啤酒成熟的一个重要方面是啤酒风味物质的成熟，双乙酰是主要指标之一。双乙酰含量是成熟期的时间限制因子，双乙酰在啤酒罐装后的回升问题也不容忽视。啤酒酿造中控制双乙酰的一个主要方法是以α-乙酰乳酸脱羧酶来改变代谢支路，将双乙酰的前体物质α-乙酰乳酸直接快速地转化为乙偶姻，从而降低α-乙酰乳酸转变为双乙酰的量，缩短啤酒成熟时间，减少成品啤酒中双乙酰的回升，提高啤酒风味稳定性。本文主要介绍双乙酰的代谢途径、α-乙酰乳酸脱羧酶在啤酒酿造中降低双乙酰的作用机理以及国内外有关α-乙酰乳酸脱羧酶的研究进展情况。

One of the key indices indicating the maturation of beers was the change of some flavors in beer, such as diacetyl. The conversion of diacetyl was slow and its content would rise again after the beer was canned or bottled. α-Acetolactate decarboxylase was usually used to control the content of diacetyl, which could catalyze the conversion of α-acetolactate (the precursor of diacetyl ) to acetoin in order to prevent the synthesis of diacetyl, lower the maturation time of beer and improve the stability of flavors in beer. In this paper, the formation and reabsorption of diacetyl, the mechanism of α-acetolactate decarboxylase-mediated reduction of diacetyl and the progress of α-acetolactate decarboxylase research were reviewed.