Optical spectroscopy and pattern recogition techniques for discriminating and classifying Scotch whiskies

Author

Mignani, A.G. ; Ciaccheri, L. ; Mencaglia, A.A. ; Gordillo, B. ; Gonzalez-Miret, XM L. ; Heredia, F.J. ; Culshaw, B.

Author_Institution

CNR IFAC, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy

fYear

2011

fDate

28-31 Oct. 2011

Firstpage

1946

Lastpage

1949

Abstract

The present study shows how optical spectroscopy can be innovatively used as a rapid and non-destructive tool to differentiate distinctive single malt Scotch whiskies with respect to commercial-grade blends, and for their classification according to the region of production. Absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy were combined with multivariate data analysis so as to build a discriminating map. The map showed that the clusters representing the single malt whiskies from selected distilleries were sharply separated from the cluster grouping the other whiskies of commercial-grade. Moreover, the cluster of single malt whisky was split into two subgroups, representing samples from two main macro-areas, the islands and the highlands, respectively.

Keywords

beverages; infrared spectroscopy; nondestructive testing; pattern recognition; ultraviolet spectroscopy; visible spectroscopy; absorption spectroscopy; classifying; cluster grouping; commercial grade blends; discriminating; distinctive single malt Scotch whiskies; fluorescence spectroscopy; multivariate data analysis; non destructive tool; optical spectroscopy; pattern recognition techniques; Absorption; Alcoholic beverages; Fluorescence; Principal component analysis; Production; Spectroscopy;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Sensors, 2011 IEEE

Conference_Location

Limerick

ISSN

1930-0395

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-9290-9

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICSENS.2011.6126980

Filename

6126980