A Comparison of the Aoac Spectrophotometric Method for Vanillin and a GLC Method for Vanillin and Ethyl Vanillin in Alcoholic Beverages

A comparison of the results of analyses of alcoholic beverage samples for vanillin by the AOAC spectrophotometric method and a GLC method are presented for 25 samples. Overall, the results were in good agreement. The GLC method distinguishes between vanillin and ethyl vanillin and eliminates interferences associated with the spectrophotometric method. The average of 12 determinations indicated a 97% recovery for added ethyl vanillin and 90% recovery for added vanillin. A mass spectrometer confirmation of ethyl vanillin and vanillin separated by the GLC was carried out.