The National tribune., 1906-12-27
TROUBLE IN THE WHISKY CAMP.

There is a perturbation as wild as
any that the Weather Bureau ever de-
scribed in the camps of all the distil-
lers, rectifiers, blenders and wholesal-
ers, generally. of whisky over the rul-
ing of the Agricultural Department
under the Pure Food Bill. The Depart
ment is disposed to consider whisky TO
mean only the old-fa ashioned, hand
made, pot whiskies which have been
aged by long storage in barrels. 1t will
not allow the name of whisky to be
applied to fncomparably the larger
part of the stuff sold as whisky and
which is made up of neutral spiris let
down with water to the strength of
whisky, colored with burnt sugar and
| favored with prune juice and extracts
| to resemble the old style whisky. In a
recent case submitted for ruling a COM
pound was submitted which was STYLED
blended whiskies.'' In this there was
some real Bourbon whisky with the
greater part neutral spirits, colored
with caramel and favored with prune
juice and extracts. This has been ex-
tensively sold as blended whiskies,' -
but the Department rules that it is not
blended whisky. since there is only one
| whisky in it, and the other is an imita-
ton. If this ruling is persisted in it will
destroy or. at least. materially change
the while whisky business. AS a mat
ter of fact, there is exceedingly little
of the old-fashioned whisky on the
market or sold for drinking purposes.
Even those who claim to be manu-
facturers of the old-fashioned whisky
put only small portion of the genuine
goods into barrels which they SELL
Generally, according to a recent state
ment by an expert, the proportion of
genuine, old handmade whisky is not
more than one in 10. All the Kentucky
and other whiskies are extended" as
the trade phrase is. In reality, the i'm
itation whisky. made from alcohol,
water, prune juice and extracts is abb
solutely the same in its effect upon the
system as the genuine whisky. 1t is
the alcohol which does the deadly
work, and it does not matter in the
least whether the coloring and flavor
ing materials are put into it in the old
fashioned way by, hand-distillation and
aging or whather they are added in
the new fashion, The alcohol is there.
1t is what the drinker wants most, and
| it is what does the fatal work of slim
ulation. The ruling of the Department,
| if rigidly adhered to, spells ruin, or at
| Iaact infinite har ont tho
| whisky sellers all over the country. In
every city in the country there are nu-
merous establishments which are maxi
| ing a great deal of money out of palm
! ing off upon drinkers whisky which
purports to be made in the old-fash-
ioned way. but which is nothing more
or less than alcohol fixed up to initiate
whisky. They can no longer label their
compounds and limitations as whisky,
nor will the Kentucky distillers be al
lowed to extend" their goods as they
have been in the habit of doing to their
Infinite profit. Just what they will re-
sort to is quite uncertain. Alcohol will
continue tC be doctored and sold as at
present, but some other attractive name
will have to be found by which to label
| it. Probably great impetus will be
| given to the erection of the old-fash- =
ioned pot distilleries, and a considerable
| increase in their output will be neces-
sary to meet the demand which has
heretofore been supplied from the
Peoria distilleries. Most probably the
rectifiers will continue to do business
with the saloonkeepers as heretofore,
and furnish them with compounds in