Aging marker profile incachaçais influenced by toasted oak chips

Abstract

Cachaça is the most important distilled spirit in Brazil and the fourth most consumed in the world. Aging is not mandatory for cachaça. When aging is carried out, casks generally do not undergo the final wood toasting. However the level of thermal degradation of wood influences the formation of new chemical compounds, which are released during the aging process and improve the quality of the spirit. The objective of this study was to verify the influence of origin of wood and toasting intensity of oak chips on the profile of aging markers in cachaça. Staves of oak wood from the forests of Allier, Vosges and Nièvre (France) were milled and screened at 9 mesh. The chips underwent light, medium and heavy toasting. The toasted chips were added to cachaça (1 g/L) and kept in a closed system at room temperature, without agitation, for 15 days. The aging congeners (gallic acid, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, furfural, vanillin, vanillic acid, syringaldehyde, sinapaldehyde, syringic acid and coniferaldehyde) were analysed using HPLC. The increase in toasting intensity enhanced the content of the aging markers in cachaça, especially syringic acid, vanillin, syringaldehyde, coniferaldehyde and sinapaldehyde. The generation of aging marker compounds was influenced only by the toasting intensity and not by the origin of the oak wood.

Effect of oak matrix (barrel and toasted chips) on the volatiles in Goji (LyciumChinese) wine

“…During the aging process, the flavour was modified by some volatiles formed or extracted from oak to wine . In our study, a total of 43 volatiles were examined in Goji wine treated with oak matrix (Table ), including alcohols (11), esters (12), acids (4), lactones (3), ketones (2), aldehydes (7), phenols (3) and miscellaneous (1).…”

Wine Spirit Ageing with Chestnut Staves under Different Micro-Oxygenation Strategies: Effects on the Volatile Compounds and Sensory Profile

“…In the last years, alternative ageing processes have been studied, namely the application of wood fragments to the spirits kept in stainless steel tanks. These studies were focused on cider spirits [16], apple spirit [17], grape marc spirits [18,19], and sugar cane spirits [20,21]. Concerning the wine spirits, the research revealed that the fragment size/shape and the kind of wood had a significant effect on the chemical composition of these beverages [8,22,23].…”

Assessment of Phenolic Content, Antioxidant Activity, Colour and Sensory Attributes of Wood Aged “Tsipouro”

“…Wood is a complicated material, composed mainly of cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin and secondary compounds, such as pectins, proteins and inorganic elements. Each of those components does not have the same effect when interacting with a distilled spirit, favouring specific reaction paths in the woodbeverage system 5 . Additionally, the extent of thermal degradation of wood leads to the formation of new chemical compounds, which are released during the aging process and improve the final quality and sensory characteristics of the spirit.…”

“…Many studies have investigated the impact of the application of oak chips on the phenolic composition, antioxidant activity, volatiles and sensory profile for several beverages such as wines 5,7,10,15,16,17,18 , vinegars 19 , brandy 20 , cachaça 5,21 , apple ciders 22 , but to the best of our knowledge there is little information 23 regarding the addition of oak sticks in the aging of tsipouro.…”