Developing methods for characterising flavour compounds in distilled spirits: Application to gin, rum and whisky

In order to develop an analytical technique to study aroma compounds applicable to all kinds of liquors, a model mixture embodying a theoretical distilled spirit was developed. This solution contains 25 of the most frequent flavour compounds found in these alcoholic drinks, classified in 15 chemical classes, at their mean concentrations. Liquid-liquid extraction (LLE), solid phase extraction (SPE), solid phase microextraction (SPME) and stir bar sorptive extraction/headspace sorptive extraction (SBSE/HSSE) were tested on the model mixture before analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry/flame ionisation detection (GC-MS/FID). HS-SPME appeared to be the best compromise between efficiency, time and ease of use. The HSSPME method optimised to the model mixture was successfully applied to 3 commercial samples.