The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1920-06-03
Twenty Years a Bartender
yh.t Man Doc. to Booze and VIA. Booze Doe. Man

odor. Before telling you what 1t did to
men--as have watched it from behind
the bari shall tell YOU what we did
to alcohol so it would please men.
After we colored and perfumed alcohol,
it reminded me sometimes Of woman
Of the night, adorned to attract.
shall begin with dynamite drink
You know brandy. cognac? They made I
it by dlistilling wine When distilled, It |
was colOrless and had about fifty per |
cent alcohol Then it was put In q |
cask from the wood Of which 1t took
an amber or brown color. In the cask !
it lost some Of the alcohol. and when 1t
came to us at the bar in bottles 1t had
about forty per cent alcohol. have
served brandy, however, that was as
high as fifty-two per cent alcohol.
Whiskey was not quite as strong; al
most, though. Distilled from barley,
rye, maize or other grains. it ran from
thirty five per cent to as high as forty
six per cent in some of the imported
:. Societies. Rum, you know. was made
of distilled molasses and the by-prod-
ucts of cane-sugar factories. Not as
strong as whiskey, 1t was stronger than
gin. which latter had about thirty per
cent alcohol. Gin was distilled from
unmalted grain and favored with juni-
per berries. Those were the common
drinks and the base ingredients for
mixed drinks.
Wine, made from the fermented juice
of the grape, ran from ten per cent to
| twenty five per cent alcohol. Beer, sup
| posed to be made from the fermented
malt, favored with hops-but which
| 1t rarely was In America
before the war measures, from three
| to nine per cent alcohol. Ale was about
| the same OF course. the beer of to-day
has only 30 alcohol. but alcohol there
is and men drink it for the alcohol
alone. It may interest you to know
that before the war. when beer In Eu-
rope was condemned as being bad. we
imported 1t along with good beer; for.
unlike European countries, we had no
/ inspection Of beer.
So much for /" good booze: now I'll
| tell you something about :. bad boOze,
/ let you In on some secrets of the game.
i which sooner or later were bound,
knew, to bring prohibition. In America
we adulterated and falsitied booze.
never would stand for serving custom
ers that kind Of stuff. / left two jobs
because of the bad booze they sold. To
n1no
Gals which gave 1t a desired age.
When Scotch is genuinely made, the
creosote in 1t comes from the peat in
the making: in very good Scotch this
is eliminated, for 1t is not good for the
stomach. The average bar Scotch
was not imported. 1t was made in
America. Also it held creosote (inju-
rious). artificially added so it would
taste smoky like some real Scotch,
from which the creOsOte Is not removed.
Most Of the Scotch sold in America
. was fake" shall never forget the
. day when salesman from a distfllery
came into a cafe where / worked. My
whiskey. The salesman came over t.
the bar with him aud called for small
glasses. Into these he poured his sam
pies for him to taste. The boss picket
, up the glasses, shifted their contents
tasted them carefully, and, as he did
) SO. said: :. That new Bourbon il yer,
good-Brandy ten years in the cask
fine-This is good Irisll-Where dit
: you get that Scotch ?-It's @. H
8 The salesman smiled. He quoted thel
/ a price per barrel on these whiskie
: SO cheap that it made my employee
! gasp, . hut how can YOU afford to sci
1 such goods SO cheap?'
e The salesman grinned. That stni
q Is wood alcohol. Its tastes, colOrs an
J. fiavors were fixed up by our head chem
8 ist-greslt, hey?'
{ And my boss gave him a big Orde
d and quit the job. On the level,
i went against the grain. I'D be servin
Q this stuff--wOOd alcohol, ali d0ped u
to conceal 1t to my customers and the,
e thinking it was good booze, myin
i. fancy prices for 1t. Few are the me
Z who can tell cleverly- faxed whiske
d from the real stuff.
4 AT the last moment we find tia
!. this article cannot be run In full
= this issue Its conclusion will appeil
in next weeks issue Edit0r.l
4 - -s 3. IS