Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-04-16
BRANDY MANUFACTURE.
The Principal Industry of the Town
of Cognac, France.
Originally Used as Medicine, Brandy
Soon Became the Tippler's Favorite
Observation-Disclosures Worked by
the Ever-Busy Phylloxera.

In Cognac every thing and every body are
associated directly or indirectly with bran
dy, says the English Illustrated Magazine.
Ii you come upon a grand pile of buildings
you may be assured that they are brandy
warehouses; if you see an unusually fine
house it is certain to be the residence of
brandy merchant; the very atmosphere is
saturated with it. Its deposits have i'm
parted a new aspect to every bit of masonry
It's fumes can reach. and 1T Is impossible to
give q description of Cognac without some
account of that commerce upon which its
very existence depends.
Although distillation was understood by
the Arabian alchemists centuries before
French physician and alchemist, Arnauld
de Villeneuve, who died in 1860, appears to
Lave been the first who distilled the famous
AQUA vitae, which the discoverer proclaimed
to be panacea for every i'll that flesh is
heir to. This water of life" he wrote,
lis the water of Immortality, since
it lengthens our days, dissipates IN
healthy humors, cheers the heart,
and prolongs youth" Such praises
were considered by no means extravaganza
In that age and the extraordinary virtues
of aqua vitae were universally believed; it
was used, however, rather as medicine
or cordial than beverage. In 1860 twas
given out to the Hungarian miners as
remedy against the cold, unwholesoIne air
OF the mines, and twenty years afterward
the English army In Flanders was provided
with it as protective against the damp of
the climate That twas used IN this coun-
try in Shakespeare's time is proved by the
nurse in Romeo and Juliet exclaimiug:
"Give me some aqua vit9!" Nantes sGers
70 har hapr tho arlpSt scat OF the trade.
thence it was Struggled across the bay Of
Biscay To our southern coast. In old plasS
brandy is frequently spoken of as
NANTES" AS early as 1850, however.
there were five or six brandy firms estab-
lshed IN the little town on the banks OF the
Charente, and one of these, the house OF
Angler Freres, still exists In the reign OF
Louis XVI the eau-de-vie of Cognac was
considered to be the best, but even in l1t9
its merchants numbered only ten and In
1870 they did not exceed sixteen. During
the next twenty years, however, the total
lcaped to 104. and IN 1877 it further rose to
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 to
distillation tastes like very bad. sour cider.
The farmers as rule, keep the spirit sew
eral years before offering il for sale; 1t 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
mingled in huge watts, which sometimes
stand in an upper part Of the building, and
are kept constantly stirred 10 blend the fla
vors and preparation of burned sugar is
added for coloring. 1t Is then filtered
through peculiar kiud of paper pulp and
flows into watts on a lower level in which il
remains from five to twenty and even thirty
wears to mature. From these recepUacles it
is drawn OF into casks for boltling 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 watts, each Of the ca
paclty of sixty hogsheads. and in the -four
ishing days of the trade this house has sen,
out in a single year as many as 6,oo,0o bot
ties, besides casks. When wecousluer thai
there is another firm in the town whose bust
ness is equally large, and several that very
nearly approach it. to say nothing Of hun
Gred others which have more or less extern
siye 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 TO this part
of the country as was the plague OF locusts
TO Egypt II was in 1855 that the phyl-
loxera first appeared In France in the val
ley of the Rhone; by the close of lss4 il