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Technical articles
Alcoholometry, inventories, blending, analysis methods: on her blog, Évelyne Chanson shares the scientific expertise behind the Labox tools.
Évelyne ChansonPhD engineer in analytical chemistry, quality control consultant for wines and spirits 
Controlling the sugar content of your alcoholic beverages: Which method should you choose?
Various methods are available to determine sugar content in spirits, differing in specificity, accuracy, speed and cost. This article provides an overview of the sugars found in spirits and practical guidance to help you choose the most appropriate method for in-house quality control. Read the article
Phenolic compounds from wood in spirits: understanding, measuring, and choosing the right analytical method
This article reviews the origin of the main wood-derived phenolic compounds, their impact during ageing, and the analytical methods available to measure them. Its objective is to help you select the most appropriate tools for your quality control and production monitoring needs. Read the article
How sugar contributes to aluminum beverage can corrosion
Aluminum, malleable, lightweight, recyclable, and safer than glass, is widely used for beverage cans. Its resistance to corrosion depends in part on the quality of the protective internal coating. When this coating presents defects in application or uniformity, corrosion can develop, particularly in the presence of sugar. This article explains the mechanisms involved and proposes a protocol to evaluate the quality of can coatings. Read the articleWhen two analytical results don’t match: How to approach discrepancies ?
In quality control, production, or research, comparing analytical results is part of everyday practice. But what happens when two professionals — each confident in the reliability of their work — observe a discrepancy between their measurements? It’s a common situation, often leading to tension, misunderstanding… or rushed decisions. Example: Two laboratories measure the alcohol content of the same spirit sample. One reports 40.1% vol, the other 39.8% vol. Who’s right? Are the results truly incompatible — or simply different within the range of measurement uncertainty? This article provides a practical framework to interpret such differences rigorously, understand the role of measurement uncertainty, and assess whether two results can be considered technically consistent. Read the article
Liqueur, Cocktail, and Cream Recipes: Anticipating the Effect of Sugar on the Final Alcohol Content
When making a sweet alcoholic drink (liqueur, cocktail, cream, etc.), calculating the final alcohol content might seem as simple as adding up the volumes of alcohol, water, and sugar. But once sugar dissolves, it takes up space — and that extra volume can throw the math off. 👉 Can we really predict the final ABV from the starting ingredients alone? 👉 And why does sugar make the calculation so tricky? It all comes down to how sucrose behaves in a water–ethanol mix — a process still not fully understood. To shed light on this, we teamed up with Labox Applications to: Measure the actual volume that dissolved sugar occupies in different mixtures, Explore the dissolution process in water and ethanol, Test whether the final ABV can be calculated accurately. Full results in the article. Read the article
Best Practices for Using Portable Digital Density Meters
Portable digital density meters calculate alcohol content at 20 °C from density and temperature. Compact and robust, they are ideal for quick measurements in the field — in cellars, tank rooms, or at the base of transport containers. This guide will help you achieve reliable results, avoid common errors, and get the most out of your equipment. Read the article
Consequences of climate change on the quality and stability of spirits – Part 3
Wood maturation is a highly complex process, and many of its mechanisms remain only partially understood. Today, spirits professionals are increasingly concerned about how climate change may impact evaporation rates and the overall quality of barrel-aged eaux-de-vie. Can we anticipate and mitigate these effects? This article outlines key insights into the ageing process, the challenges posed by global warming, and possible strategies to adapt—reducing evaporation while preserving the quality of the spirit. Read the article
Best Practices for Spirits Tasting
Tasting is a key quality control tool for spirits, but to ensure reliable and reproducible results, certain best practices are essential, especially for eaux-de-vie derived from fermented products. From the tasting environment to sensory evaluation methods, discover the recommendations for an optimal and rigorous analysis. Read the article
OPTIMIX: A Blending Optimization Tool
Discover how OPTIMIX, an innovative application, is revolutionizing the art of blending by optimizing your creations through a detailed analysis of your stock of product and your qualitative and quantitative objectives… Read the article
Consequences of climate change on the quality and stability of spirits – Part 2: Distillation
After discussing the origin of volatile aromatic compounds in fermented raw materials, this second article focuses on the role and importance of distillation control in achieving the desired eau-de-vie quality. The final part of this series explores the key physicochemical changes that eaux-de-vie undergo during barrel aging. This three-part series will conclude with an analysis of the impact of climate change on the composition of barrel-aged eaux-de-vie and the measures that can be implemented to maintain quality control… Read the article
Consequences of Climate Change on the Quality and Stability of Spirits – Part 1: Fermentation
Climate change spares no domain, and the production of spirits, especially their aging in barrels, is no exception. The influence of climate variations on the organoleptic properties and stability of finished products is becoming a key concern for quality-conscious producers. To understand the impacts of climate change, it is essential to revisit the origin of the compounds that form the very essence of spirits. Since only volatile compounds from the fermented matter remain in the distillate after distillation, this first article focuses on the origin and organoleptic impact of these compounds. Read the article
Blending of eaux-de-vie, a very strange phenomenon of contraction
When diluting a hydroalcoholic mixture with water, the final volume is lower than the sum of the volume of water + the starting volume. This article explains its origin. He presents a study which demonstrates that in the case where analysis by distillation requires dilution, it is nevertheless possible to obtain good precision in the measurement of the alcohol level. Read the article
Alcohol content measurement – Part 3 : Distillation with dilution
To measure the alcohol content in a spirit, the official method by distillation is still the most used method because it is the most universal and the least expensive in investment. There are different types of distillation devices (direct distillation or steam entrainment), more or less automated, but which all have a maximum field of application for measuring the alcohol level. This article explains how to use the device even if the alcohol level is above its use limit, while obtaining accurate results using appropriate methodology. Read the article
Alcohol Content Measurement – Part 1: Principle, Equipment, Selection Criteria
To meet internal production control requirements, this article presents the various methods and equipment for measuring the alcohol content in alcoholic beverages. It guides you in choosing the most suitable method based on your objectives, whether in terms of the type of beverage to be analyzed, the desired result accuracy, response time, frequency of analysis, operator qualifications, or budget constraints linked to investment and operation. Read the article Alcohol content measurement – Part 2 : Distillation or Infrared
The official method for determining the alcohol content of a spirit requires prior distillation to eliminate residues that could distort the density measurement. However, distillation does not completely eliminate all volatile compounds other than ethanol. What about measurements made with automatic or semi-automatic devices, very selective for the analysis of ethanol, such as near infrared analyzers? Read the article
Alcohol Contraction or Dilatation with temperature
During a temperature increase, volume of alcohols expands or conversely, during a temperature decrease, the volume contracts. The higher the alcohol content, the more pronounced this phenomenon becomes. In the field of spirits, during production, for inventory management and bulk transactions, the measured volume can vary significantly due to temperature fluctuations. Therefore, it is essential to convert the measured volumes to 20°C for accuracy. So how to calculate the volume at 20°C ? Read the article
Volatile Substances
The definition of Volatile Substances was revised in 2000 in a European regulation. For some types of spirits, the sum of volatile substances is standardized: refer to the European Regulation of Spirits Drinks in force, to the specific specifications of some appellations, or to the regulations or specifications imposed by the importing country. This article includes the definition, the calculation and the official methods of analysis of these substances. Read the article
Obscuration
The analytical parameter « Obscuration » of a spirit corresponds to the difference between the real alcoholic strength by volume and the gross alcoholic strength by volume. Where does this « Obscuration » come from? Read the article
Alcoholometry Practical Guide
The Practical Guide to Alcoholometry includes charts, white pages (Table VII b) and yellow pages (Table XI bb), used to determine the alcohol level at 20°C and calculate the volume of pure alcohol. This article presents the principle of use of these charts and the differences between these 2 tables. It shows that the volume of pure alcohol calculated with the yellow pages is more approximate. It also explains how to convert at 20°C, a volume measurement when the alcohol level measurement is obtained directly at 20°C. Read the article