The influence of oxidation and esterification on the ester balance of aged Baijiu and methodology for the rational design of liquor flavors to optimize the practice of Baijiu production are not completely understood. We investigated the influence of ester balance on the flavor compounds of aged Baijiu by conducting constituent analysis of Baijiu from different aging times (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 10 years). The changes of the main flavor compounds in the aging process were determined, and the correlations among different chemical reactions, such as oxidation, hydrolysis, and esterification, were systematically expounded. Furthermore, cluster analysis of the heat map indicated significant differences between aged Baijiu and new Baijiu and recommended a suitable aging time of 2–3 years.

Optimizing the aging process is urgently required in the distilled spirit industry because of the time-consuming and expensive procedure of natural aging. Herein, the componential changes of the liquor sample are confirmed by the component analysis (e.g., gas chromatograph), and the effect of electrochemical oxidization treatment on the overall properties of typical Chinese liquor (Baijiu) is investigated. The key finding is that high oxidative potential can be used to catalyze the oxidation of alcohols, and the reaction rate is dramatically faster than that in the process of natural aging. The present study reveals the influence of electrochemical oxidation on the contents of compounds (particularly, the alcohols) in Baijiu and offers a perspective into the utilization of electrochemical oxidization treatment as an alternative strategy for artificial maturation of Baijiu.

Elucidating the organometallic interactions in Baijiu will promote a deeper understanding of the flavour formation mechanism during Baijiu aging. However, the organometallic interactions during aging is difficult to explore because...

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