The arrack of Jamaica and Batavia is prepared in this manner and is considered the best quality ; that of Goa and Columbo is distilled from toddy alone. Since arrack may be extracted from the juice of the cocoa nut palm, it may perhaps be worth inquiring how nearly it may be imitated by fermenting and distilling the juices of the birch and sycamore trees. We ahould, by this means, obtain an English arrack ; and perhaps a spirit equal in flavour to that of Batavia.
Arrack is also largely manufactured and consumed by the Chinese in Siam, where the revenues accruing to the Government from its dietillation are said to be 58,000/. per annum. The revenues derived from this source from Ceylon are also very large, no less than 700,000 gallon being exp.,' tea annually from this island, of which quantity about 30,000 gallons are sent to this country, where it is much valued for making Punch.
In Java, where large quantities of arrack are alsn made, the materials are generally used in the following proportions : Rice, 35 parts ; molasses, 62 parts ; toddy, 3 parts ; from which, on distil lation, a yield of 231 parts of proof arrack is obtained.
Arrack is e,olourless, or nearly so; but if kept long in wooden casks, it acquires, like many other spirits, a yellowish tinge. When the eask in which arraek is imported happens to be decayed, or the liquor touches any nails, or other iron, it dissolves part of it, and at the same time extracts the resinous parts of the oak, by which means the whole liquor in the cask acquires an inky colour. In order to whiten and clarify arraek which has contracted this colour, a large quantity of new or skimmed milk must be put into the cask, and the whole beaten together, as vintners do to whiten their brown wines; by this means, the inky colour will be absorbed by the milk, and fall with it to the bottom, so that the greater part of the arraek may be drawn off fine, and the remainder procured in the same condition by being filtered through a conical flannel bag. The finest qualities have an agreeable taste, and are not unwholesome ; they improve much on keeping. Common arrack, or as it is called in India, " pariah-arrack," has a strong and slightly nauseous taste and odour, which is due to the presence of a volatile oil which distils from the rice. If slices of ripe pine apple be put into good arrack, and the spirit kept for a considerable time, it mellows down and acquires a very delicious flavour. This quality is much valued for making " rack-punch."
The arrack of Batavia and Jamaica is the finest quality, the second best being the varketies made in Madras, China and Siam. Other varieties are considered inferior. That which is distilled from rice is narcotic, intoxicating, aud very unwholesome. Hemp leaves, poppy heads, and other objectionable substances are sometimes added in order to render the spirit more intoxicating.
Brandy. (Fa., Eau-de-vie ; GER., Bran/a/Dein.) Brandy is the direct product of the distil lation of French wines. as described under Alcohol from Wine (p. 201). The better qualities are distilled from white wines, the iuferior varieties being the products of the dark-red Spanish and Portuguese wines, or of the mares or refuse of the wine-press, called eau-de-vie d,e mares. The variety made in England, and known as British brandy, is a spirit compounded in several different ways by the rectifying distiller.
Good brandy should be dear and sparkling ; white if new, slightly yellow if a few years old, and brownish-yellow if very old ; its flavour is sweet, mellow and ethereal, and not in the least degree, fiery or earthy. When held in the mouth, it creates au agreeable, warm sensation on the tongue, quite different from the harsh flavour and unpleasant after-taste which are common to brandies of an inferior quality. The following list represents the different French brandies in their order of merit : 1. Cognac fine Champagne. 9. Eau-de-vie de Tenareze.
2. Champag,ne. 10. Cognac (Surgeres).
3. petite Champagne. 11. Eau-de-vie Haut-Armag,nac.
4. premier bois. 12. Rochelle Aigre feuille.
5. ,, deuxieme bois. 13. Rochelle.
6. Saintonge. 14. Marmande.
7. Sain t-Jean d'Angely. 15. Pays (Marmande).
8. Bas-Armagnac. 16. Trois-six Languedoc.
Originally, the cultivation of the vines producing the cognac brandy was confined to the neigh bourhood of the town of that name ; but they are now the produce of a very extensive vine-growing district. Unfortunately, only a very small proportion of the brandy which is sold as cognac is genuine. The remainder consists generally of mixtures of alcohol aud water to which different colouring and aromatic substances have been added. These liquors have neither the agreeable flavour uor the mellowness of natural brandies; it is possible, nevertheless, by the aid of certain harmless chemical preparations, to give them a bouquet and an aroma which renders them quite flt for consumption as beverages.