Quantitative analysis of volatile flavor components in Korean alcoholic beverage and Japanese sake using SPME-GC/MS

Quantitative analysis of the volatile flavor components in Korean alcoholic beverages (makgeolli and yakju) and Japanese sake was carried out using SPME-GC/MS. Fusel oils (n-butyl alcohol, isobutyl alcohol, isoamyl alcohol, and phenethyl alcohol), ethyl esters (ethyl acetate, isoamyl acetate, ethyl caproate, ethyl caprylate, and ethyl caprate) and aldehydes (furfural and benzaldehyde) were analyzed quantitatively by an 85 μm SPME fiber (carboxen/polydimethylsiloxane) using internal standards (1-pentanol-1-¹³C and methyl nonanoate). Phenethyl alcohol (85-216 ppm) and isoamyl alcohol (38-115 ppm) constituted the majority of fusel oils in all the samples. Acetic acid was detected in sour makgeolli at a high level (0.02-0.14 ppm) compared with yakju and sake. A very high level of total ethyl esters (ethyl acetate, isoamyl acetate, ethyl caprate, and phenethyl acetate), having fruit and flower flavor, was found in makgeolli. Processing the volatile flavor data by multivariate partial least squares discriminant analysis, makgeolli, yakju, and sake showed cluster separation.