Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-11-07

Secrets Of the Mfxssg- Reon Of big
L1Quer Heuss.
NEW York Tribune.1

80
Lsquer Heuss.
NEW York rribuns.l
"Ah! That is the favor l am
sftsr," said . tall man with gray
beard and ruddy face, Is he smscked
bis lips and gszed upon sparkling
dark LIQUID, which no held up to the
light in glass. Il was in the Office OF
Q large Wholesale liquor.store down
town, and tho man was . customer
from the East. lie had been ssmpl,ng
LIQUORS, hunting for one to suit his
taste, and had ct last found it. Alter
taking several more sips from tho glass,
and smacking his lips vigorously each
time, be poured some Of the liquid IN
his hands and rubbed them together
until most Of the fluid had evsporased.
Then be shifted the odor, and detecting
the desired bouquet" he gave a large
order for brandy and went away.
Was It rich and mellow old brandy
that be had been sampling and bought !
Not q bit Of it. He thought so, and
as he is . hotsl-keeper he will protest
to his many guests that IL is old Cog
nae of q fine grade. How does he know
it? Well, he was told so, and saw
the label on the bottle with the age
marked on it. But he was sadly mis-
| taken. What he drank was only an
imitation Of the genuine liquor, and
the sample was even better than the
stuff he will hand over the bar in his
hotel.
Just take g little trip down to the
cellar or " factory" as it is called, Of
this big house. Barrels, bottles,
boxes, huge kettles, and measures arc
scattered around. The most interest
ing feature is little room which is
strongly suggestive of an apothecsry's
shop. Shelves on the four sides Of the
room run to the ceiling and are filled
with bottles Of every size. They con-
tain acids, drugs, and oils. Some Of
them are known by the names printed
upon the bottles, others show secret
marks which have no meaning save to
the Unlisted. The odor in the room
is strong, puDgent, and sickening.
Those bottles tell story which few
people know, or care to know. In
them are the ingredients for making
almost any kind o. vino or liquor.
There is no further use for the juicy
grape. Art has stepped in aud crowded
1t out.
And who is the bald.headed man
with a keen eye and steady hand who
is climbing among the bottles, taking a
little cut Of this end that one as he
goes? He is the professional mixer.
He..;;is an adjunct Of many large liquor
houses. lie knows everything about
making wines and liquors, and conse-
quently gets all the stimulsnts he
wants from water. He believes in
temperance for himself, il not for
others. An order has come in for
brandy of certain grade, and the
mixer is at work on it. Spirits of wine,
which is alcohol with the odOr taken
out, forms the base Of the compound.
Enough Of this to make the amount Of
brandy desired is put into q cask. IL
is without flavor, and dark, smoky
fluid known ss Cognac oil supplies the
deficiency. Every step in the process
is taken by rule, and the mixer seems
to pour out the ingredients carelessly
because Of bis familiarity with the
work. But it is exact every time.
The mixer does not make any mis-
takes. The person who drinks the
compound does everything in that line.
After enough Of the Cognac has been
used to give the desired flavor the
color is attended to. The pure white
spirit is treated to liberal dose Of
caramel or burned sugar. This gives
the proper color. There is only one
thing lacking, and thst is to give the
mixture or brandy the ago necessary
to make it palatable. This is done
with water and pure syrup, which
takes away the fire of the spirit and
brings the brandy up to the proper
smoothneSs. The whole compound is
then thoroughly stirred up, and ready
to stand the ordinary tests. Those are
tasting, smelling, examining color, and
observing the size of the small beads
which float ON the liquid. In order tC
form bead which will stay longer anC
appear better than the natural beiC
an oil known as bead oil Is used
This brings the brandy right up K
high quality in appearance, and mix
ture is made which will deceive mo-
only an occasional drinker, but an ex
pert, if the work is we'll done.
Gin and rum are made in O simila
manner. They are guaranteed as pure
and tho mixer does his combining q
well that few would wager against tn
guarantee. The ingredients used j
some of the compounds are not ape
cislly injurious to health, the most poi
sonous substance being alcohol. An
other process is the aging of whiskey
Whiskey ia taken from the still only
few hours old and aged artiiCially b.
heat. The same evaporation an ami
I
hilation of the idsel oil and intsrna
fire, which it would take years to &C
complish naturally, it is claimed ca
DO secured in few hours by a props
degree Of continuous heat. The mstho'
is secret, but the goods are on the maj
ket, and command ready sale.
is a pure whiskey at least, which ca
be said of only small part Of the stu
sold, and brings good prise.
This amount Of spurious wines manu-
featured is astonishing. People VII
drink the deep. colored clsret 10 bal
rooms little dream that they are putin
. mixture of orris root, water, rasl
berry. Juice, and cocbineal into the
stomachs. The claret flavor is there, br
the claret itself is absent. When tskin
: home q bottle Of "genuine port"
build up the constitution Of au inv
: lid, it is not encouraging to know tn
: in all probability the wine is compose
y Of strong cider, gum kino, syrup, 81
u tartaric acid. Most Of the sherry wit
J, in the market is q combination of chez
u materials colored with alkenet roo
. Among the articles used to give Il
% rich color of puritv and enbance n