Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-12-31
DOCr0RED DRINKS.
How Whisky and Alcohol are Made Brandy,
Gin and Rum.


States. There are at least fifteen or
twenty firms in this city whose only
business is the so-called Improvement"
Of alcoholic liquors by the addition and
substitution of various foreign mate
rails. They claim that these materials
are in no way of deleterious charac-
ter-rather healthful in fact-and that
the difference between the liquors they
produce and the bona fde originals is
quite matter of imagination. Each
firm has its peculiar methods and form
ul@, which are not to be divulged.
These methods, however, are well
known to chemists, who consider this
forgery of intoxicants as dangerous
practice, and the results ebtainted Of
ten harmful. The intoxicating element
in all liquors is alcohol, the percentage
of which contained in liquor deter
mines its intoxicating power. This is,
however, more or less modified by the
presence Of other ingredients. Whisky
contains from 40 to so per cent. of al
cohol, the balance being water. with a
trace of fannie acid, from the barrels.
and of fusel-oil, developed by fermenta-
ton. Whisky, though used as basis
of many of the Fictitious liquors, is not
itself expensive enough to make it
worth while to initiate it. 1t is, howev-
er, in common with all alcoholic liquors,
improved by keeping, and to give it the
smooth, oily taste of age various expe-
dents are resorted to. A fresh barrel
of raw whisky is taken in hand by the
expert, who converts it in few hours
into old rye or Bourbon by ajudicious
admixture Of oak-shavings, burned
sugar and glycerine. Sometimes he
takes away the crude taste by passing
an electric current through it. Much
of the highest priced whisky sold in the
best places is made in this artistic fash
ion. Bourbon is generally supposed to
contain more fusel-oil than rye, but this
is not necessarily the case.
Brandy is made by the distillation of
fermented grapes sometimes from
the juice alone, and sometimes from the
skins, seeds. and juice together. When
made from the skins alone it is nearly
colorless, has a very agreeable odor,
and slightly acid, aromatic taste. It
contains from IS to so per cent. of al
cohol. There is probably no liquor so
much initiated and adulterated as
brandy. The commonest method of i'm
itating it is by adding to certain plain
grain whisky certain proportion of var
ious others, which are sold in mixture
as brandy essence" burned sugar,
spices, fannie acid, and acetic acid.
Nine-tenths of the brandy that is drank
never saw grape-skin. Gin is made
by distilling alcohol with juniper ber-
ries, its distinctive taste and odor being
due to the presence of small amount
of oil of juniper. The amount of alco-
hol varies from 80 to 40 per cent,
the residue being water with less that
per cent. of the juniper oil. The gin
commonly sold as the retail article is,
however, made by simply adding a
small quantity of this oil, or more fire.
quently oil of turpentine, to common
whisky. together with sufficient water to
reduce the strength of the spirit to
about 80 per cent. of alcohol. None
of the most expensive brands Of gin are
made in any other way. Different
brands contain slight additions, which
give them their peculiar favors.
The best rum is made by the distil1a-
ton of fermented molasses. Often
pineapples and other fruits are sliced
and thrown into the still to give flavor
The molasses used consist of the wash
ings and refuse from the sugar-houses
It contains 30 to 35 per cent. of alcohol
and is not much adulterated, except
when certain favoring others, designed
to initiate "real Jamaica" or other
brands. The main constituent Of alb
slnthe is oil of wormwood. It is made by
the distillation of alcohol with water. alb
sinthium (wormwooO, and various
spices, such as fennel, anise, and cor
lander. The resulting liquid is diluted
more or less, the various brands differ
ing greatly in the amount of water and
other substances present in each. It is
most frequently made by the simple
admixture of oil Of wormwood with al
cohol and water, various essential oils
being added to give pungency.
Wines are the most complex Of liquors
and afford great opportunity Tor adul-
teration. The detection of such adul-
teration is frequently very difficult.
True grape wine, when properly made,
contains from 6 to II per cent of alco-
hol and either no sugar Or quanti-
ties vary from trace TO 10 per cent.
Fragrant others, glycerine, fannie acid,
and other ingredients enter into its
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 the skins and seeds,
from which they derive their color.
White wines may be made from
the juice of red or white grapes fer
mented without the seeds and skins.
As good claret is made in America as
the European, but the dry white wines
VIC have not the experience to produce
of equal quality with the imported
Many sweet wines are made without
fermentation by simply adding to fresh
grape-iuice due proportions OF alcohol
and sugar. These are very injurious.
Champagne is made properly by fer
menting the grape-juice partially in
casks, then drawing it off into bottles
and allowing fermentation to proceed
very slowly, the time required varying
from one to three years. By this means
wine is produced which contains from
, to 8 per cent. CT sugar and heavily