The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-01-23

of storing whisky Tn casks for several years, preferably in casks that had com tained sherry. The process, however. had It's drawbacks. good deal of the al- cohoi was lost. and the spirit conss- also of necessity loss of interest on the capital laid out while the whisky |
 was maturing during several years. l
 to the problem, for this maturing pro
 cess added considerably to the cost of
 the whisky by the time it reached the
 The irresistible conclusion. therefore,
 was that the cheaper q whisky was the
 mora poison 1t contained. Innumerable attempts had been made to hasten the process of maturation of whisky, hOth
 and in the interests of the manufacturer.
 From these two points of view 1t was
 extremely desirable. Professor Hewitt
 ccntended. that some effective means
 should be discovered of ridding this hev-
 erege, of It's poisonous constituents
 quickly. and in such fashion that even
 the cheapest whisky might not have the
 results which the consumption Of cheap
 ciasses undoubtedly entaiied.
 This result Prof sssor Hewitt declared
 he had attained by adding certain chera-
 ical substances 70 the "pot-still." The
 itai combination was formed with the
 noxious aldehydes, which remained in the still. and thus the whislIey was dis
 tiled over quite pure. The .aldehydes.
 The important point of Professor Hew-
 fits lecture, however. was that in this way few months were all that was necessary to convert whisky thus man ufactured int3 a fine, mature, and, most important of Tall. a wholesome whisky.
 In the course of brief discussion which followed. the importance of this statement. especially in relation to the a nfv vrhfaIrxg 1raga hnyn tFat thfst country, was fully recognized.
 Among those who spoke was Dr. Schil-
 drowitz. the well-known spirit expert % wn9 stated snss ne naa examined @ @ Sev- lessor Hewitts process. and found that he had succeeded in eliminating the pois- onous aldehydes: ples of spirit, which were passed around amid much amusing comment. His spec imens were beautifully cloar and pure to the eye, and without the high colors associated with most blends of whisky.
 All sorts of inventions, mechanical and chemical, have for years been tried with out success. to achieve the end which Professor Hewitt now claims to have reached. It is for this reason perhaps. that the distillers are somewhat skep- teal about the professors scheme. al- of course, they would express no opinion until 1t had been submitted to them for testing purposes.
 At the same time, all the distillers and spirit merchants with whom I talked l writes one of our represent l ays1 :css ed ts be Erea Ssa the trade. At present the capital locked l up in whisky maturing. in bond is very | large. and any way Of saving the tn- terest on this capital would be well comed.
 Mir. Frewen, manager of Sir Thomas Liptons wine and spirit department. told | me yesterday that quite fifty inventions | A Tf- k-A k1 aN EArx by expert German chemists. He him. self had experimented by placing a rod | of charcoal in a whisky cask, which had | the effect of extracting all the fusel oil, | able. Mir. Frewen holds the theory that | there can be no good whisky without | fusel oil. and that # the latter is ex- | U acted the whisky never attains it's full | flavor or medicinal qualities.
 MT. Richard Bannister, the deputy | of the Inland Revenue Branch | of the Government Laboratory. differs | with Mir. Frewen on this point. Mir. Ban mister told the Royal Commission on the licensing laws that he did not consider 'usel oil was necessary for the maturing | ,f spirits. although he admitted that here was difference or opinion on the aid it was necessary However. if MT. 3annister Is right, Professor Hewitt's method of extracting the fusel oil will lot prejudice the future flavor or quality
 
 MT. Frewen adheres to the view that he only way to get good whisky Is istil it in the old Fashioned "pot still" rom barley, and then keep 1t until 1t 8 matursd in oak casks. He expressed he opinion that there ought to be dis duty on new and old spirits. nd he has suggested to the Chancellor f the Excheduer that the duty should 'e i5s. per gallon on neR whisky, de- cending to los. a gallon, according to ge. in order to encourage merchants o keep their spirits. He points out that ghisky in Canad is not let out of bond ntll it Is three years olda Sir Michael Iicks-Beach has MT. Frewen's proposal t present under consideration.
 It appears that there is a market value or fusel oil. It is used for the purpose f getting rid of the alkaloids in qul- Inc. and 1t is also used for making .cetate of amyL This last is used for avoring pear drops" favorite sweet a eat among children. Mr. Banntster old the Royal Co omission that in half
 pound of pear drops there was a good ot" of Scotch whisky. His words are ather vague, and general experience eems to show that whatever may be the ase with pear drops fusel oil is better ut of Scotch whisky"