## 9 Coumarin and Spirit Beverage Authenticity  
Assuming authenticity is a pivotal aspect in spirit beverage value chains, and has therefore been a major concern and challenge for all their players, including the regulatory/governmental agencies and researchers worldwide. It allows for the protection of producers and the producing regions and countries, as well as consumers, from inauthentic spirit beverages. This type of beverage has become a target for adulteration and fraud through practices that include supplementing with ingredients or aromas to boost the product at a lower price, and the adding of non-specified additives to increase volume [58]. According to [PERSON] et al. [306], there are two types of inauthenticity events: i) the misrepresentation that a beverage is within the contractual arrangement between trading partners, namely breach of contract; and ii) the misrepresentation that a beverage is within the legal obligations of the region of intended trade, namely noncompliance (Figure 20).  
The global market and the growing variability and availability of alcoholic beverages from different countries have made consumers increasingly aware of the importance of consuming certified products (in terms of quality and food safety) [307]. In this regard, Europe has taken the lead position by creating, in 1992, a robust system of geographical indications to protect the name of a product originating from a specific region and resulting from a traditional production process. Currently, this regime comprises the following: Protected Designations of Origin--in which all production stages must take place; and Protected Geographical Indication (PGI)--at least one of the phases of production, processing or preparation must take place in the region. Concerning the spirit beverages, the rules are set by the European regulation [1]. Other producing countries, such as the USA, Canada and Brazil also have specific regulations for spirit drinks.  
For this purpose, more advanced analytical methods, as well as the identification of compounds that act as chemical markers, are required for the certification of spirit drinks and the strengthening of legislation. Several techniques, such as spectrophotometry [308; 309; 310], synchronous fluorescence spectrometry [311], GC [312; 313; 314], HPLC [315], capillary electrophoresis [316], nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy [317; 318; 319], and electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (EIS-MS) [320; 321; 322] have been used to determine the indicators of authenticity in spirit beverages, such as alcohol strength [323], sugars [320], volatile compounds [71], colouring compounds [323] and wood-derived compounds [324].  
Regarding the wood-derived compounds of the spirit beverages under analysis, resulting from the ageing stage of the corresponding distillates, some studies pointed out  
Figure 20: Beverages inauthenticity events. Adapted from [PERSON] et al. [306].  
the role of coumarins, phenolic aldehydes and phenolic acids as chemical markers of wine spirits, brandies, whiskeys, rums and cachacas [41; 167; 19; 311; 316; 325]. Among coumarins, scopoletin has been considered as a possible marker of ageing in oak barrels [19; 36; 326].  
Furthermore, coumarins contribute to antioxidant activity reported for alcoholic beverages, which is also thought to be a marker of authenticity. [PERSON] et al. [312], studying the adulteration of brandies, reported that the antioxidant activity of authentic brandies was 15-fold higher than that of adulterated ones. Hence, the literature suggests that coumarins can be used as authenticity markers of aged spirits, but further research is needed to provide robust outcomes for quality assessment and authenticity control.