Six brands of beer produced in Brazil, of which brands 1, 2, 3 and 4 derived from small brewery and brands 5 and 6 were leaders of the national market, were studied to evaluate their quality through physical-chemical and sensorial characteristics. Brand 1 constitutes the "ale" Wheat type and brand 2 the "lager" Amber type. The other brands were "lager" Pilsen type. Brands 1 and 2 presented high volatile acidity, and were also identified by the Quantitative Descriptive Analysis as presenting the greatest intensity of bitter flavor. It was observed that the brands deriving from small brewery presented larger intensity of sensorial attributes, so that brands 1 and 2 presented color, yeast aroma, fruit aroma, cardboard aroma, oxidized flavor, sweet taste and more intense diacetyl aroma. The brands that presented, through the chemico-physical analysis, higher concentration of ethyl acetate were the ones that had fruit aroma perceptible by the sensorial team, not being this attribute detected in brands 3, 4, 5 and 6. Solvent aroma was not detected in any of the appraised brands, suggesting that the concentration higher alcohols is below the sensorial threshold of detection. Brands 3, 4 and 5 were used to evaluate the acceptance of the product, with no significant difference (p > 0.05) among the brands, which were ranked among the hedonic terms "I liked it very much" and "I liked it slightly", which contradicts the expected, since small breweries aim a differentiated beer with greater attraction for the consumer.
microbrewery; beer; sensory evaluation
