Alcohol congener analysis

Alcohol congener analysis of blood and urine is used to provide an indication of the type of alcoholic beverage consumed. The analysis involves investigating compounds called congeners that give the beverage a distinctive appearance, aroma, and flavour, not including water and ethanol.[1] The theory of discovering one's drinking habits has been investigated since the late 1970s, predominantly in Germany, for "hip-flask" defence cases (after-drinking).[2][3] Alcohol congener analysis can play a crucial role in these cases where the driver is apprehended some time after a motor vehicle incident who, when returning a positive alcohol reading then claim that this is due to drinking an alcoholic beverage only after the incident. This traditional methodology for congener analysis has focused solely on the detection of fermentation by-product congeners that are found in all alcoholic beverages. By comparing the ratios of a set standard of congeners, the ingested alcoholic beverage type is proposed.

  1. ^ Bonte, W., Congener Analysis, in Encyclopedia of Forensic Sciences. 2000, Academic Press: Duesseldorf, Germany. p. 93-102.
  2. ^ Iffland, R. and A.W. Jones, Evaluating alleged drinking after driving - the hip-flask defence. Part Congener analysis. Med Sci Law, 2003. 43(1): p. 39-68.
  3. ^ González-Arjona, D., et al., Authentication and differentiation of Irish whiskeys by higher-alcohol congener analysis. Analytica Chimica Acta, 1999. 381(2-3): p. 257-264.