Abstract
Chinese liquor aroma components were characterized during the aging process using gas chromatography (GC). Principal component and cluster analysis (PCA, CA) were used to discriminate the Chinese liquor age which has a great economic value. Of a total of 21 major aroma components identified and quantified, 13 components which included several acids, alcohols, esters, aldehydes and furans decreased significantly in the first year of aging, maintained the same levels (p > 0.05) for next three years and decreased again (p < 0.05) in the fifth year. On the contrary, a significant increase was observed in propionic acid, furfural and phenylethanol. Ethyl lactate was found to be the most stable aroma component during aging process. Results of PCA and CA demonstrated that young liquor (fresh) and aged liquors were well separated from each other, which is in consistent with the evolution of aroma components along with the aging process. These findings provide a quantitative basis for discriminating the Chinese liquor age and a scientific basis for further research on elucidating the liquor aging process, and a possible tool to guard against counterfeit and defective products.
Highlights
Chinese liquor aroma components were characterized during the aging process using gas chromatography (GC)
Fan et al.[5] used gas chromatography-olfactometry (GC-O) technique to investigate the aroma characteristic of Chinese liquor, and reported that 34 aroma components were important contributors for Chinese Chixiang-aroma-type liquor aroma, while 27 odorants were found to be important in light-aroma-type liquor by Gao et al.[6] using the same method
The GC-O technique conduces to develop a better understanding of the aroma chemistry of Chinese liquor; it can be hard to provide concentration information since the odor threshold of aroma components is different for each component
Summary
Chinese liquor aroma components were characterized during the aging process using gas chromatography (GC). Principal component and cluster analysis (PCA, CA) were used to discriminate the Chinese liquor age which has a great economic value. Very limited research has been conducted on the characterization and quantification of Chinese liquor aroma components along with the aging process using gas chromatography with direct injection method. The main objectives of this study were : (1) to characterize Chinese liquor aroma components along with the aging process by accurate quantitative analysis, and to provide a theoretical basis for future researches which focus on the mechanism of aging process; (2) to explore the possibility of chromatographic profiles combined with multivariate statistic analysis to discriminate liquor age, and to fight against counterfeit and defective products
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