- Background
- What we're looking for
- What we can offer you
- Q&A
The global market for non-alcoholic beverages has been growing rapidly, driven by consumer demand for alternatives to traditional alcohol. Despite this momentum, replicating the distinctive sensory experience of alcohol remains a challenge. Beyond its role in flavor delivery, alcohol contributes to a complex multisensory profile: a sharp initial burn that quickly softens, tingling and numbing on the tongue, refreshing volatility that enhances aroma release.
Current efforts to mimic these sensations often rely on ingredients such as peppers, ginger, grains of paradise, or menthol. While these can reproduce certain elements, they typically linger, introduce strong off-notes, or fail to capture alcohol’s clean fade and balanced progression. As a result, many non-alcoholic products lack the layered, dynamic character that consumers associate with alcoholic beverages.
This presents an opportunity to advance the field by identifying and characterizing compounds that can selectively reproduce individual sensory attributes of alcohol. A deeper understanding of these mechanisms would enable more precise screening of candidates and the creation of formulations that strategically combine them, ultimately unlocking the next generation of convincing, full-bodied non-alcoholic drinks.
We are seeking innovative compounds, ingredients, and approaches that can help replicate the multisensory impact of alcohol in non-alcoholic beverages by delivering specific sensory effects such as sharpness, warming, tingling, numbing, freshness, and/or mouthfeel. While the focus is on pinpointing candidates that can provide these attributes with minimal off notes, we are also open to collaborations with research groups and laboratories that bring expertise in sensory science, tongue models, or related evaluation methods that could accelerate discovery and screening. The aim is to build a stronger understanding of the mechanisms behind alcohol’s sensory profile and to translate this knowledge into practical tools for designing the next generation of compelling non-alcoholic drinks.
- Ingredients that replicate the sensory perception of ethanol (e.g., sharpness, warmth, tingling, numbing, freshness, and/or mouthfeel)
- Compounds mimicking sharpness (e.g., organic acids, short-chain esters)
- Ingredients delivering tingling or numbing (e.g., TRPA1/TRPV1 receptor actives)
- Ingredients that mimic/provide the physical effect of volatility similar to alcohol
- Ingredients enhancing texture and body (e.g., polyols, viscosity modifiers)
- Ingredients that reduce/prevent lingering buildup (e.g., tongue-coating modifiers)
- Models for sensory testing (e.g., tongue or trigeminal system models)
- Ingredients with mild relaxing effects
- Methods or models that reveal how alcohol interacts with ingredients to shape sensory experience
- Tools or techniques that deepen understanding of ethanol’s sensory perception
- Technologies such as fermentation or enzymatic processes to generate compounds with alcohol-mimicking properties (e.g., non-alcoholic fermentation of botanicals and characterization of metabolites and/or byproducts)
- Botanicals with trigeminal effects (e.g., numbing, tingling, pungency)
- Preliminary data or a strong scientific rationale supporting the understanding and/or replication of one or more sensory attributes of alcohol
- Ingredient-based solutions must demonstrate potential for application in beverage systems without significant off-notes
- Naturally sourced ingredients or compounds
- Ingredients not protected by active patents, allowing freedom to operate
- Clear regulatory pathway or approval for use in foods/beverages in the EU
- Banned substances under major food authorities (EFSA, FDA)
- Generally known botanicals (e.g., pepper, grains of paradise, ginger)
- Generally known pungent ingredients (e.g. Capsaicin, Gingerol, Shogaol, Gingerdione)
- Generally known mood-altering ingredients (e.g. GABA, 5-HTP, L-Theanine, Lions Mane, Hericenone A-D, Erinacine, Paradol)
The Q&A is now closed.
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