Collaborative Study of the Quantitative Gas-Liquid Chromatographic Determination of Fusel Oil and Other Components in Whisky

Abstract

Abstract Fifteen chemists participated in a collaborative study for the quantitative pas-liquid chromatographic determination of the individual fusel alcohols and ethyl acetate in whisky. Two levels of congeners represented by 4 coded samples of whisky were analyzed by using t h e proposed method, employing a glycerol-1,2,6-hexanetriol column, and the official AOAC method, 9.063-9.065. Since isobutyl and the atnyl alcohols comprise by far the greatest part of fusel oil, their determination is of major importance to the total fusel oil content . Statistical analyses show that the proposed method is superior to the AOAC method for the determination of these alcohols, whereas the official method is superior for the determination of ethyl acetate and n-propyl alcohol. In general, collaborators employing modern instrumentation preferred the proposed method over the AOAC method. The former method also separates and permits the quantitative measurement of active amyl and isoamyl alcohols. The proposed method has been adopted as official first action as an alternative to 9.063–9.065 for the determination of higher alcohols and ethyl acetate in whisky.