AbstractBACKGROUND: Śliwowica Łącka is a strong, distilled, home‐made plum brandy produced in a submontane region of Poland. The aim of the present study was to determine the chemical composition of this alcoholic beverage (samples from the years 2001–2004) and compare it with that of other plum brandies. Gas chromatography and spectrophotometry methods were used to detect major volatile components.RESULTS: Home‐made Polish plum brandies generally contained more ethanol (64.7–72.5% v/v), methanol (5.59–8.74 g L−1100°) and butanol (32–335 mg L−1100°) and less isobutanol (406–491 mg L−1100°), pentanol (4.3–14.9 mg L−1100°) and 2‐phenylethanol (61–68 mg L−1100°) than other samples. The amyl alcohols/1‐propanol and isobutanol/1‐propanol ratios might be used as indices to distinguish spontaneously fermented plum brandies from those produced by monoculture. Statistically significant differences (P < 0.01) were found in the plum brandy sensory characteristics examined. Total sensory scores of Polish plum brandies ranged between 12.0 and 14.3, while Slovakian Slivovica received the highest score (16.7).CONCLUSION: The results showed that plum brandies produced in the Łącko area are characterised by a similar and original chemical composition that results mainly from spontaneous fermentation as well as traditional production technology. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry