Aroma compounds in barrel aged apple distillates from two different distillation techniques

Abstract

The major fermentation and maturation related congeners in apple distillates from two different distillation techniques (alembic and column), matured in oak for 18 months, were measured by GC‐MS and HPLC. Together with a higher ethanol content, column distillates had higher ethyl acetate, methanol and n‐propanol levels compared with alembic distillates. A higher content of acetaldehyde was characteristic of the alembic distillates. The concentrations of i‐butanol, n‐butanol, amyl alcohols and n‐hexanol were not affected by the distillation technique used. Increasing the ageing time of distillates in oak resulted in an increase in the contents of acetaldehyde, ethyl acetate and amyl alcohols while the content of methanol decreased during ageing. Throughout ageing, there were no significant changes in the concentrations of n‐propanol, i‐butanol, n‐butanol and n‐hexanol. Among the maturation related compounds, gallic acid, ellagic acid, vanillin and syringaldehyde were determined in apple distillates with ellagic acid being the most abundant. The contents of gallic acid and ellagic acid increased during ageing whereas vanillin and syringaldehyde slightly increased throughout the 18 months of maturation. © 2019 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling

Chemical and sensorial characteristics of traditional fruit spirits from Southeast Europe

“…In contrast, Coldea et al (2011) detected slightly higher concentrations of methanol in traditional plum and apple brandies from Romania, about 900-1000 g/hL a.a., depending on the fruit variety. Spaho et al (2019) demonstrated different methanol concentrations in apple distillate depending on the distillation apparatus used. Methanol concentrations were 540 and 830 g/hL a.a., respectively, for alembic and batch distillation column and decreased slightly during 18 months of aging in oak barrels.…”

Characterization of Volatile Compounds and Flavor in Spirits of Old Apple and Pear Cultivars from the Balkan Region

“…Six out of eight apple cultivar spirits had the highest share of alcohols in their VOCs profile (Figure 1). The major higher alcohols in apple distillates are amylic alcohols, isobutyland n-propanol, accounting for approximately more than 90% of all higher alcohols in apple distillates [21,55]. The most abundant minor alcohol was phenylethyl, then 1-hexanol, 1-octanol, and benzyl alcohol.…”

“…The most common VOCs in distillates are major fermentative aroma compounds, which are produced during common and specific fruit fermentation. Investigations of major volatile compounds in apple and other fruit spirits have been conducted by numerous studies [18][19][20][21][22], while minor volatile compounds have been studied far less [23][24][25]. Minor volatile compounds are present in apple juice or cider in a very low concentration but have a significant influence on the overall sensory attribute [26][27][28][29].…”

GC-FID-MS Based Metabolomics to Access Plum Brandy Quality

“…Traditional fruit brandy production still mostly uses a simple distillation pot. In recent years, column distillation has slowly entered the production of spirits in small distilleries and two different types of distillation equipment are now commonly used in the production of fruit spirits: the Charentais alembic pot (French style) and the batch distillation column (German style) [ 8 ].…”