While the composition of unaged clear spirits consists of compounds of sufficient volatility to be carried over during the distillation process, the composition of cask aged spirits is more complex and is dependent on the types of cask in which the spirit was aged as well as the aging practices of the producer. Wood derived compounds represent the majority of non-volatile components in aged spirits. The specific wood related compounds associated with cask aged spirits depend on how long the spirit was aged, as well as whether the spirit was aged in new casks or previously used casks. Ultra-high pressure liquid chromatography (UHPLC) coupled with quadrupole time of flight (QTOF) mass spectrometry was used to analyze the non-volatile composition of cask aged spirits, including American, Irish, Japanese and Scotch whiskies, French and American brandies, rums from multiple countries and añejo Tequilas. Analysis was performed using an Agilent 1290 UHPLC/6545 QTOF-MS system; MS data was collected both in scan mode and in a data dependent automated MS/MS mode. Data analysis was done using Agilent MassHunter and Mass Profiler Professional software. The non-volatile composition of the aged spirits was analyzed using principal component analysis to identify compounds correlated with each spirit type. Additionally, the data for each spirit type was examined for the presence of wood derived compounds which had previously reported in one or more of the spirit types to assess commonalities in wood extractives across the spirit types. The use of UHPLC/QTOF-MS to profile wood related components extracted from casks during aging may be a complementary technique to GC/MS profiling for verification of authenticity of aged spirits.

Non-volatile profiling of cask aged spirits using UHPLC/QTOF-MS

251st National Meeting (2016)

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