There are many prescribed methods for the analysis of important components and parameters of spirit drinks. Nevertheless, there is a continuous search for new rapid and simple alternative methods that can be used together with recommended methods. The aim of the chapter is to make a review about themes such as quantification of individual components in the spirit drinks, classification of spirit drinks, and determination of adulterants. The chapter shows that fluorescence spectroscopy has a significant potential for being used in spirit drink research because many alcoholic beverage products contain intrinsic fluorophores. Fluorescence spectroscopy allows the determination of some compounds at concentration as low as 0.1–1 μg/L often without sample preparation, there is no use of chemicals and the time of analysis can be very short. The combination of fluorescence data with chemometric tools is a promising approach for the classification of spirit drinks and for the detection of spirit drink adulteration.
Part of the book: Applications of Molecular Spectroscopy to Current Research in the Chemical and Biological Sciences