Telegram-herald., 1889-06-08
BRANDY MANUFACTURE.
4ne Principal Industry CT the Town
or CogD2c, France
C4ixin ally Csed - = Ax1sciEes Exasey
s~oE Dee4aa~ ths TtPgs~rs f2sorise
Essef4xe-DSslrGstlon " 0orksd -
tie kseE- Basy Fay llskeE~-

Ia CQgu2c every tang al1 every olay sTs
a4soc l4ted directly oF a1lreeuy Nlta er@a-
IS, sass tie ERg. "a ilus1rsteA Aazazlise
IL ysa ccI8s apel q grad plle II buildings
yc1 Kay 10 ASSURED tat taey are brandy
W.-rsA e4sss, II yo4 ses al ~ sl.-ly y n-e
holss lL = ce-tala y he tha residence of :
br4l1y u4erc-@Dt; lie very atmosphere .
saturated wlta Il Is deposits have iu-
parted : neT 4spect u every Clt of masonry
Is fumes esn reach. and II l. impossible -
give description of Cognsc without sons
account or that coul4erce upon wAlca Ia
very existence depends.
Although disfillatloa was understood h.
the 4 r-aoi4s 2lcnemists e~nturies before a
French physician end alcLeI1lst, Aruauid
IL kAleuvgFe, who died ia l,so, aplears -
h2ge 5een the first " 10 distilled the famous
aqua Vita, which tie GlscoFerer pros aimed
O. DC a panacea for every M that flesh Is
heir ~. This water " life" ho wrote,
- the water OF Immortality, since
u lengthens cur days, dissipstes IN
healthy humors, cheers tho heart,
and prol0ngs youth" Such praises
were considered BY 10 means extrayagant
10 that age, and the extraordinary virtues
~ aqua Vita were universally believed, 1t
or cordial than a beverage. IL 800 II w-.s
given out 10 the Hungarian miners as
remedy against the cold, unwiIolesome AIR
OF the mines, and twenty years afterward
the English army ia FLANDERS MAS provided
with it as "a protective against the damp OF
the climate. That il was used N this coun-
try in Shakespeare's time IS proved by the
nurse ia Romeo and Juliet" eXclalming
GIVE me some aqua yitar Nantes seems
10 have been the earliest seat Of the trade;
thence it Was smugglcd across the bay ot
Biscay To our southern coast. Ia old plays
brandy Is frequently spoken OF Is
Nantes" AS early as 1850, however,
there were five or SIX brandy firms estab-
hshed IA the little town on the banks of the
Charente, and one of these, the house OF
Angler Freres, stlll exists. la the reign Of
Louis XVI the eau de-yie OF Cognac was
considered TO be the best, but even in lss9
its merchants numbered only ten and IN
$50 they did not exceed sixteen. During
the next twenty years, however, the total
leaped 10 1e4, ard III 1877 il further rose 10
1874; since then there has been "a decrease in
consequence OF the repeated failures of the
vintages
Very little brandy Is distilled in Cognac,
the operation being chiefly conducted on the
brandy farms in the district where the grape
is grown. The brandy grape, which very
much resembles the champagne, is a small,
white berry, the juice OF which previous 10
distillation tastes like very bad, sour cider
The farmers, as a rule, keep the spirit sew
eral years before offering it for sale; ii is
then purchased by the Cognac merchants.
When brought into the warehouses its
strength is about twenty over proof; this Is
reduced by adding a certain proportion of
distilled water. Different vintages are
mingled III huge watts, which sometimes
stand in an upper part of the building, and
are kept constantly stirred TO blend the fla
vors and preparation of burned sugar is
added for colOring. II Is then filtered
through peculiar kiud Of paper pulp and
flows into watts on lower level, in which il
remains from five TO twenty and even thirty
years to mature. From these receptacles it
is drawn off into casks for bottling or for
expectation.
The premises of some of the principal
brandy merchants are of enormous extent,
the largest and most elaborate being fitted
with all the newest appliances, which cover
several acres Of ground. The operations Of
the trade require large space. To give some
idea of these we may state that the blend
ing department, once the crypt of the mon
astry, contains eighty vats, each Of the ca
pacIty of sixty hOgsheads, and in the flour
ishing days of the trade this house has sent
out in a single year as many as 6,OOO,0O0 bot
ties besides casks. When We consider that
there is another firm in the town whose bust
| ness is equally large, and several that very
nearly approach it, TO say nothing Of a hun
dred others which have more or less oxten-
| sive transactions, some conception may
be formed of the Importance and enormous
capital embarked in this branch OF com
| merce.
But brandy is rapidly becoming thing
| Of the past, thanks to a tiny insect whose
ravages have been as terrible 10 this part
! Of the country was the plague of locusts
10 Egypt. IL was in 1868 that the phyl-
/ loxera first appeared IN France in the val
| lev Of the Rhono; by the close Of 1874 it
had extended throughout the south, south
east and southwest, from Lyons to Bor-
/ deaux. Only eleven years ago tho coguac
/ district had about 100 acres planted with
vines: Of these nearly 5000 have been
/ utterly destroyed, and over 20.~OO seriously
/ injured; since then three-fourths Of the
area have been desOlated and the remain
/ der much affected, and the opinion OF the
leading merchants IS that the chances are
| that IN another generation the true eau-dc-
/ vie viii be liquor introuvable. Some at
/ tempt Is being made at replantng the
/ vineyards, though, in most cases, the pest
+ rcappears upon the young shoots, and here
/ and there experiments are being made with
/ American vines, which are said TO be phyl-
+ loxera proof, but the prospects Of coguac
can scarcely be said TO be improved to any
/ great extent.
/ In the meantime. the effect Os this state
/ OF affairs Is everywhere visible The pre-
/ cincts OF the ancient convent, in which a
famed firm Of brandy makers bavo taken
Up their quarters for the last hundred
/ years and more. arc as quiet and drowsy as
/ though they were stu the home Of the fo.-
{ r----,-s Of & Erare5a