Why do we crave sweetness?
In his classic book Sweetness and Power, anthropologist Sidney Mintz speculated that every human culture has a word for “sweet.” You might even say the “sweet tooth” is a universal human trait. Why do we crave sweetness? Scientists suggest it’s because our most energy-rich food sources, especially fruits, vegetables, and milk, are also rich in natural sugars. In other words, your sweet tooth is a survival mechanism.
How does consumer sweetness preference impact the beverage alcohol market?
The human preference for sweetness may be one of the driving factors behind the anticipated growth rate of the global fruit beer market during 2022─2027 as well as the meteoric rise of ready-to-drink cocktails since 2018. One 2022 study of beverage alcohol preferences conducted by Datassential found a correlation between sweetness levels and preferred beverages. In a recent Forbes interview, Vice-President of Customer Experience at Datassential Colleen McClellan noted, “It is interesting, but not surprising that sweeter style first drinks tend to be the ones consumers do not abandon.”
How does Brix level help determine sweetness?
Brix level is a metric winemakers and fruit growers use to measure dissolved sugar in wine, fruit juice, puree, etc. One degree Brix is one gram of sucrose in 100 grams of solution. In general, the higher the Brix level, the sweeter the solution, though factors like acidity will also play a role in the experience of sweetness. For example, pink grapefruit has an average Brix of 10─14 which is nearly identical to fresh raspberries, which fall into the 8–14 Brix range. That’s because the sugars in grapefruit are balanced by the fruit’s acidity.
What does a higher Brix level mean for brewers?
Over many years of experimenting with our purees, we’ve discovered that fruit purees with higher Brix go a lot farther when it comes to flavor. That means brewers and distillers who want to add the sweet, fruity flavor that consumers love to their beers, wine coolers, and ready-to-drink cocktails can use less puree in their product if the puree used is made from premium, ripe, high-Brix fruits. You read that right: selecting a high-quality puree made from fresh, ripe fruit will reduce your puree budget because a better puree has more concentrated sweetness and flavor.
What purees have the highest Brix levels?
If you’re considering adding a fruited beverage alcohol to your product offerings, take a look at the Brix levels of some of our most popular fresh fruit purees:
Hook consumers by their sweet tooth with premium fruit puree!
Purée Areté award-winning fruit purées infuse beers and ready-to-drink cocktails with the sweet fruit flavor that consumers crave. Our rigorous standards ensure that each batch is consistent, and we don’t need to add sugar to our pureés and concentrates to enhance the 100% natural flavor of fresh, ripe fruit. When you customize your fruit beers with our pureé, you’re getting nothing but pure fruit flavor. Each flavor is available in a 5-gallon bag-in-box or 55-gallon drums.
