Characterization of cachaça and rum aroma.

Cachaça, the most popular alcoholic beverage in Brazil, is a sugar cane spirit similar to rum. Its production is around 2 billion liters per year, of which <1% is exported. Although rum is similar to cachaça its flavor difference is easily recognizable. Using gas chromatography-olfactometry (GCO) to separate and characterize the odorants present in cachaça and rum, these two sugar cane products were compared and standards identified to use in a descriptive sensory analysis (DSA). In the DSA cachaça was more intense in the grassy, spicy, sulfury, and vinegar descriptors, whereas apple and caramel were the same in both rum and cachaça. The GCO data for the apple-smelling compounds beta-damascenone along with ethyl butyrate, isobutyrate, and 2-methylbutyrate were at the same potency in both cachaça and rum, whereas the spicy-smelling eugenol, 4-ethylguaiacol, and 2,4-nonadienal were much more potent in cachaça.