New trends in production of spirit beverages
New trends on the market of spirit beverages include growing interest in production of natural vodkas using original, high quality plant raw materials as a source of sugars and aroma compounds. This is a response to the growing interest of consumers in regional (niche) products originating from plants cultivating old production recipes.
Natural spirits (eaux-de-vie, brandy) are spirit drinks produced from raw, unrectified spirits, obtained from agricultural raw materials (inter alia grains, fruits), the organoleptic properties of which are derived from the raw materials used. These products can be refined by maturing in appropriate tanks, usually oak barrels, to allow natural reactions to take place in the spirit drink, giving it special organoleptic characteristics.
In the years 2013-2016, in the Department of Technology of Spirit and Yeast of the Institute of Fermentation Technology and Microbiology at the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Sciences at TUL, a project entitled Modern technologies for the production of spirits taking into account their accelerated maturation and improved physical and chemical stability, funded by the National Centre for Research and Development under the Applied Research Programme. The project was implemented by a scientific-industrial consortium and its application objective was to develop innovative, economically justified technology for the production of fruit and cereal spirits, taking into account accelerated ageing of spirits and methods for stabilisation of products, while maintaining their raw material identity. The research included production of grain spirits from malted and unmalted raw materials as well as spirits based on malted and unmalted raw materials with the addition of aromatic components derived from root and herb plant materials. The experimental work was conducted under laboratory conditions and then verified under industrial conditions.
Possibilities of using project results
The development of new technologies for obtaining distillates created opportunities to extend the portfolio of the spirit industry with more and more desirable on the market, ecological spirit products. Solutions developed as part of the cooperation have been implemented by Industrial Partners participating in the project, including improved processes for production of plum brandy and grain distillates for production of distilled spirits.
Social and economic benefits from the implementation of project results
Thanks to the implementation of the technology developed at the Institute of Fermentation Technology and Microbiology, cooperation between scientific and research institutions and enterprises has been strengthened. Long-term effects have been achieved by increasing the competitiveness of enterprises producing grain and fruit distillates for the production of natural spirits and by increasing the use of the potential of Polish agriculture by using raw materials from Polish fields (grain) or orchards (fruit).