10 Flavour of Spirit Drinks: Raw Materials,

Fermentation, Distillation, and Ageing

Norbert Christoph, Claudia Bauer-Christoph
Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority,
Luitpoldstr. 1, 97082 Würzburg, Germany

10.1
Introduction

Spirit drinks are food products and represent a major outlet for the agricultural
industry all over the world. This outlet is largely the result of the flavour quality
and reputation these products have acquired on the world market over hundreds
of years; various national and international legal decrees, standards, and speci-
fications lay down rules on the definition, description, and presentation of the
different categories of spirit drinks [1–4] which can be separated in two main
categories, distilled spirits and liqueurs. Distilled spirits have alcoholic strengths
between 30 and 50% v/v and are produced by distillation from fermented agri-
cultural products containing carbohydrates; their flavour is not only character-
ised by aroma compounds originating from the raw material and the alcoholic
fermentation, but also from distillation, storage, and ageing. Liqueurs are spirits
with a minimum ethanol content of 15% v/v and a sugar content of 100 g L-1;
they are produced by flavouring ethanol of agricultural origin, distillates of agri-
cultural origin, or one or more spirit drinks with natural plant materials such as
herbs, fruits, fruit juice, cream, chocolate, steam-distilled essential oils, distilled
spirit drinks, or natural or artificial flavouring extracts.
Aroma compounds in distilled spirits and liqueurs, their levels, odour attri-
butes, and thresholds are most important for quality and authenticity. Using gas
chromatography and mass spectrometry, especially the composition of volatile
aroma compounds in distilled spirits has been widely investigated [4–8]. By
direct injection of an alcoholic distillate it is possible to determine more than
50 components within levels between 0.1 and 1,000 mg L-1; special methods of
extraction can be used to increase this number up to more than 1,000 volatile
substances [6]. However, sensory analysis is still indispensable to describe and
evaluate spirit drinks.
The following review focuses on the composition of flavour compounds in
spirit drinks, their origin, and their sensory attributes like odour quality and
threshold value. Important information on flavour-related aspects of technology,
like distillation and ageing, as well as the main categories and brands of spirits
to be found on the national and international markets are summarised. Finally,
aspects of sustainability in the production of distilled spirits are discussed.
220 10 Flavour of Spirit Drinks: Raw Materials, Fermentation, Distillation, and Ageing

10.2
Flavour Compounds in Distilled Spirits

Flavour compounds of distilled spirits originate from the raw materials used for
fermentation and from alcoholic fermentation by yeasts (Saccharomyces cerevi-
siae) and other microorganisms which metabolise carbohydrates, amino acids,
fatty acids, and other organic compounds. Figure 10.1 shows a basic scheme of
precursors, intermediates, and metabolites of the main groups of flavour com-
pounds which are produced during alcoholic fermentation in yeast cells [4–9].
Fermentation of carbohydrates not only leads to the main products ethanol,
glycerol and carbon dioxide, but also to a typical fingerprint of volatile metabo-
lites at relatively low levels, like aldehydes, ketones, higher alcohols, organic ac-
ids, and esters, which are called ‘fermentation by-products’ or ‘congeners’.
Table 10.1 gives a summary of the main by-products of fermentation by yeasts
and other microbiological activities which can be identified in distilled spirits
from different raw materials, like fruits, wine, grain, sugar cane, or other carbo-
hydrate-containing plants. Since the sensory relevance of a flavour compound is
related to its odour thresholds and odour quality, Table 10.1 presents also odour
qualities and a review of threshold values of the fermentation by-products in
ethanol solutions [9–10] and/or water [11–14] (Christoph and Bauer-Christoph
2006, unpublished results).
The concentration range of the flavour compounds is given in milligram per
litre for distilled spirits adjusted to about 40% v/v ethanol. In order to com-
pare distillates with different ethanol content, it is also common to calculate the
relative concentrations of volatile compounds in milligram 0.1 L-1 pure ethanol
(p.e.); thus a propanol concentration of 400 mg L-1 in a distilled spirit with 40%
v/v ethanol would correspond to a concentration of 100 mg 0.1 L-1 p.e. The rea-
son for the variations of the absolute concentrations of the volatile compounds
in commercial products is mainly a result of the different conditions of fermen-
tation and the distillation technique. The threshold data to be found in the lit-
erature [9–14] are rather different and threshold values in water are significant
lower than in ethanol solutions owing to the masking effect of the high ethanol
concentration present in spirits.
Some of the volatile substances which are produced during fermentation, like
acrolein, diacetyl, 2-butanol, allyl alcohol, or acetic acid, are a result of enhanced
microbiological activities and may cause an unpleasant flavour (off-flavour) at
certain levels; thus, elevated concentrations of such compounds are markers for
spoilage of the raw material, negative microbiological influences during or after
the fermentation process, or a poor distillation technique.

10.2.1
Carbonyl Compounds

Acetaldehyde is the major important carbonyl compound of alcoholic fermen-

tation and is formed as an intermediate compound by degradation of pyruvate;