Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1878-04-12

anu sundry plans Tor decreasing drunken
ness, a bill was under consideration, fe,
days ago, making it a misdemeanor fc
; saloon keepers to sell liquors to a certai
I. class of persons. Before the vote, one Assem-
Be- blyman got up and made vigorous speec
in favor of 'pure whiskey' and liquor
5 generally, and protested against thei
y wholesale condemnation by the temperanc
: people. Reading the report of these pro
cecdings set me to thinking about tn,
pure liquors which this rural law make e
so eioquently defended and soon recalled
few pertinent facts elected by genera
examination Of drinks made in this city. las
Winter, and which perhaps failed to CONF
under the eye Of this innocent and elbow
crooking legislator.
In the first place, the foundation fact
established BY tn, Investigation re,
ierred to, is that there is almost No
such thing, commercially speaking, as
pure wine or liquor, so that the question,
from the very outset, is practically as to how
much any specified tipple is doctored The
existence Of this state of things supposed
TO be too generally known to be commented
upon; but il a man, and an acknowledged
drinker into the bargain, can get into the
Legislature of this State, knowing as little
of the facts as the gentleman above named
| IN bof E,ll
brief statement may find an occasional inter-
ested reader:
The four kinds ofliquOr sold in New York
saloons are rum, wbiskcy, brandy and gin,
or at least they 90 by these names, though
perhaps they are not the same liquors as
were originally 50 described. Rum was
originally made by fermenting and distiliug
molaSscs. Whiskey was made by ferment-
ing and distilling, on small scale, either
rye or wheat, or mixture of the two.
Brandy was made by distilling the wine of
grapes. or by taking the pulp and skin Of the
grapes after the juice was expressed for max
ing wine, and iermenting them or distilling.
GIN was made by distilling alcohol through
Juniper berries. All these liquors are color
less when first made by these processes
they acquire color from being kept for long
periods in barrels, and they acquire tannin
from the oak Of which the barrels are made.
81 much for the Old-fashioned, genuine
liquors; they were expensive to make and
expensive 10 keep; they lost by evaporation,
and, of course, lost their makers the inter
est Of their money.
The modern liquor dealers, according to
the most Trustworthy authorities, have
changed all this. and have discovered a much
cheaper and simpler way of carrying on the
business, namely, to make all kinds out of
corn alcohol (the cheapest produeed). flavor
ing it to initiate what they desire to sell
For example, a dealer wishes to get up an
assortment of liquors. From some distiller
or bToFer he buys fifty or hundred barrels
Of hishwineS. To makes his low grade
whiSkcy he merely dilutcs portion Of the
stuff till it contains Is Ier cent Of alcohol,
culors it with burnt sugar, and it is ready
Tor sale. For better quality of whi-key, |
the highwine is partially purified, and beside
tie sugar for coloring, careful selection |
from the class of compounds chemically |
known as ethcrs is added, since the discovery |
of which, the art of hlYoring has been carried |
to unheard of perfection. How powerful
these compounds are may be judged from the |
amount prescribed below in connecting |
brandy.
Rum Is made by filtering the high wine
and reducing 1t To the proper strength by |
water, navoring it with butyric ether pine
apple ether, etc, adding burned sugar and
a little molasses. To make gin, the filtered
high wine is diluted to the proper strength,
favored with the essential oil Of juniper and
swectcncd with white sugar or rock candy.
B;audy making is a little less simple. A
purer alcohol has to be used, called Cologne
Spirits. Here is an approved recipe "To
forty gallons Of cologne spirits double dis
titled and free from OdOr, and reduced to
procf with distilled water add one-siIieenth
Of an ounce of 'crgnac OIL one and a half
pints of burned sugar cOlorng, and one
quarter ounce of tannin." This artistic
combination results in one barrel of "Best
French Brandy" to be afterwards bottled.
handsomely labelled in French, called ten,
fifteen, or twenty years old, and sold over
the bars of hotels and tirst-claSs saloons at
thirty or forty cents glass. The imitation
is really very good when skilfuilY prepared,
and lacks not even the peculiar flavor
which is supposed 10 be derived from age
in tie barrel, but which is really supplied
by the tannin.
All the above processes are those used
by the best Of the liquor manufacturing
class. By the less scrupulous-if there can
be said to be any grade of rascality in this
hu-iness-sume most hurtful drugs, and even
active poiSons, arc used, to give their villain
Gus stuff the REQUIRED strength
The same practice extends to the fabrica-
ton of " imported" wines | am told that
at the death OF prominent wine importer
of this city some three years ago, a careful
examination Of his books failed to discover
siLgle invoice Of wine, but that in his cellar
was found all the machinery and material
for making it in any quantity desired. One
suall phial holding dark liquid, was
to make twenty gallons Of "pure
Port wine
From what has been said above, some idea
may be 60. Of the extent to which fraud in
alcoholic beverages is carried on here. Nor
are these the only articles of consumption
which are grossly adultcrated. Quite an
interesting chapter might be written about
the sophi,tication of drugs, spices, groceries,
textiles. etc, but these subjects must be re-
served for another occasion.
In the ncw3 record oi the past week there
appears very little OF general interest. A
-mar, reminder that inter has not yet tax
en- his hnal departure has been youchsaied
us IN the shape Vi wind that ran our aSpT-
lng thermometer down to eighteen, and put
4 damper On tree buds, beside tanning the
ismos ot fire that broke out Monday night
IN Canal street, near Broadway, till they had
WED out property to the value OF hall Il
million OF those dollars which are 50 scarce
md hard togct ones hands on, these days.
Mr.. Tweed has been once more brought
to the front by being taken into court to ,
testify IN city suit. and, instead OF doing
50, asserting that the authorities had broken
aIth with him hy keeping him IN jail after ,
letting his tai! confession, and that he didn't