Characterization of aroma-active compounds in three Chinese Moutai liquors by gas chromatography-olfactometry, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and sensory evaluation

The aroma-active compounds in three Chinese Moutai liquors, aged 1 year, 15 years and 30 years were investigated in this study. The aroma compounds were analysed by gas chromatography–olfactometry (GC–O) coupled with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). A total of 79 aroma compounds were identified. Aroma extract dilution analysis (AEDA) was further employed to identify the aroma-active compounds. A total of 35 aroma-active compounds with flavour dilution (FD) values ≧ 64 simultaneously in three Chinese Moutai liquors were quantitated. Among them, ethyl acetate, ethyl lactate and acetic acid appeared with the highest concentrations. They were all >1000 mg/L. Then, the relationships between the aroma-active compounds and seven sensory attributes were studied.