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Aroma Perception and Chemistry of Bitters in Whiskey Matrices: Modeling the Old-Fashioned

  • Published:
Chemosensory Perception

Abstract

Aim

The complex aromas of cocktails provide a unique and interesting model system to evaluate the effects of alcohol matrix and aroma-aroma interactions on human aroma perception and partitioning and release of aroma compounds. Here, we study the interactions that occur in an Old-Fashioned cocktail when different types of whiskeys are mixed with different styles of bitters.

Methods

The interactions are studied in two ways, namely, by sensory descriptive analysis to evaluate changes in human aroma perception, and by headspace solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to study the volatile profiles individually and upon mixing.

Results

Several aroma descriptors showed significant additive and suppressing interaction effects between bitters and whiskeys, and unique sensory characteristics were introduced by both bitters and whiskeys. Volatile compounds also showed suppressing and enhancing effects upon mixing of bitters with whiskeys.

Conclusions

Such behaviors point towards chemical mixture effects and the enhancements in two compounds cannot be attributed to just the addition of certain bitters as the effects differ among the four whiskeys.

Implications

These interactive sensory effects suggest further questions of interest about the inherent sensory complexity of foods and beverages; if sensory qualities in even simple cocktails, such as an Old-Fashioned, only exist upon mixing and for specific combinations of bitters and whiskeys, further unique interactions could be envisioned for more complex mixtures.

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Notes

  1. Some cocktails called “Old-Fashioneds” are permutations containing fruit, seltzer, or soda, but for the purposes of this experiment, we are concerned with the simplest possible definition of the cocktail.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank all participants of the descriptive analysis for their participation and contribution. Financial support for AJJ was partially provided by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (DGE-1148897). No additional external funding was received for this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Viticulture and Enology, University of California, Davis, One Shields Ave, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

    Arielle J. Johnson, Hildegarde Heymann & Susan E. Ebeler

  2. Department of Food Science, The Pennsylvania State University, 218 Rodney A. Erickson Food Science Building, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Helene Hopfer

Authors
  1. Arielle J. Johnson
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  2. Helene Hopfer
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  3. Hildegarde Heymann
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  4. Susan E. Ebeler
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Susan E. Ebeler.

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Funding

Financial support for AJJ was partially provided by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Grant number DGE-1148897. No additional external funding was received for this study.

Conflict of Interest

Authors Johnson and Heymann declare no conflict of interest. Susan E. Ebeler is the Co-Director and Helene Hopfer was the Research Director of the Food Safety and Measurement Facility at UC Davis, which is supported by loans and donations from Agilent Technologies, Inc., Constellation Brands, US, and Gerstel US, Inc. None of the organizations listed were involved in study conception, design or interpretation, or the decision to publish these data.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The Institutional Review Board (IRB) at UC Davis reviewed the study and declared it exempt (protocol 351687-1). Panelists gave oral consent.

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Johnson, A.J., Hopfer, H., Heymann, H. et al. Aroma Perception and Chemistry of Bitters in Whiskey Matrices: Modeling the Old-Fashioned. Chem. Percept. 10, 135–148 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12078-017-9229-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12078-017-9229-3

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