Anna Cubo Bayó has been the student chosen to receive the V Fundació ICSuro – AECORK Scholarship for the Master's Degree in Fermented Beverages from the Rovira i Virgili University thanks to your Study of the sensory impact of cork volatiles in beer. The scholarship, endowed with 1,400 euros, could not be delivered in person as in other editions following the covid-19 pandemic, but instead a virtual meeting was held between the main actors to evaluate and spread the word about the study .

The call for this scholarship is part of an agreement signed in February 2016 between the ICSuro Foundation, the Associació d'Empresaris Surers de Catalunya and the Rovira i Virgili University, through the Faculty of Enology, by promote knowledge about corking wines and cavas with corks.

Approach and conclusions of the study
theStudy of the sensory impact of cork volatiles in beer the objective was to determine the variation in the volatile and sensory profiles of two beers according to the type of cap in the bottle and its position during maturation. The conclusions of the work determine that sensorially there are differences between Ambrée and Digresión beers corked with natural cork and with sheet and that the horizontal position during maturation favors those with cork but not those closed with sheet aside to make them more pleasant on an organoleptic level.

The scholarship student, Anna Cubo, who is majoring in beer science and technology, concludes that the study shows that "there is a need to continue doing research and research on a relatively understudied field such as cork and beer."

The president of AECORK and ICSuro, Joan J. Puig, "in the world of beers there is a long way to go; we understand the cork as an oenological tool that needs to be kept in mind for its contribution to the positive evolution of drinks and it needs to be enhanced".

The director of the Institut Català del Suro Foundation, Albert Hereu, considers that "to be competitive in the market we must be different. Having the knowledge provided by these studies will help us better understand the relationship between cork and beer, so the brewing sector can find in cork an ally in this differentiation and have knowledge that differentiates us to propose to the information market to market beers with this distinctive feature".

For the Faculty of Enology, having the ICSuro Foundation as a partner is a way of integrating knowledge related to the world of wine. According to the dean of the Faculty of Enology, Joan Miquel Canals, “this scholarship also demonstrates that the use of cork as a closure goes beyond wine and can be used not only for its insulating properties but also as an agent improving the half-life of beer. We must continue on this path and identify the cork as a qualitative closure in beer as well."

The ICSuro Foundation and AECORK
The Institut Català del Suro (ICSuro) is a non-profit, scientific private foundation whose mission is to promote the cork sector. Among its main lines of action is research and research on cork and other applications.
The Associació d'Empresaris Surers de Catalunya (AECORK) is an entity that brings together the main companies that manufacture and/or market cork products that export to the main world wine markets.