65 per cent rye + 15 per cent malt + 20 per cent of rye, matt or oats, or barley about 4.0 gal. proof.
Scotch Whisky is made in a Its peculiar smoky flavor is due to the use of a peat fire in kiln-drying the malt. It is made from barley malt and corn, the latter often imported from the United States. But in some cases rye and oats are also used.
Irish Whisky is a pot-still liquor made from 30 to 50 per cent of barley malt, with rye, bar ley, oats or wheat or a mixture of them. The malt is not peat dried and the liquor has a deli cate bouquet and a high alcohol content.
Brandy of the finest sort (Cognac) is dis tilled from clear white grape wine which has been aged for at least a year. It is golden yellow in color and has a content of from 45 to 55 per cent alcohol. Ordinary brandies are dis tilled from freshly made and fermented grape wines in two distillations. The first yields liquor of 25 to 30 per cent alcohol; the second brings up the percentage to about 65 per cent. To remove the fusel oil, fractional distillation is resorted to. After distillation the brandy is placed in oak casks which previously have been well scalded with boiling water, or preferably, with steam. To acquire a desirable degree of smoothness and flavor, the brandy is stored at least four or five years. Longer storage, up to 20 enhances the value and the price at which it can be sold. When it is ready for market, brandy is commonly reduced with water, and perhaps sugar and coloring are added, or blends may be made with other and newer distillations. Imitation whisky is usually made from diluted grain alcohol with a percen tage of strong-flavored brandy, some coloring matter and sweetening and a very small propor tion of cenanthic ether. Sometimes a little ex tract of oak shavings or chips is added.
Gin is distilled from a mash of malt and un malted rye or barley, with juniper berries added while the distillation continues. A very small percentage of turpentine and hops is sometimes added. Gin has a delicate flavor, and contains about 52 per cent alcohol.
Rum is distilled from molasses together with the skimmings of sugar factory kettles and a proportion of the raw juice of the sugar cane, pens in too many cases that the control is not properly carried out, which is, of course, a loss to the distiller, although at present the small distiller is enabled to have the control carried out by a special laboratory (Industrial Chemical Institute of Milwaukee). When the control is properly exercised, the yield will be increased. Inasmuch as theoretically one pound of starch produces 0.5678 lb. of alcohol, then, according to Hantke, the highest possible yield of a distil-• ler's bushel (which is always figured at 56 lbs. whether the material actually weighs that much or not) with 60 per cent starch in the material will be 5.76 gal. proof alcohol.
61 per cent starch in the material will be S.86 gal. proof The smaller the proportion of skimmings the better the quality of the product. The usual practice is one part of scum from boiling cane juice, one part of raw cane-juice, and four parts of diluted molasses. The mixture is fermented in open vats for several days. When freshly distilled, rum is colorless, but it becomes a pale amber color from the casks in which it is stored. Burnt sugar is added to give a darker color. The alcohol content is from 78 to 85 per cent. In the West Indies, especially in Jamaica, the molasses of the sugarcane, which is merely ex tracted to obtain the sugar, so that the molasses contains no admixtures as it does in our sugar refineries, is fermented and distilled. Its pe culiar aroma is due to butyric ether. An infe rior grade of rum is made from the sugar scum and beer yeast. Many brands of rum acquire their particular bouquet through the addition of clover leaves, Botany-barlc, etc. Artificial rum made by mixing spirit with rum essence and adding a little coloring can readily be distinguished from genuine rum.
Arrack is made from a mash of rice previ ously sprouted. It is saccharified at 140° and then cooled to about 70° and a pro portion of 10 to 12 per cent gtoddy,D the fer menting juice of the cocoanut palm, is added to produce fermentation. Sometimes molasses or raw sugar is used, and the toddy omitted. The liquor is distilled two or three times to secure the desired alcoholic content. Arrack is colorless when first made, but gains a yellowish or brownish color from the casks in which it is stored. Its alcohol content is from 70 to 80 per cent.
Vodka is made from a rye mash with from 15 to 20 per cent of green malt, either of rye or barley. In the cheaper grades corn and potatoes are used. Vodka ranges from the minimum of 40 per cent prescribed by law, up to 60 per cent of alcohol.
Sweet fruits, the juice of which is rich in sugar, also serve as raw materials for the spirit The so-called Kirschwasser and Maraschino are obtained from cherries. Be sides the juice, the extract also contains compo nents of the cherry stones, which are crushed and added to the liquid.
In the East Indies a liquor is distilled from the fermented juice of the date palm, while in the West Indies the same is done with the fer mented juice of the plantain. Pineapples, oranges, apricots, peaches and other fruits can also be made to furnish a liquor.
The large class of various sweet liqueurs, cordials, and ratafias are distillations only of good, fusel-free spirit with an aromatic sub stance, and the addition of sugar syrup and coloring. The best known are absinthe, ani sette, curacoa, benedectine, boonecamp, creme de cacao, crime de menthe, creme de rose, creme de vanilla and creme Yvette (violet).
For statistics of production see Dtstiunic