Baijiu is a world-renowned distilled spirit that is known as the national liquor of China. One of famous Chinese Baijiu, Gujinggong (GJG) that is produced in Anhui province, belongs to the famous Luzhou-aroma type of Baijiu in regards of its unique flavor characteristics associated with “softness and fullness of aromas”. However, its key aroma-impact volatiles have not been clearly characterized. In this study, a total of 60 aroma compounds of GJG were identified by AEDA-GC-O and GC-MS, including 18 esters, 14 aromatic compounds, 11 acids, 7 alcohols, 3 lactones, 2 pyrazines, 2 furans, 2 acetals, and 1 aldehyde. And 35 of them were further recognized as important aroma compounds owing to their OAVs ≥ 1 and sensory evaluation. During sensory evaluation, eight aromatic attributes (fruity, honey/sweet, floral, phenolic/smoky, acidic, cellar/cheesy, alcoholic, grain aroma) were selected to describe the overall aroma profile of GJG. As a result, the aroma profile of GJG was successfully simulated by reconstitution of those 35 and other 11 aroma compounds based on their measured concentrations in the GJG. Moreover, omission test was applied to investigate the effects of the important aroma compounds on the whole aroma profile of GJG. The result revealed that esters were not only responsible for the fruity note (α ≤ 0.001), but also for the sweet note of GJG (α ≤ 0.01), while short chain organic acids were positively linked to the acidic note of GJG (α ≤ 0.01). Based on the above tests, ethyl hexanoate, ethyl octanoate, ethyl butanoate, ethyl pentanoate, hexanoic acid, butanoic acid, γ-nonalactone, 4-methylphenol, and ethyl 3-phenylpropanoate were confirmed as the key aroma-impact compounds of GJG.

Characterization of key aroma compounds in Gujinggong Chinese Baijiu by gas chromatography−olfactometry, quantitative measurements, and sensory evaluation

255th National Meeting (2018)

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