females for whom the anchor term grossed out was used (F[2, 266] = 11.1, p less than .001). As grossed out captures only visceral rather than moral disgust, we recommend its adoption in English versions of these scales. These studies confirm that, as modified, the English FDS and FDS-SHORT are reliable and can be used with confidence in future research.

Thermal tasting, an important type of individual variation in orosensation, is a phenomenon by which some individuals perceive thermally-induced taste sensations simply by having the tip of their tongue warmed or cooled. These individuals, known as thermal tasters, report a variety of thermally-elicited tastes (typically sweet, sour, salty, bitter, metallic) and the tastes reported can vary with the temperature regime used (warming or cooling) and location on the tongue tested. Importantly, when compared to thermal non-tasters, thermal tasters are more responsive to aqueous solutions of basic tastants and to beverages. The mechanism(s) underlying thermal tasting are not well understood and it is unknown if the increased orosensory responsiveness of thermal tasters is universal or if it is driven by a subgroup of thermal tasters. Thermal taste data from 12 previous studies was combined to obtain a large sample of thermal tasters (n = 254) who were divided into subgroups based on the type of thermally-elicited taste reported and the temperature regime/location at which it was experienced. Sweet thermal tasters (n = 77) were 9 times more likely than non-sweet thermal tasters (n = 177) to experience thermally-elicited sensations during lingual warming (p 0.0001). Similarly, sour thermal tasters (n = 89) were 8 times more likely than non-sour thermal tasters (n = 165) to report thermally induced tastes during cooling (p0.0001). However, no differences in orosensory responsiveness based on these or other subgroups were identified, suggesting that the heightened orosensory responsiveness of thermal tasters may be centrally-mediated. We discuss how these findings inform our understanding of the mechanism(s) underlying thermal taste and the identification of thermal taste subgroups, along with practical implications of methodological differences in determining thermal taste status.

Consumption of alcoholic beverages is widespread through much of the world, and significantly impacts human health and well-being. We sought to determine the contribution of orosensation ('taste') to several alcohol intake measures by examining general responsiveness to taste and somatosensory stimuli in a convenience sample of 435 adults recruited from six cohorts. Each cohort was divided into quantiles based on their responsiveness to sweet, sour, bitter, salty, umami, metallic, and astringent stimuli, and the resulting quantiles pooled for analysis (Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA). Responsiveness to bitter and astringent stimuli was associated in a non-linear fashion with intake of all alcoholic beverage types, with the highest consumption observed in middle quantiles. Sourness responsiveness tended to be inversely associated with all measures of alcohol consumption. Regardless of sensation, the most responsive quantiles tended to drink less, although sweetness showed little relationship between responsiveness and intake. For wine, increased umami and metallic responsiveness tended to predict lower total consumption and frequency. A limited examination of individuals who abstain from all alcohol indicated a tendency toward higher responsiveness than alcohol consumers to sweetness, sourness, bitterness, and saltiness (biserial correlation), suggesting that broadly-tuned orosensory responsiveness may be protective against alcohol use and possibly misuse. Overall, these findings confirm the importance of orosensory responsiveness in mediating consumption of alcohol, and indicate areas for further research.

Alcohol consumption is widespread, and high levels of use are associated with increased risk of developing an alcohol use disorder. Thus, understanding the factors that influence alcohol intake is important for disease prevention and management. Additionally, elucidating the factors that associate with alcohol preference and intake in non-clinical populations allows for product development and optimisation opportunities for the alcoholic beverage industry. The literature on how taste (orosensation) influences alcohol behavior is critically appraised in this review. Ethanol, the compound common to all alcoholic beverages, is generally aversive as it primarily elicits bitterness and irritation when ingested. Individuals who experience orosensations (both taste and chemesthetic) more intensely tend to report lower liking and consumption of alcoholic beverages. Additionally, a preference for sweetness is likely associated with a paternal history of alcohol use disorders. However, conflicting findings in the literature are common and may be partially attributable to differences in the methods used to access orosensory responsiveness and taste phenotypes. We conclude that while taste is a key driver in alcohol preference, intake and use disorder, no single taste-related factor can adequately predict alcohol behaviour. Areas for further research and suggestions for improved methodological and analytical approaches are highlighted.