Differences in concentration of principal volatile constituents in traditional Greek distillates

Tsipouro is a strong distilled spirit produced from the wine-press residue. Some by-products of the alcoholic fermentation, such as acetaldehyde, ethyl acetate and amyl alcohols are mainly responsible for the flavour of alcoholic beverages and their amounts specify the quality of the distillate. In this study ten of the major volatile compounds were determined in commercially produced (bottled) and homemade tsipouro samples by GC analysis, and compared to other alcoholic distillates. Homemade tsipouro was found to have slightly higher concentrations for most of the studied compounds. It should be also pointed out that the toxic compound methanol was detected far below the acceptable legal limits. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.