The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-03-02
JUDGING WHISKY.
How n Man Was Able to Name Three
brands when He Was Embodied.

How n Man Was Able to Name Three
Brands when He Was BIindfOlded.
From the New Orleans Times-Demo-
GRAFT
Funny" isn't it," said an expert
faster of tea, who is employed in one
of New Yorks largest importing
houses, that a whisky drinker like our
friend here could mott save his life, tell
the grade and brand of liquor he takes
after he has had two drinks?"
"Oh, yes, 1 can" replied the gentle
man addressed, land what is more, |
can tell the brands of more than two
kinds of whisky and can do so with
absolute certainty"
BET you can't" said the tea man.
"Bet 1 cam" said the liquor expert
And finally they put up substantial
wager on the outcome of the dispute,
which was conditioned about like this:
The liquor expert was to distinguish
between three kinds of liquor and
name the brand of each. He was to
drink the liquor blindfolded and was to
have the privilege of selecting the
three kinds of whisky to be used in
the test. He selected well-knowu
brand of bourbon, both being case
goods, and as the third grade he picked
the bar liquor dispensed in place He
was blindfolded and the bartender
poured out a drink of each of the whis-
kys and placed them upon the bar
The expert picked up the first glass
and applied it to his nose, then tipped
it skyward and drained it. THAT was
the case bourbon" he said The next
glass was correctly pronounced to be
the bar whisky and the final drink, of
course was the case rye. He won his
bet and the tea man had to own that
he was beaten. The money was paid
and the tea man turned to the liquor
man and said:
"How on earth did you do it?"
Just as simple as shooting fish in a
barrel" said the lucky winner. "Yol
see, it is not very difficult to distin-
guish between rye and bourbon, if you
have not been drinking" he explained.
1.-The taste and the smell of the two
varieties are distinctive, and even n
novice can tell them apart. Now, / re-
ealize as well as my friend from New
York that after taking two drinks no
man on earth can tell one kind from
the other with enough certainty to
name the brands. You see, / rather
took advantage of him when l claimed
that I could tell more than two brands
and we settled upon three. For if 1
could tell the two first drinks / took
the other one must of necessity be the
third, and so it is as easy to tell three
kinds as it is two"
''How did I do it? Well 1 do not
care if you know, now that the bet
has been decided AS l said before the
difference between rye and bourbon
whisky is enough to announce itself to
any one who is at all familiar with
10 he nt dY-it7
ing Immediately before the test. Now,
you noticed that 1 picked out a case of
rye and bourbon, and the liquor served
over this bar is also rye. Now, the diff
ference between the bar rye and the
case bourbon would be easy enough to
distinguish. but a person would natur-
ally think that If had to pick between
the two rye whiskeys l would have
been up against it, WE'LL l took that
chance, because it is against ethics to
wager money on any proposition where
the other fellow hasn't chance But
when all is all said and done | did not
run any desperate risk. The reason,
was so certain of my ability to pick
out the three brands lay in the fact
that ! noticed that the bar whisky was
kept on the ice all the time, while the
case goods came from back of the
counter, and the liquor contained in
erably higher in temperature than that
contained in the rye whisky dispensed
over the bar. I have been around
enough to know the difference between
rye and bourbon, %nd when 1 smelled
of the first glass of liquor and found
that it was bourbon, / knew from my
sense of smell alone that it must be
case bourbon, because the other varie-
ties selected for the test were rye
liquor. The second glass did not pre-
sent any difficulty either, for my sense
of touch told me that the glass was
20 degrees colder than the one / had
Just set down. and must of necessity
be the bar whisky. The rest, of course,
was easy. Simple, wasn't 1t? Just as
easy No trouble at ALL Like finding
our friends money on the street"
The whisky expert turned to pass
out Of the barroom to the hotel lobby.
when the tea man called to him and
asked him a question in low tone of
voice: What asked the astonished
liquor man. why. of course 1 can't
now I could not tell the difference be-
tween champagne and mineral water,