DISTILLING INDUSTRY. There can be no question but that alcohol is one of the most important substances produced by the art of man, for, outside of the extensive consump tion of alcoholic liquors as beverages, it is more extensively applied, and to a greater number of purposes than almost any other manufactured liquid. Notwithstanding, however, there is but one known process by which alcohol can be obtained— the fermentation of sugar or other saccharine matter of plants which contain either free sugar, or a starch convertible into sugar. Commercially, when alcohol is made from grain, it is called grain-alcohol; when it is made from reindeer and Iceland moss, it is called moss alcohol ; when made from potatoes, or beets, root-alcohol, and, if from grapes, wine-alcohol.
Although the first historic mention of alco holic liquors dates from the 1 lth century the art of distillation was known for centuries prior to that time. The Chinese had practised it for hundreds of years before it was introduced into Europe, and tradition attributes its discovery to the Arabian alchemists. This art of distillation consists in the process of converting liquid into vapor in a closed vessel by the application of heat and reconverting it into liquid by convey ing the vapor into a cooler vessel; so that spirits are not produced by distillation but by the prior act of fermentation; the distilling process separates the spirits from the mixture in which they have previously existed. Brandy, one of the first distilled liquors, was originally known as the °water of life," and one of the early alchemists was so enthusiastic over the discovery of this liquid that he declared that °this admirable essence is an emanation from the Divinity; an element newly revealed to man, but hid from antiquity because the human race was then too young to need this beverage, destined to revive the energies of modern de crepitude.x' While brandy and several other distilled liquors had previously been made, the first prod uct of the distillery to reach the dignity of a commercial position was called °rectified This was a crude high-wine which had been prepared for sale by being passed through a layer of charcoal, a process which was designed to extract the fusel oil. Later,
this product was made more saleable by the addition of burnt sugar, some flavoring extracts, and storage in heavily charred barrels, to eradicate some of the rankness and fieriness that distinguished most of such liquors. This method of manufacture was followed until the process of redistilling was invented, when an apparatus was provided by means of which the fusel oil could be more thoroughly extracted from the spirits than had ever before been pos sible, while, to make the liquor more palatable, a certain proportion of old-fashioned Bourbon from Kentucky, or rye from Maryland, or Penn sylvania, was added to give the bouquet, flavor, and appearance of genuine whisky. In fact, the sale of the goods known as °redistilled whisk? became so general that the propor tion as compared to the quantity of genuine Kentucky and other whiskies sold was not less than 15 to 1.
Although the name °Bourbon now has a wide significance, it was originally used to distinguish the particular kind of liquor that was distilled from Indian corn, in Bourbon county, Kentucky. At that time the yield of Bourbon whisky was about in proportion to three gallons to the bushel, and it was so heavy in body and flavor that it was considered as of great value in the work of compounding, in spite of the fact that it required many years of maturing to neutralize the fusel, and other essential oils which it contained. Popular as this whisky was from the days of its inception, its fame spread so rapidly that it was not long before other distilleries sprang into existence, in Kentucky and elsewhere, and as all of these manufacturers produced an imitation of °Bour bon?' the best method of defining that liquor to-day is to say that it is a whisky distilled from corn, after the method which was origi nated in Bourbon county.