The National tribune., 1907-11-07
WHAT IS WHISKY.

Il
now on against the Agricultural Depart
ment's definition of whisky. 1t will be
remembered that Dr. Wiley. the Chem
ist of the Agricultural Department, de-
cided that whisky meant only the bev-
erage made in the old-fashioned way,
by stills. usually over a naked fire, which
drove over. in addition to the alcohol
and water, the fuseI oils in the grain.
The resulting product which was at first
very rank and offensive. was mellowed
by age into what connoisseurs love as
handmade, sour-mash, fire-distilleii
old whisky"
made. mainly in Maryland. Virginia,
Kentucky and Tennessee, the amount
is vastly disproportionate to the imita-
ton article made from alcohol distilled
at Peoria. This alcohol forms the basis
of 95 per cent of the so-called whisky
sold in this country. In every consid-
cradle town are "rectifiers and blend
ers" who are making immense profits
every year by buying Peoria alcohol at
about $3.50 a gallon. adding water so
as to reduce the strength of the alcohol
more than one-half coloring it with
and selling it at from 81 to IS gallon.
great many of them have 'favorite
brands" which they advertise extern
sively and get fancy prices for
The distillers of the old-fashioned
whisky also use the Peoria alcohol to
extend their product by adding three
or four parts of diluted alcohol to the
home made article.
1t will be readily seen that the profits
in this operation are enormous and
that there are tens of millions of dol
lars annually made and big business
in every town threatened with extinc-
tion by DR.. Wiley's decision This de-
cision was approved by the Secretary of
Agriculture, and upon an appeal to
the President the Attorney-General ap-
proved the decision, and it received the
Presidents sanction.
No one could have expected that the
vigorous and aggressive interests be-
had such vast sums at stake were going
to lie down before this decision without
a fight, and a bitter one.
The whole trouble is that the pure
food law is self-executing. While 80
out of 100 drinkers who go into a sa-
loon and ask for whisky do not care a
fig whether they get the old-fashioned
article which was the curse of our fore
fathers or the imitation made from
Peoria alcohol. There is, however.
hanging over the saloonkeepers and the
so-called rectifier the probability all the
time that some man who may not like
them, some temperance worker eager
to embarrass the liquor seller, will ask
for whisky, and upon receiving a bottle
Of the Imitation stuff bring suits which
will practically ruin the seller. Not
one man in hundred knows or cares
to know anything about the derivation
of the liquor he calls for. He merely
wants its effects, and the effects of the
Imitation whisky are precisely those of
the best and most lauded grades of the
old-fashioned kind. But he will ask
for whisky, and whisky must be given
him.
The decision is very stringent In not
permitting any extension" of the real
whisky. 1t must all be the product of
the old-fashioned whisky process.
The blending and rectifying interests
have been for months trying to get At
Bonaparte to modify
the decision. so as to allow the imita-
tion product to be called and labeled
whisky, but he has firmly refused all
compromises, and now the matter will
go to the Supreme Court. The learned
Justices Of that distinguished tribunal
will be called upon to say precisely
what whisky" means and In this they
will get no help from the dictionaries,
since these are hopelessly vague in
their definitions. Webster says:
can Intoxicating liquor distilled from
grain, potatoes, etc, especially in Scot
land, Ireland and the United States. In
the United States whisky is generally
distilled from maize, rye or wheat, but
in Scotland and Ireland it is often made
from matted barley"
Bourbon whisky: RYE whisky made
in Bourbon County. KY"
Funk & Wagnalls Standard Diction-
airy says: "An alcoholic liquor obtained
by the distillation of fermented
starchy compound. usually grain''
The United States Dispensatory, the
medical authority, describes whisky as
follows:
I'm the preparation of whisky the in
fusion of rye or other grain is first made
to undergo fermentation, by which the
saccharine matter and indirectly the
starch are converted into alcohol. In
this state the liquid is called the mash.
This is submitted to distiIlation, and the
product is denominated wines BY q
second distillation it becomes purer and
stronger, and now takes the name of
raw corn spirit or whisky"
The Century Dictionary says:
IAN ardent spirit, distilled chiefly
from grain. The term was originally ap-
piled to the spirit obtained from malt in
Ireland. Scotland, ETC., in which sense
whisky Is synonymous with usquebaugh.
Irish whisky and Scotch whisky are still
made from malt. and are known by
various names, as potteen, mountain
dew, etc. In the United States whisky
is commonly made from Indian corn
(corn whisky or from rye (rye whis-
ky). The name wheat whisky has. how
ever. been appropriated to certain
brands, and wheat is probably used in