Development and Effectiveness of a Placebo Beverage Similar in Sensory Properties to an Alcoholic Beverage (Letter to the Editor‪)‬

Dear Editor, Studies employing a balanced placebo design to examine the effects of alcohol consumption often report that the non-alcoholic placebo beverage used was credible as an alcoholic drink. In the majority of cases, subjective ratings of beverage sensory properties are used as validation for successful manipulation of the beverage. However, few studies report on participants' certainty of perception when reporting the success of the placebo manipulation. This letter presents findings from a study examining the effectiveness of a non-alcoholic beverage developed to have similar sensory properties to an alcoholic beverage. It aims to discuss the findings with reference to participants' certainty of perception. These findings may assist researchers using placebo beverages in future studies to provide some level of confidence in the beverage manipulation used.