Sources of Volatile Aromatic Congeners in Whiskey

Abstract

Whiskey’s complex and diverse flavor stems from a range of reactions that create congeners that are primarily dependent upon the cereal source/mash bill and each stage of the process: malting, mashing, fermentation, distillation, and cask maturation. Therefore, in theory, the congener profile of a whiskey is a summation of its ingredients and the specific parameters of each stage of the manufacturing process. Congener profiles have been used as biomarkers for quality and authentication; however, to date, insufficient information has been published in relation to the extensive profiling of congeners associated with specific whiskey styles/types or the intra-and inter-variability within brands, especially in an Irish context due to the recent rapid expansion of the industry. As the ability to extract and identify congeners has progressed appreciably in recent years due to advances in extraction, chromatographic, and chemometric techniques, it is imperative that research is undertaken to gain a better understanding of the impact of specific congeners not only in relation to quality but also as biomarkers for authentication.

Coumarins in Spirit Beverages: Sources, Quantification, and Their Involvement in Quality, Authenticity and Food Safety

“…For this purpose, more advanced analytical methods, as well as the identification of compounds that act as chemical markers, are required for the certification of spirit drinks and the strengthening of legislation. Several techniques, such as spectrophotometry [308][309][310], synchronous fluorescence spectrometry [311], GC [312][313][314], HPLC [315], capillary electrophoresis [316], nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy [317][318][319], and electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (EIS-MS) [320][321][322] have been used to determine the indicators of authenticity in spirit beverages, such as alcohol strength [323], sugars [320], volatile compounds [71], colouring compounds [323] and wood-derived compounds [324].…”

Coumarins in Spirit Beverages: Sources, Quantification, and Their Involvement in the Quality, Authenticity and Food Safety

“…For this purpose, more advanced analytical methods, as well as the identification of compounds that act as chemical markers, are required for the certification of spirit drinks and the strengthening of legislation. Several techniques, such as spectrophotometry [303][304][305], synchronous fluorescence spectrometry [306], GC [307][308][309], HPLC [310], capillary electrophoresis [311], nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy [312][313][314], and electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (EIS-MS) [315][316][317] have been used to determine the indicators of authenticity in the spirit beverages, such as alcohol strength [318], sugars [315], volatile compounds [319], colouring compounds [318] and woodderived compounds [320].…”

Recent advances in whiskey analysis for authentication, discrimination, and quality control

“…Despite improvements in analytical techniques and technologies, the task of accurately detecting, quantifying, and discriminating whiskies remains daunting. This is due to the myriad of compounds and congeners (volatile and nonvolatile compounds that impact on flavor) that may be present in whiskies (Kelly et al., 2023; Wiśniewska et al., 2014) as a direct result of the use of differing cereal sources and varieties, varying production processes and maturation techniques. Congeners are responsible for the organoleptic properties of whiskey and are thus associated with specific brands and often used to authenticate the product.…”