Spirits are alcoholic beverages with specific organoleptic properties intended for direct consumption and containing at least 15 vol.%. In this thesis, I determined the ethanol content of spirits using several analytical methods: molecular absorption spectrometry (MAS), titration with ammonium iron(II) sulfate (FAS), gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS), density determination, and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). I analyzed 40 spirit samples with alcohol contents ranging from 20 to 60 vol.%. The samples differed in their origin (commercially produced and homemade) and sugar content.
The aim of the study was to evaluate whether the selected analytical methods provide results comparable to the declared alcohol content and to determine which method is the most suitable for ethanol determination. The results showed that density determination exhibited the best agreement with the declared alcohol content, while NIRS provided very similar results. Molecular absorption spectrometry (MAS) and back titration using ferrous ammonium sulfate (FAS) yielded comparable reliability, whereas HS-GC-MS, as applied in this study, showed the greatest deviation from the reference values.
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