The flavour of fruit spirits and fruit liqueurs: a review

Fruit spirits and liqueurs are among the most popular spirit-based beverages made from fruits such as plums, cherries, melon, apple, citrus and pear. The types of fruits and production methods have a great significance for the quality of the final product. The production process of spirits consists of the following stages: fermentation, distillation and maturation. For this reason scientists started to investigate the composition of fruit spirits and liqueurs in order to monitor the changes occurring in the production process and to control the content of selected compounds negatively affecting human health as well as compounds influencing the flavour and aroma of spirits. Furthermore, studies investigating the authenticity of the products and the identification of their botanical and geographical origin were performed. This article is a summarized description of fruit liqueurs and spirits produced from the above-mentioned fruits and the characteristics of commonly used techniques for quality assessment of both types of product. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

[1]  Franco Biasioli,et al.  PTR-ToF-MS, A Novel, Rapid, High Sensitivity and Non-Invasive Tool to Monitor Volatile Compound Release During Fruit Post-Harvest Storage: The Case Study of Apple Ripening , 2013, Food and Bioprocess Technology.

[2]  B. Suárez,et al.  Evolution of aromatic and furanic congeners in the maturation of cider brandy: a contribution to its characterization , 1996 .

[3]  J. Úbeda,et al.  Characterisation of wines and distilled spirits from melon (Cucumis melo L.) , 2008 .

[4]  Jérôme Ledauphin,et al.  Gas chromatographic quantification of aliphatic aldehydes in freshly distilled Calvados and Cognac using 3-methylbenzothiazolin-2-one hydrazone as derivative agent. , 2006, Journal of chromatography. A.

[5]  Teodora Emilia Coldea,et al.  Gas-Chromatographic Analysis of Major Volatile Compounds Found in Traditional Fruit Brandies from Transylvania, Romania , 2011 .

[6]  C. Porto,et al.  Analyses of orange spirit flavour by direct‐injection gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and headspace solid‐phase microextraction/GC–MC , 2003 .

[7]  D. Lachenmeier.  Rapid screening for ethyl carbamate in stone-fruit spirits using FTIR spectroscopy and chemometrics , 2005, Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry.

[8]  Ying Wang,et al.  Analysis of honeydew melon (Cucumis melo var. inodorus) flavour and GC–MS/MS identification of (E,Z)‐2,6‐nonadienyl acetate , 2009 .

[9]  A. Romani,et al.  Simultaneous determination of anthocyanins, coumarins and phenolic acids in fruits, kernels and liqueur of Prunus mahaleb L. , 2012, Food chemistry.

[10]  D. Blanco,et al.  Changes in the Major Volatile Compounds of Cider Distillates During Maturation , 1996 .

[11]  P. Natskoulis,et al.  Characterization and safety evaluation of the traditional Greek fruit distillate “Mouro” by flavor compounds and mineral analysis , 2004 .

[12]  V. Tešević,et al.  Effect of maturation conditions on sensory and antioxidant properties of old Serbian plum brandies , 2012, European Food Research and Technology.

[13]  V. Tešević,et al.  Heavy metals content in Serbian old plum brandies , 2013 .

[14]  C. Aubert,et al.  Optimization of the analysis of flavor volatile compounds by liquid-liquid microextraction (LLME). Application to the aroma analysis of melons, peaches, grapes, strawberries, and tomatoes. , 2005, Journal of agricultural and food chemistry.

[15]  D. Andrey.  A simple gas chromatography method for the determination of ethylcarbamate in spirits , 1987, Zeitschrift fur Lebensmittel-Untersuchung und -Forschung.

[16]  L. Skibsted,et al.  Identification and quantification of phenolics in aromatic bitter and cherry liqueur by HPLC with electrochemical detection , 2006 .

[17]  L. Skibsted,et al.  Antioxidative and prooxidative effects of extracts made from cherry liqueur pomace , 2006 .

[18]  D. Lachenmeier,et al.  Application of tandem mass spectrometry combined with gas chromatography to the routine analysis of ethyl carbamate in stone-fruit spirits. , 2005, Rapid communications in mass spectrometry : RCM.

[19]  S. Moser,et al.  Characterisation of apple distillates from native varieties of Sardinia island and comparison with other Italian products. , 2009 .

[20]  M. Ferrando,et al.  Influence of the fermentation pH on the final quality of Blanquilla pear spirits , 2010 .

[21]  N. Marquet,et al.  Development of an accurate and sensitive gas chromatographic method for the determination of acrolein content in Calvados and cider , 2006 .

[22]  J. Úbeda,et al.  Melon fruit distillates: comparison of different distillation methods , 2003 .

[23]  J Schlatter,et al.  Ethyl carbamate: analytical methodology, occurrence, formation, biological activity and risk assessment. , 1991, Mutation research.

[24]  M. González-Sanjosé,et al.  Methanol release during fermentation of red grapes treated with pectolytic enzymes , 1998 .

[25]  R. Massey,et al.  Investigation of ethyl carbamate levels in some fermented foods and alcoholic beverages. , 1989, Food additives and contaminants.

[26]  Qiang Wang,et al.  Changes in the volatile compounds and chemical and physical properties of Kuerle fragrant pear (Pyrus serotina Reld) during storage. , 2006, Journal of agricultural and food chemistry.

[27]  M. Blesic,et al.  Effects of distillation cut on the distribution of higher alcohols and esters in brandy produced from three plum varieties , 2013 .

[28]  Peter Schieberle,et al.  Identification based on quantitative measurements and aroma recombination of the character impact odorants in a Bavarian Pilsner-type beer. , 2005, Journal of agricultural and food chemistry.

[29]  I. K. Cigić,et al.  Changes in odour of bartlett pear brandy influenced by sunlight irradiation , 1999 .

[30]  J. Heinisch,et al.  Effect of the stone content on the quality of plum and cherry spirits produced from mash fermentations with commercial and laboratory yeast strains. , 2005, Journal of agricultural and food chemistry.

[31]  H. Guichard,et al.  Chemical and sensorial aroma characterization of freshly distilled Calvados. 2. Identification of volatile compounds and key odorants. , 2003, Journal of agricultural and food chemistry.

[32]  M. Arévalo-Villena,et al.  Novel alcoholic beverages: production of spirits and liqueurs using maceration of melon fruits in melon distillates , 2009 .

[33]  Jérôme Ledauphin,et al.  Identification of trace volatile compounds in freshly distilled Calvados and Cognac: Carbonyl and sulphur compounds , 2006 .

[34]  P. Satora,et al.  Chemical characteristics of Śliwowica Łącka and other plum brandies , 2008 .

[35]  R. Perestrelo,et al.  Characterization of volatile substances in apples from Rosaceae family by headspace solid-phase microextraction followed by GC-qMS. , 2009, Journal of separation science.

[36]  D. Lachenmeier,et al.  Automated determination of ethyl carbamate in stone-fruit spirits using headspace solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. , 2006, Journal of chromatography. A.

[37]  Gary A Reineccius,et al.  Flavour-Isolation Techniques , 2007 .

[38]  C. Ledbetter,et al.  Volatile compounds in apricot, plum, and their interspecific hybrids , 1993 .

[39]  Benhong Wu,et al.  Volatiles of plums evaluated by HS-SPME with GC-MS at the germplasm level , 2012 .

[40]  E. Guichard,et al.  Identification of trace volatile compounds in freshly distilled Calvados and Cognac using preparative separations coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. , 2004, Journal of agricultural and food chemistry.

[41]  H. Guichard,et al.  Chemical and sensorial aroma characterization of freshly distilled Calvados. 1. Evaluation of quality and defects on the basis of key odorants by olfactometry and sensory analysis. , 2003, Journal of agricultural and food chemistry.

[42]  D. Blanco,et al.  Volatiles in Distillates of Cider Aged in American Oak Wood , 1996 .

[43]  P. Satora,et al.  Influence of indigenous yeasts on the fermentation and volatile profile of plum brandies. , 2010, Food microbiology.

[44]  A. Viljoen,et al.  Volatile flavor constituents of fruits from Southern Africa: Mobola plum (Parinari curatellifolia). , 2004, Journal of agricultural and food chemistry.

[45]  M. Dernovics,et al.  Determination of ethyl carbamate in pálinka spirits by liquid chromatography–electrospray tandem mass spectrometry after derivatization , 2010 .

[46]  G. Aldini,et al.  Lemon peel and Limoncello liqueur: a proteomic duet. , 2013, Biochimica et biophysica acta.

[47]  E. García-Romero,et al.  Comparative production of different melon distillates: Chemical and sensory analyses , 2005 .

[48]  J. Davídek,et al.  The neutral volatile components of Czechoslovak plum brandy , 1982 .

[49]  E. Woodams,et al.  Factors affecting the methanol content and yield of plum brandy. , 2012, Journal of food science.

[50]  J. Rivas-Gonzalo,et al.  Analysis of flavanols in beverages by high-performance liquid chromatography with chemical reaction detection , 1998 .

[51]  M. Ferrando,et al.  Pear distillates from pear juice concentrate: effect of lees in the aromatic composition. , 2007, Journal of agricultural and food chemistry.

[52]  M. Novaković,et al.  The effects of the cherry variety on the chemical and sensorial characteristics of cherry brandy , 2011 .

[53]  C. Porto,et al.  Effects of carbohydrate and noncarbohydrate sweeteners on the orange spirit volatile compounds , 2006 .

[54]  M. T. Fuentes,et al.  Relationships between volatile production, fruit quality and sensory evaluation of Fuji apples stored in different atmospheres by means of multivariate analysis , 2004 .

[55]  C. D. Marqués,et al.  Analytical study of apple liqueurs , 1994 .