The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1896-02-06
WHISKY DROPS.
How Bibulous New Workers Get Around
the SnndaY-C Closing Law.

eulleSS Is INC DOn-DOu Win IL liJlle jag
concealed beneath it's sugary exterior.
You can get drunk on candy. With
your chocolate creams and gum drops
you can buy whisky or brandy, and
from box of sweets you can imbibe
enough spiritus frumenti to make you
ing.
AS the innocent-loolling confection
dissolves on your tongue, a liquid
trickleS out that has the unmistakable
flavor of the same old stuff. That's
whisky" you say. Whisky it is, and as
it mixes with the sugar coating that
has held it prisoner, the combination
suits the taste.
The steady drinking man who is not
ON good terms with the bartender on
the corner finds in these whiskyized
candies the next best method of getting
around the Roosevelt restrictions. He
gives the wink to his druggist, receives
little box, and goes home equipped
against dry Sunday.
The confectionery stores are reaping
a rich harvest Although they have no
license to sell liquor, they do not fear
any trouble from what, at first glance,
may seem to be a harmless infraction
of the law. But as young girls and
boys, as well as grown men and women
ale buying the drops, the excise board
will have every excuse for interference
as soon as they have read this article.
A New York World reporter bought
rye whisky bon-bons at two places on
Broadway last Sunday and at one place
on Columbus avenue, near T2d street.
He also bought brandy in bon-bons at
two places. In two pounds of this mix
ture of whisky and candy was enough
intoxicating liquor to produce adecided
feeling"
The chocolates put up with whisky
in them were not put on sale in this city
until two weeks ago. Since then the
demand for the article has been great.
Brandy drops were made years and
years ago on q small scale, but not until
the screws were put on Sunday drink
ing did the whisky drop make its ap.
pearance. The whisky drop is not DIFF
INISlib III SiuCC llOIl LIE Olu
olate or brandy drop, and is about the
same size. At some of the shops it is
covered with plain chocolate, while at
the more stylish places it is wrapped in
tin gold foil
In some of its forms it is COMPOSED
of little jug made of crystallized
sugar, into which the liquor is squirted
with a syringe. Then the small open
ing is filled with sugar and dipped in
boiling chocolate and laid out on
boards to dry, The foil is put on to
hold the compound together in case it
is exposed to a damp atmosphere.
People who have not bought whisky
drops, and who have no idea of the
amount of the juice of the rye con-
tanned in them, will be surprised by
the following figures, derived from an
analysis:
In pound of chocolate drops there
are 80 pieces. Each piece weighs 95
grains, Troy weight. After a drop is
broken and the whisky is poured out
there are found SIS grains of sugar and
chocolate and 40 of whisky. Counting
SO drops to the pound, there are 5000
grains of whisky in each pound box of
the new mixture.
A half-pint of good rye whisky
weighs 1885 grains. Thus in each
pound of chocolate whisky drops there
is half-pint of whisky, less SIS grains.
There is gallon of whisky, accord
N n tho CT IF
turer, in every 161s pounds of this
candy. The price of the candy, Of
course, depends on the quality of the
brandy. Some boxes cost 80 cents,
others cost 60 cents.
Bartenders say the average New
Yorker does not pour out more than
one-sixth of a half-pint for a drink.
According to this, there are about six
average drinks of whisky in every
pound of the new candy.
Diluted opium is mixed with choco-
late drops in China, and in New Or
leans a factory has been making abb
smith drops for the past five years.
The salesgirl in one of Broadway's
largest candy stores said:
"We have been selling wink drops
as we call them, for the past two weeks,
and the sale is growing every day.
suppose that we sell at least IS pounds
here day. You have no idea how many
young fellows, schoolboys, between IS
and IS years, buy them. They cannot
buy liquor in saloons, so they buy
whisky drops and think they are real
sporty.
Grown men purchase them, too, on
Sundays especially, and say, you would
die laughing 20 see how embarrassed
some of them are when they come in.
They don't know how to ask for them,
and l supposefeel bit ashamed at buy
ing candy for the liquor there is in
them.
eve put up two classes of 'winks,'
brandies and WHISTLES. It's hard work
for anyone not in the business to tell
them apart. In fact, in their innocence
lies their charm. A number of our
women customers, and we have any
number of them, have discovered the
case where the drops are kept and in
stead of saying that they want whisky
or brandy drops, merely point to the
tray and say: "A pound of those,
please To the uninitiated they appear
to be purchasing ordinary chocolate
creams