Adulterants in Whiskey: Detection and Identification by Principal Component Analysis

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Abstract
Model adulterants such as gasoline, phenol, rubber hose, and hair were added to whiskies to prepare adulterated samples. Methylene chloride extracts of these and of the unadulterated whiskies were separated by capillary column GC. Principal Component Analysis was applied to the gas chromatograms, and the resulting scores were used to decide upon product acceptability. Using a series of standards, scores were also the basis for identification of adulterants in rejected samples. In the largest of three data sets, decisions were correct for over 95% of samples, and all adulterated samples were correctly identified.