Assessing the effect of altitude of cultivation on wheat beer quality by a multi-omic approach integrating physico-chemical, volatiles and sensory data.

The cultivation of crops at high altitudes is a promising strategy to face global warming. This study aimed to unravel the effect of altitude of wheat cultivation on wheat beer quality using a multi-omic approach. Common and durum wheat were cultivated at different altitudes and used to produce Blanche craft beers, which were analysed for physico-chemical parameters, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and sensory profile. These three blocks of data were successfully processed by a sparse multi-block-based approach able to predict altitude of wheat cultivation of beers. VOCs block was the most frequently (50%) interconnected, whilst sensory attributes were most frequently (35%) correlated with altitude. Altitude positively affected Ethyl phenylacetate and floral flavour, whilst negatively affected phenolics and astringency as well as Ethyl esters, and apricot flavour. Multi-block analysis was effective in linking chemical and sensory data, and predicting quality changes related to altitude of cultivation.