The characterisitics of flavor and taste of 44 samples of commercial aged sake were examined using the newly developed sensory evaluation method together with chemical analysis. Then the obtained data (101 items) were used for statical analysis such as the principal component analysis and the cluster analysis.
From the results of the pricipal component analysis, 3 pricipal components such as flavor characteristics of aged sake, aging and quality of sake (cumulative percentages of eigenvalue 48.7%) were extracted. The characteristic flavor and taste as aged sake showed high correlation coefficient values with sotolon contents. According to the increase of sotolon, the flavor of sake changed from sherry like to
raochu like, and many aged sake of good quality contained 7-20 ppb of sotolon.
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