Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-07-20


importation is utterly gratuitous. as any
body can enjoy the stuff who will drink the
impure or deadly spirit used in alcohol
lamps. To Muscoyites it may be good thing
in the depths of winter, but in this country
its use is objectionable. Besides the ex-
auisite wines which have made that land
famous, Hungary sends US Slivovitsch, or
Magyar plum brandy. 1t is made from
particular variety of that fruit, which is
found only in certain parts of the Austrian
empire, and though strong and fiery to the
last degree, is not so very disagreeable to the
tongue.
Asia Minor is a steady customer at the
American custom houses. Although it
has sent a small army of Greeks, Armen-
ians, Syrians and half breeds to these
shores, it takes them into no account when
it ships us alcoholic goods. These are pro-
duced almost exclusively for the use of
those who once dwelt in the Slavonic lands,
but are now true-blue citizens of the New
World. For centuries this trade has en-
dured, one year rising high in prosperity
and another falling into the abyss
the wines and liquors of the
Holy Land are sent over in the "bottles"
referred to in the Scriptures, tough skins,
which in turn are carefully boxed; but the
GENTLE cask and glass bottle have driven
the sheepskin and goatskin vessels out of
the market. The "wet goods" of Judea and
its neighboring territory are Jerusalem
wine, Jerusalem brandy, honey wine and
passover wine. Judging from samples at
the custom house the Oriental is poor hand
at viniculture. If things were no better 18
centuries ago it is hard to understand how
st. Paul could recommend little wine for
the stomach's sake, but very easy to realize
how hideously drunk Noah must have been
if he used similar intoxicant. The wine
is thick, muddy and coarse, very like the
homemade vintages of old New England
housewives. 1t has a rich bouquet and a
flavor suggestive of Tokay and Muscatel.
The brandy is no better than the wine. 1t
is made from plums and prunes, and is dis
titled and rectifed in a way that seems to
increase the normal impurities of raw spirit.
1t is above proof and seams the mouth and
throat as it is swallowed.
WINES MADE OF HONEY.
The honey wine and passover wine are
apparently varieties of the same kind of
liquor. The rabbis claim that they are
produced by fermenting honey of one flavor
and sweetening the resulting wine with honey
of different flavor. II the claim is truth
full there Is no fear Of the bee ever becoming
the rival of the grape. Of the many honey
wines and passover wines which come
through the custom house, everyone is
flat, syrupy and, to put it mildly, unpalata-
BILE.
An immense array of curious stimulants
comes from the far East, China, Japan and
Java. The Orientals have never learned to
make effervescent beverages, but, outside of
this, know as much about fermenting and
dlstilllng as we Western barbarians. In
some respects they have gone further and
utilized almost every vegetable from which
a potable fluid could be procured. A par
allel would exist if we made whisky from
rice, buckwheat and oats or wine from
cantaloupes, watermelon and pumpkin.
There is sogreat variety to these Eastern
liquors that the Government classifies
them roughly into wines, strong
liquors, cordials and medicines. OF these
four classes the representatives 1 have
sampled are all well made. None are bad
in any regard, and very few are extraordi-
narily attractive. They average about 20
per cent higher in quality and palatability
above the average contents of a frst-class
American bar. The liquors are not so
strong as our hard liquors, nor, according to
people who have used them in the East, as
injurious to the system.
This long list of intoxicants passes
through the custom house, leaving samples
in the appraisers Office and in the labora-
tory of the Governments chemist, and then
passes to the people of the United States
who come from the lands in which they are
manufactured. The variety as we'll as the
quantity OF the importations increase every
year. When the ceaseless influx Of foreign
ers is taken into consideration it may well
be asked how much and how many of these
outlandish drinks will be passing the Gus
toms hundred years hence.
WILLIAM E. s. FALES.