Chemical profiling of volatile compounds of various home-made fruit spirits using headspace solid-phase microextraction

Abstract

Fruit spirits are typical alcoholic beverages in the Moravian region of the Czech Republic. The aim of this work was to find differences in chemical composition among volatile profiles of spirits produced from various kinds of fruits. Twenty-four samples of seven kinds of fruit spirits (plum, apple, pear, cherry, mirabelle, apricot and raspberry spirits) were analysed for examination of their volatile profiles. The most abundant family of compounds was esters, particularly ethyl esters. Sesquiterpenes proved to be a significant group of volatile substances by observing the differences between pome and stone fruit spirits [by relative higher content of (E,E)-α-farnesene and by presence of α-zingiberene and (E)-α-bisabolene in volatile profiles of pome fruit spirits]. Only in stone fruit spirits were propyl decanoate and ethyl salicylate found. Some other compounds were observed as being characteristic for individual kinds of analysed fruit spirits, e.g. γ-decalactone for apricot spirits, (E)-β-farnesene for apple spirits, (Z)-9-tetradecen-1-ol for mirabelle spirits or some apocarotenoids for raspberry spirits. This work could potentially be the basis for checking the fruit origin of these distillates, or a partial manual as to how to differentiate individual kinds of pome-fruit spirits (pear and apple spirits) or stone-fruit spirits (plum, mirabelle, apricot spirits). Copyright © 2017 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling