When this process has been carefully conducted, quite new rum may be afforded the appearance and flavour of aged spirit. Pineapple juice is sometimes employed by the planters for the purpose of ageing new rum.
The next operation is to colour the rum, and this is a very important part of the process. It frequently happens that really good rum is quite spoilt by being badly coloured, and this should thereibre be strictly attended to. The best description of sugar for boiling "colouring" is a well grained muscovado, such as is commonly chosen in Jamaica. It is placed in a large copper or iron boiling pan, to which heat is applied. The contents are well-stirred up by means of a wooden oar or rake throughout the process. As the boiling proceeds, bubbles rise, large and heavy at first, then small and more quickly, the colour of the mass changing from brown to deep black. The fire is then withdrawn, and some strong proof rum is added, the whole being stirred hard meanwhile. When quite cool, it is poured into a cask and allowed to settle. Good colouring is quite thick, clear, and bright ; three pints should be sufficient to colour 100 gallons of spirit. When coloured, the rum is filled into hogsheads for sale or shipment.
Pure rum, as made in the West Indies, is net often met with in commerce. The spirit which is so largely drunk in England as rum, is in reality nothing more than mixtures'of British spirit, or " silent" spirit, as it is called, with small quantities of genuine rum, and of essence of ruin, Et butyric compound made for the purpose of preparing a fictitious rum. The greater portion probably contains no genuine rum at all, and consists merely of silent spirit, or beet spirit flavoured with this volatile essence. The consumption of rum is steadily declining in England, its place being taken by gin. The duty on the genuine article, if imported direct from any of the British Colo nies, is lOs. 2d. per proof gallon, but if imported from any other part of the world, it is 10s. 5d. per gallon. It is consumed in considerable quantities in the Royal Navy (see Alcohol from Molasses).
Whiskey. (Fa., Whisky; Whisky.) The spirit obtained from the fermented wort of malt or grain, or from a mixture of these. The chief seats of the manufacture are in Ireland and Scotland ; the very best of the Irish kinds comes from Dublin, and is known in the market as Dublin whiskey. The difference between the Irish and Scotch varieties lies mainly in the fact that
the former is distilled in the common, or so-called " pot still," which brings over, together with the spirit, a variety of flavouring and other ingredients from the grain; while in Scotland, nothing but Coffey's "patent " still is employed, the product of which is a spirit deprived entirely of all essential oils. The Irish distillers claim a distinct advantage in the presence of fusel-oil in their produce, on the ground that, if kept in wood for a certain length of time, this oil is decomposed into a number of volatile ethers, readily recognized by their fragrant perfume, and by their pleasant exhilarating effects when consumed. They assert further that the Scotch produce or "silent spirit " as they agree to term it, undergoes no change on keeping, and possesses no flavour, but only the pungent penetrating odour, peculiar to alcohol ; and that in order to convert this silent spirit into whiskey, it has to be flavoured with different substances which have no exhilarating effects upon the systems whatever, but are rather injurious to the habitual consumer. Another argument adva need by the Irish distiller in favour of his own produce is that as the spirit yielded by the patent still is absolutely flavourless, the Scotch manufacturer may, if he will, employ damaged grain, potatoes, noolaases refuse, and various other waste products to yield the silent spirit, since, owing to its "silence," there is no possibility of detacting afterwards from what souree it has been obtained, and that not only aro the di.stinctive qualities of good whiskey thereby kept out of the spirit, but that the spirit itself may also be of an iuferior character.
The Seotch distillers, on the other hand, affirm that Irish, or pot-still whiskey, if; less whole some than their own produce on account of the presence in the former of the large quantities of fusel-oil. They maintain, also, that patent still whiskey does improve very much by keeping, and brings a higher price in the market when old ; and they strongly repudiate the insinuation that they employ damaged or refuse materials, fur the production of their spirit.