A NEW PROCESS FOR MATURING AND AGEING WHISKY
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard James Wilson, of No. 37, Tritonville Road,
Sandymount, in the County of Dublin, Chemist, for the Invention of "A
NEW PROCESS FOR MATURING AND AGEING WHISKY."
Sealed the 6th November 1877, and dated the 11th May 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION- left by the said Richard James Wilson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 11th May 1877.
:
RICHARD JAMES WILSON, of No. 37, Tritonville Road, Sandymount, in the
County of Dublin, Chemist. "A NEW PROCESS FOR MATURING AND AGEING
WHISKY."
My Invention or discovery consists of a quick and rapid method for converting
the fusil oil (which all the fine makes of whisky or spirit contain when they are
new) into those sweet smelling ethers and other bodies whose presence give to old
whisky or spirits its peculiar and characteristic odour and flavour.
Fusil oil is produced during the fermentation of all worts produced from grain,
and is distilled over with all the finer makes of whisky or spirit. It has a peculiar
unpleasant, nauseous, and fiery taste, and is very poisonous; three drops has been
said to be sufficient to kill a dog, and the peculiar madness caused by drinking new
whisky is produced by its presence. It is at present principally employed for making
flavouring substances used in cooking, but all attempts to change it in whisky or
spirits by any other means than by long storage has hitherto failed, as the agents
employed to reduce it generally destroyed the flavour of the spirits.
The manner in which I carry out my Invention and produce this rapid change is
as follows: I place the whisky or spirits in a suitable receptacle (a cask or a vat),
and introduce into it the two poles of a galvanic battery or batteries, or other suitable
means of generating electricity. These poles are formed of sheets or plates of
platinum; gold, or other metal or material not susceptible of oxydation by the
action of nascent oxygen or other similar bodies. When the battery is in action
the nascent bodies or oxygen are spread over the surface of the plates of platinum
or other plates, and are sent through the liquid in fine particles or atoms, and as the
fusil oil in the whisky or spirits is a very unstable chemical compound it is very
quickly oxydized by the nascent oxygen, and changed into those sweet smelling

page_text: ethers and other bodies which, as before remarked, give to old whisky its characteristic
odour and flavour.
When the operation is finished 'the platinum or other plates are taken out in
exactly the same condition as they were when put in, with this exception, that on
one of them a slight oily deposit is formed. It will thus be seen that I employ
exactly the same means to mature whisky or spirits as that by which this change is
at present produced in store, namely, oxydation. In the store this change is pro-
duced by the long-continued action of the oxygen of the atmospheric air, and in my
process the oxygen is used in its nascent state, when its chemical attractions are
very much more energetic than it is in the atmosphere, or even when it is isolated.
Its extraordinary energy is shown in this case by producing in one day the same
amount of change in the fusil oil contained in the spirits under operation as would
be produced in the same spirit during a year's storage, and by its action the finest
makes of spirits or whisky (which generally takes four or five years to mature in
store) can be fully matured in four or five days, and will not then contain any
injurious matter not usually found in old whiskey, which it will in all respects
resemble, and indeed actually be. This change can be effected at a cost so trifling
that I am unable to compute it, whereas the present system of maturing cost 1s.
per gallon per year, or from 48. to 58. per gallon for the finer makes.
In the present system of maturing about one-third of the spirit is lost by leakage
and evaporation, but in my process the loss of strength or bulk is very trifling.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Richard James Wilson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 10th
November 1877.
RICHARD JAMES WILSON, of No. 37, Tritonville Road, Sandymount, in the
County of Dublin, Chemist. "A NEW PROCESS FOR MATURING AND AGEING
WHISKY."
:
My discovery consists of a quick and rapid method of converting the fusil oil
or other oils, which all the finer makes of whisky or spirits contain after they are
distilled, into those sweet smelling eithers or other bodies, whose presence in old
whisky or spirits gives it its peculiar and characteristic odour and flavour.
Fusil oil is produced during the fermentation of all worts produced from grain,
and is distilled over with all the finer makes of whisky or spirit. It has a peculiar
unpleasant, nauseous, and fiery taste, and is very poisonous; three drops has been
said to be sufficient to kill a dog, and the peculiar madness caused by drinking new
whisky is produced by its presence. It is at present principally employed for
making flavouring substances used in cooking, but all attempts to change it in
whisky or spirits by any other means than by long storage has hitherto failed, as
the agents employed to reduce it generally destroyed the flavor of the spirits.
The manner in which I carry out my Invention and produce this rapid change
is as follows-I place the whisky or spirits in a suitable receptacle (a cask, vat, or
other similar vessel), and I introduce into it the two poles of a galvanic battery or
batteries, or of some other suitable means of generating electricity. These poles
generally terminate in sheets or plates of platinum, gold, or other metal or thing not
susceptible of oxydation by the action of nascent oxygen or other nascent bodies
(sometimes called "ions") liberated by the action of the electricity, or if the metal
or thing of which the poles of the battery or batteries are composed is oxydized, that
the oxyde so produced is not dissolved by the whisky or spirits, or that if the
oxyde so produced is soluble in the whisky or spirits that it does not produce any
deleterious or injurious effect on the whisky or spirits. When the battery or
batteries are in action the electricity produced is spread over the surface of the poles
or plates, and is sent into the liquid in a fine stream, or in small particles, and as

page_text: the fusil oil and other oils or electrolytes in the whisky or spirits are bodies of
comparative feeble chemical combination, they are quickly oxydized or changed by
the nascent oxygen or other nascent bodies (sometimes called "ions") produced by
the action of the electricity into those sweet smelling ethers or other flavouring
bodies, whose presence in old whisky or spirits gives it its peculiar and charac-
teristic flavour and odour; or these sweet smelling ethers and other flavouring
bodies may be produced in the whisky or spirits by the fusil oil or other oils
absorbing or combining with the electricity, or are produced therein by the action
of the electricity.
When the operation is finished the platinum or other plates are taken out in
exactly the same condition as they were when put in, with this exception, that on.
one of them a slight oily deposit is formed. It will thus be seen that I employ
exactly the same means to mature whisky or spirits as that by which this change is
at present produced in store, namely, oxydation. In the store this change is pro-
duced by the long continued action of the oxygen of the atmospheric air, and in my
process the oxygen is used in its nascent state, when its chemical attractions are
very much more energetic than it is in the atmospheric, or even when it is isolated.
Its extraordinary energy is shewn in this case by producing in one day the same
amount of change in the fusil oil contained in the spirits under operation as would
be produced in the same spirit during a year's storage, and by its action the finest
makes of whisky or spirits (which generally take four or five years to mature in
store) can be fully matured in four or five days, and will not then contain any
injurious matter not usually found in old whisky, which it will in all respects
resemble, and indeed actually be. This change can be effected at a cost so trifling
that I am unable to compute it, whereas the present system of maturing cost one
shilling per gallon per year, or from four to five shillings per gallon for the finer
makes.
In the present system of maturing, about one-third of the spirit is lost by
leakage and evaporation, but in my process the loss of strength or bulk is very
trifling.
Having thus described the nature and object of my said Invention I declare that
what I claim and desire to be secured to me by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent is, the new process for maturing and ageing whisky, substantially as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard James Wilson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.
RICHARD JAMES WILSON. (L.S.)