Abstract:Objectives: There are differences in flavor and sensory characteristics of Huangjiu made with different raw materials. Gas Chromatography-Ion Mobility Spectrometry(GC-IMS) technology combined with chemometrics and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation methods were applied to analyze sweet-type Huangjiu brewed from sorghum, millet, and quinoa. Methods: The volatile organic compounds in Huangjiu from different raw materials were identified, and characteristic components were selected by chemometrics methods. A fuzzy comprehensive evaluation system and model were established using the M (·, ⊕) operator, with appearance, aroma, taste, style and sediment as the sensory evaluation domains. Nine Huangjiu samples were comprehensively evaluated based on the membership degree using the rank weighted averaging principle. Results: GC-IMS identified 40 common volatile compounds, among which esters accounted for the highest proportion (>50%) and were the main contributors to the aroma of Huangjiu. Chemometric analyses (Principal Component Analysis [PCA], Partial Least Squares-Discriminant Analysis [PLS-DA], and Stepwise Discriminant Analysis [SDA]) revealed significant differences in the types and contents of volatile substances among the three kinds of Huangjiu, and screened out key markers such as butyl valerate and ethyl butyrate. Results of the fuzzy comprehensive sensory evaluation showed that millet Huangjiu (Sample P3 had the highest score of 87.1) and sorghum Huangjiu (Sample S1 had a score of 86.2) generally had better sensory quality than quinoa Huangjiu (Sample Q2 had the lowest score of 80.8).Conclusions: GC-IMS combined with chemometrics can effectively distinguish the volatile characteristics of Huangjiu brewed from different raw materials and screen out key markers such as butyl valerate and ethyl butyrate, providing technical support for flavor traceability. The fuzzy comprehensive evaluation realized the quantitative assessment of sensory quality, indicating that the overall quality of millet Huangjiu and sorghum Huangjiu was superior to that of quinoa Huangjiu. This study provides theoretical basis and methodological support for the process optimization and product development of characteristic Huangjiu.