Electrospray ionization-mass spectrometric measurement of sake, a traditional Japanese alcohol beverage, for characterization.

A rapid method for the characterization of sake by measuring the ratio of the peak intensities of taste components in sake, using electrospray ionization/mass spectrometry (ESI/MS) has been developed. Twenty-six different kinds of sake samples were collected and analyzed by ESI/MS. The ESI/MS ion peaks were assigned to amino acids, organic acids, and sugars.