The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1904-11-30

whiskey that is less than six years Old
Is tito drink. Proper aging, then, is
an expensive process and one that re-
quircs large capital. 1t is estimated
that less than % per cent. Of the stuff
sold over the average bar, and in
many of the high class hotels, too, for
that matter, has really been maturcd
by age.
Most of the stuff which masoucra-
des as whiskey is an artificial product,
made by taking cologne spirits, or
! pure alcohol, known in the trade as
high wines, and adding to it various
ingredients A little burnt sugar l.
added to give IL the required color, a
few drops Of fuscl oil to give it the
bite and perhaps ii the "distillcr"
Is more than usually scrupulous. or
wishes to turn out little higher grade
article, small quantity Of real whis-
ky is added. by this is produced an
article which lDr. Wiley says Clocks
like whisky, tastos like whisky, and
even analyzcs very like whisky, but
has very different effect on the hui.
man stomach. AS matter Of fact.
cologne spirits is poison, too, not so
violent or SO quick in action as the
wood alcohol which was used by the
"Strykcr's Farm saloon keeper, but
quite capable, if its use is persisted in
long enough, Of accomplishing the
same result.
| Various efforts have been made by
the distillcrs Of honest whiskcy to
stop the manufacture Of this spurious
stuff. They arc at manifest disad
vantage. In order to produce an
cight-ycar old whiskey they have to
dstill it honestly from fermented
grain mash in the first place and then
hold it in storage for eight years.
The rectifier az maker of spurious
whiskcy calls himself, can roll in g
dozen barrels of cologne spirits at the
back door, reduce them with water to
the required alcoholic strength, add
the ooloring and havoring matter and
in eight hours he can rcll two dozen
barrels of cight'year-old whiskcy out
Of his front door, With him ehe age
is determined solely by the label re-
quired by the customer.
Curiously enough the government
recognizes this traffic. All it requires
is that the product when it leaves the
rccti6er's premises be labeled "Rscti
fed, but that does not in any way in.
jurc its sale. The retailer knows
what ho is selling and the customer,
if he knows anything about the differ
ence between real and spurious
whisky, has no opportunity to examine
the label on tho barrel. One thinl
the government has done to protee,
the honest distiller That is the pas
sage OF the "bottliug in bond law.
Distillers are allowed to bottle their
whiskey in bonded warehouses under
: the supervision Of government officers
and on each bottle there is placed {
green stamp, which is Uncle Sam {
guarantee that the contents of tn,
bottle are pure whisky and at leas
four years old. OF course the fac
remains that most four-year-o old whis
ky is not fit to drink, but the date O.
the label will always tell how long sh'
!, liquor has been in the bottle. Ther'
!, has been good deal of opposition tt
this law from Ia class of merchant
!, known as blenders, many of whom
, produce good whiskies by blending
real whiskies Of different ages ane
characteristics to produce drink tha
is smoother and more palatable than
straight whisky might be. By blend
ing, a comparatively young whisk.
may be made to acquire many of th'
characteristics Of an older one.
That the adulteraton Of wines anc
liquors is not new thing is shown by
q curious inquiry recently made by {
student Of the history of the traffic
That it was pretty serious offense
too, at one time in some of the wine
drinking countries is shown by the old
records, for John Ehrni, who intro
duced the practice in Essinges was
behcaded in 16S7.-New York Times.