Performance of beer sensory panels: A comparison of experience level, product knowledge, and responsiveness to feedback calibration

This study investigated the effect of level of sensory experience and type of product knowledge on panel performance during a descriptive analysis. Additionally, the applicability of the feedback calibration method (FCM) was investigated for use with different types of panels. A well-established expert panel (professional product specific knowledge) was compared to (a) a newly trained product-specific panel (interest based product specific knowledge) and (b) a well-established general panel (general product knowledge). Results showed that the overall product sensory profiles generated by the three panels were similar. However, analysis of the panels' repeatability, discriminability, attribute understanding, and use of scale displayed that the product-specific panel performed more similar to the professional beer panel and was therefore superior compared to the general panel. The applicability of FCM was most effective for the newly trained panel, compared to the more extensively trained panel. Practical applications Sensory descriptive analysis is one of the basic tools in the field of sensory science. However, recent focus in research has been to investigate faster and more cost-efficient methods, resulting in a decrease in research on the methodology of classical sensory descriptive analysis. The methodology of descriptive analysis still has many unanswered questions regarding panel selection and training. The results of the current study indicate that product specificity is more important than sensory experience when studying complex foods like beer. More attention should therefore be applied to type of panel, when conducting descriptive analysis of complex products. Furthermore, the results show that the feedback calibration method (FCM) is more advantageous for training of panels with less sensory experience, though beneficial for all types of panels. The general guideline is therefore to include FCM as part of the training procedure for all type of panels.