Packed bed techniques for accelerated aging of rum

Rum is a sugar cane spirit obtained by the distillation of molasses through yeast fermentation and subsequent aging in wooden barrels, where the spirit acquires its special flavor and aroma. Packed bed schemes were applied to the accelerated aging of rum samples. These involved maturation in contact with natural, toasted or chemically treated oak wood chips for 90 d and four secondary treatments (occasional heating and aerating). The physical and chemical indexes, phenolic and furanic composition by HPLC, oak lactones by HS-SPME-GC, HSMS e-nose and sensory analysis were determined for each sample. Results show that variations in chemical composition are similar to those occurring in traditional aging. Differences in rum composition due to wood treatment were observed, with the best compositional data from a sensory point of view corresponding to samples aged with either toasted or chemically treated wood. Samples aged with toasted or chemically treated wood present higher concentrations of phenolic and furanic compounds and oak lactones than those exposed to untreated wood. Differentiation by wood treatment was made by principal component analysis applied to HS-MS e-nose data. Sensory evaluation revealed more mature notes in rums aged with toasted or chemically treated oak woods than in those exposed to untreated wood. The rum that had been in contact with toasted wood for 90 d and aerated (for 3 min with 7.5 L of air per liter of rum for periods of 30 and 60 d) showed the fullest mature note.