The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-03-31
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS


 harmless as the liquor now being soll Surreptiticusly in Birmingham
 Thjs reminded r.e of the various i'm i.ations and ct rec ctions whieh now mors than ever are Icing palmed osf on that part Of the public still anxiois to slake :ts th'rsi before the July droG:a hits the country in full force, making it harder to find an oasis .n a sasoonless and.
 remember some years back that Dr. Wiley pcrfofn:td some wonderful feats before congressional commi,-ee n making :he faYorite brands of t"e ccn- gressmcn under tEcir very noses. do net. h>wevtr. recall the ingredients he ussd and I have aot at hand an account of his astonishing performance giving 1 lhsm
 In the fight against the saloons 1 was not gullib1e enough to take much stock in the cry of the distillers for the marketing of only pure brands, and that adulterations were not to be l nearly score of years was on the | buying committee of one of the most prominent clubs in the south, where price was not limited. but quality was sought. and he said it was nearly inn possible to get good whisky
 There is a proverb which states | that: Good drink drives out bad thoughts" but the converse is equally true. for bad drink drives out good thoughts. The crusade against drink | and it's evils is no new thing. It was Homer of old who set it down., "Godal What wild folly, from the goblet I flows" But this is not to be preach | ment against drinking, but an expos- l ure of the deterioration of drinks. Of all liquors, brandy or eaud e vie 1 is the foundation, various ingredients coloring and flavoring it to suit the taste. Some of the additions are put in under the plea of aiding digestion. as well as being pleasant to the palate. l Of the various ingredients of making whisky in hurry I will not attempt to enumerate, though I will say that it i.i currently rumored that some of the wildcat variety gets it's punch and fighting qualities from potash and lye. As there are many varieties of li- | quers there are also numbers of kind, of cordials (blackberry being the best known In this climate) The brandies include quite few specimens. In my ' early youth and innocence I thought the most harmless of strong drinks was peach brandy, until I was told that there was a property in the seed that was d deadly poison. Marascbino is made from cherries and their pits.
 
 Pure wines is another myth which is hard to be rid of in spite of the white light of publicity. I recall that when I was a boy and placed in pri- vate school in one of the Parisian sub urbs, Neuillysur-Se that at each boys plate there was bottle of red wine. It was set there without com ment, just as a carafe of water was placed in the center of the table, and remember how amazed I used to be to come on a group of workingmen at noon time with great loaves of bread being washed down in a cheap wine.
 The ordinary manufacture of wine for the average consumer requires the following ingredients: For the original fluid, cider, raisin, grape, etc: To these may be added water. A fit stock having been chosen, strength, color and flavor may be grafted on it. Use is made of these materials; For color, burnt sugar, logwood, cochineal, red sanders wood. or elderberries. Plain spirit or brandy for strength. For nutty flavor, bitter almonds. For fruitiness, Dantzic spruce; for fitness or smooth ness. honey; for port wine flavor, tinc- ture of the seeds of raisins; for bou- quet, orris root or ambergis; for roughness or dryness, alum oak saw dust These are just few things gleaned from the old standbys and are not up to the minute. They are sim pie and harmless in comparison with modern methods.
 One of the best stories which has come down to us tells of the time when George W was regent he possessed ! small stock of the choicest wines and never called for it. But some of his retinue did not propose to let it grow any older without putting it away The hour came for great royal din- ner party and the regent made boast as to the quality of his treasure.
 As the fateful day grew near, the wine bibbers grew more and nose un- easy. They saw that exposure was must be done and that quickly.
 They visited the vaults of a famous wine merchant vainly seeking to find "in the dim solitudes and awful cells" wine with the same flavor to replace that which they had secretly drunk. l They made the wine merchant their l confessor. and for a large fee ne agreed to save them from the awful 1 hour of reckoning. As a connoisseur and artist in the manipulat tion of wine | he made them get him a sample. He then set to work to make an imitation, and filled the empties with a wonder i ful compound, and they were smuggled | into the palace in time for the enter : | ta;, p,,t Ia