The company has also expanded its botanical range with new profiles including sloe, dandelion, passionflower, and juniper. It said that blending different extracts and flavours, using a range of traditional and modern extractions techniques, has helped it create “a sophisticated toolbox of solutions for this growing market”. The portfolio allows manufacturers to layer different flavour notes to mimic the complexity of alcohol alternatives.
Alongside the new range, Synergy has created analytical pairing charts which show how flavours analytically pair with key compounds in alcohol. The pairing charts focus on tequila, rum, vodka, whiskey and gin.
Vicky Berry, European Business Development Manager, Synergy Flavours, explained: “Using our analysis, we can identify esters as key compounds in rum – these pair well with tropical, fruity profiles like guava and passionfruit. Spice and coffee work particularly well with whiskey, as those pairings share the flavour compound Eugenol. Moreover, tea pairs well with tequila based on Ethyl acetate and Isobutanol. The pairing charts allow low and no beverage manufacturers to tap into flavours proven to work well in alcohol and bring the same level of innovation to alcohol alternatives.”
Synergy Flavours is born from the acquisition of Janoušek by Synergy in 2018. Based in Trieste, Italy, this site added a wide range of herbal extracts and natural flavours to the company. It also provides the company with access to Southern and Eastern Europe markets.
Drawing on its Italian heritage, Synergy has also expanded its portfolio of Italian Provenance citrus extracts with more soluble versions of Sicilian Orange and Sicilian Mandarin. Giorgio Ferluga, Technical Manager, Synergy Flavours Italy, said this will allow manufacturers to claim provenance in what is a premium category.
“Premiumisation is key in the low and no alcohol market and our extracts allow manufacturers to claim provenance, whilst maintaining the desired clarity and flavour impact in their drinks.”
There is also a new addition to Synergy’s Inspiring Fruits range, with a new depictable and declarable natural rhubarb flavour – a leading flavour profile in gin. The rhubarb can be used alongside the low and no solutions or paired with the existing Inspiring Fruits range: blackcurrant, peach, strawberry, raspberry, pear and sour cherry.
Low-to-no consumption is expected to grow 31% by 2024, according to the IWSR. “The low- and no-alcohol market is booming,” added Berry. “Taste and natural positioning are key in developing drinks for this market – consumers are becoming more discerning and more demanding, expecting that alcohol alternatives will taste as good and contain natural ingredients. Our range of flavour solutions can help manufacturers deliver taste without compromise in this very dynamic category. Layering our flavours and extracts for low and no products alongside our depictable flavours or provenance extracts can also help to enhance a brand’s positioning in this increasingly competitive space.”