Electronic tongue for quality assessment of ethanol, vodka and eau-de-vie

Rapid quality assessment of alcoholic beverages, including brand identification and detection of products of unacceptable quality or counterfeits is an important practical task. In the present work the multisensor electronic tongue system (ET), based on array of potentiometric chemical sensors was applied to recognition and classification of spirits such as vodka and ethanol used for vodka production and also for eau-de-vie in cognac production. The ET system was capable of detecting presence of contaminant substances in vodka in concentrations exceeding allowed levels as well as of distinguishing vodka complying and not complying with state quality standards. Ten brands of vodka produced at the same distillery using water and ethanol of different purity and various taste additives were discriminated using the instrument. The ET could distinguish synthetic and alimentary grain ethanol as well as alimentary ethanol of different grades (i.e. different degree of purification). A feasibility study was run on several eau-de-vie samples, which included fresh and aged eau-de-vie as well as samples produced using different distillation technology and samples kept in contact with different kinds of oak. The electronic tongue showed a promise as an analytical instrument for rapid quality assessment of spirits.