Morning journal and courier., 1882-11-16

taste It contains from 35 to 50 per cent of alcohol. There is probably no liquor so
 much initiated and adulterated as brandy.
 The commonest method of initiating it is by adding to plain grain whiskey certain pro
 portions of various ethers which are sold in
 mixture as ''brandy essence" burned sugar, spices tannic acid and acetic acid. Nine. tenths of the brandy that is drank never saw grape skin. Gin is made by distilling alcohol with juniper berries, it's distinctive taste and odor being due to the presence of small amount of oil of juniper The amount of alcohol varies from 30 to 40 per cent, the residue being water with less than l per cont. of the juniper oil The gin commonly sold the real article is, however, made by simply adding a small quantity of this oil, or more frequently oil of turpentine, to common
 whiskey, together with sufficient water to reduce the strength of the spirit to about 30 per cent of alcohol. None but the most ex- pensive brands of gin are made in any other way. Different brands contain slight addi- tions which give them their peculiar favors.
 The best rum is made by the distillation of fermented molasses. Often pineapples and other fruits are sliced and thrown into the still to give flavor. The molasses used con- sists of the washings and refuse from the suffar- houses. It contains 30 to 35 per cent. of alcohol, and is not much adulterated, ex
 cept with certain favoring ethers, designed to initiate ''real Jamaica'' or other brands.
 The main constituent of absinthe is oil of wormwood. It is made by the distillation of alcohol with water, absinthium (wormwood ) and various spices, such as fennel, anise and coriander. The resulting liquid is diluted more or less, the various brands differing greatly in the amounts of water and other substances present in each. It is most fre- quently made by the simple admixture of oil of wormwood with alcohol and water, various essential oils being added to give pungency. Distilled absinthe well prepared from fresh materials should be of bright green color. It's effects are well known to be of the most dangerous character, and result in nervous exhaustion and partial or complete paralysis of the heart. There are whole wards in the hospitals at Paris devoted to diseases produced by this fatal drug.
 Wines are the most complex of liquors, and afford great opportunity for adulteration- The detection of such adulteration is ire quently very difficult. True grape wine, when properly made contains from 6 to 12 per cent. of alcohol and either no sugar or quan- cities varying from 8 trace to 10 per cent Fragrant ethers, glycerine, tannic acid and acetic acid, and other ingredients enter into it's composition. Wines may be roughly divided into two classes, red and white; also into sweet and dry. Red wines are made by the fermentation of the grape juice together with skins and seeds, from which they derive their color. White wines may be made from the juice of red or white grapes fermented without the seeds and skins. AS good clarst Is made in America as the Europeans, but the dry white wines we have not the experi- to produce of equal quality with the imported. Many sweet wines are made with out fermentation by simply adding to fresh grape juice due proportions of alcohol and sugar. These are very injurious. Cham pagne is made properly by fermenting the grape juice partially in casks, then drawing 1t
 If into bottles and allowing fermentation to proceed very slowly, the time required vary
 tng from one to three years. By this means
 ~..I~ k-., N~1,S k<. 3 per cent. of sugar and heavily charged
 with carbonic acid gas. Much time and skill arc required, and though some good cham pagne is made in this country we see but
 little that is palatable of the native product.
 Of all liquors champagne is probably the
 easiest to initiate. All sorts of things are used as ingredients, and a man is said to have taken prize once for an imitation of which
 ne confessed the basis was coat oil. A barrel of champagne may be made by mixing 20 gallons of catawba wine, 20 of water, of
 angelica (California sweet) wine gallons of
 alcohol, and i gallons of syrup. Honey is frequently used as we'll Such mixture as
 his can, however, be readily detected by the
 most uneducated taste.
 There are limitations of grape wines which contain no grape juice whatever, but the
 more usual method of imitation is to take
 poor, cheap grape wines and add thereto
 alcohol, water, spices, glycerine and vegeta-
 ole or aniline coloring matter. Most of the vine sold in this country is discolored more more or less, but most of it has as basis some real grape wine. An arti6cal champagne IS made by charging sweet white wine with gas Strange as it may seem, the artificial zine made in this way is quite as good as the real, provided that the wine taken basis is sufficiently good and that it is carefully made. This will be denied by any maker of called real champagne. but expert wine tasters are frequently at loss to tell the difference, and chemists say that 1t Is not l material. Claret is so cheap that there is not | much imitation. It is mixed moro or less l with water and alcohol and tinted with vege table colors. Ports, sherriss and other strong wines are all more or less fortified" ! oy the addition of alcohol or brandy, and the ! same may be said of number of sweet wines. They are dangerous, therefore. medicines, l and from their unreliability should be avoid ! ed. The pure red wines are the best medi- l cinal stimulants.