As the depth of colour in natural brandies is in proportion to the length of time they have remained in the eask, it is customary to give a high colour to the fictitious varieties. To imitate this natural colour, caramel dissolved in an infusion of tea is added to them ; the mixtnre affords to the spirit a peculiar, agreeable taste, Which often deceives inexperienced judges. The addition of caramel may be detected by boiling a little of the brandy to dryness ; a residue is left which on ignition yields the characteristic odour of burnt sugar. The colouring matter is also sometimes prepared from the rind of nuts, or from catechu. This latter substance is rarely used alone, but is with other astringent and aromatic substances which give to the spirit eolour and bouquet. The following is a recipe frequently employed by rectifiers in the preparation of fictitious brandy : Powdered cateehu 100 grm.
Sassafras wood .. 10 Balsam of tolu .. 10 Vanilla .
5 7> Essence of bitter almonds 1 Well-flavoured alcohol (at 85°) 1 litre.
The vanilla is triturated in 125 grm. of brown sugar, and the whole is macerated for eight days with frequent shaking. It is then to stand for twenty-four hours, and the clear liquor is drawn off to be added to the brandy to be improved. Sulphuric acid to the extent of 1 per wit. is sometimes added for the purpose of affording to the spirit a peculiar bouquet ; but this adulteration is very reprehensible. In order to tone down and remove the harshness from new brandy, it is in some places the custom to add 10 grm. ammonia per hectolitre, stirring it well in ; white snap bas some times been used for the same purpose.
In order to ascertain the purity and genuineness of brandy, a few drops may be poured into the palm of the hand, and the two hands rubbed together. The liquid, if genuine, exhsles a sweet and pleasant odour : if counterfeit, the odour is on the other hand penetrating and disagreeable, and is readily recognized by those who are accustomed to make use of this test. Or a small quantity may be poured into a saucer and left to evaporate spontaneously ; the foreign substances, consisting of maybe, butylic, and alcohols, which arc less volatile than ordinary alcohol, ari left behind in the saucer if present in the brandy, and are at once detected by their peculiar smell. Another method frequently employed to detect the,e impurities is to dilute the spirit with four or five tunes its volume of water, and to take a portion of the mixture into the mouth without swallowing it. An experienced taster will distinguish with ease between the brandies of Cognac, Armagnac, Languedoc, &c., and will even detect the variety of fruit from which the spirit was distilled.
Since the colour of French brandies is acquired from the oak of the cask, there is no difficulty in imitating it to perfection. A small quantity of the extract of oak, or the shavings or sawdust of that wood, properly digested, will furnish us with a tincture capable of giving the spirit any degree of colour required. But as the tincture is extracted from the cask by brandy, i. e. alcohol and water, it is necessary to use both in extracting the tincture, for each of these menstrua dissolves different parts of the wood. The chips, shavings, sawdust, &r. of the white oak used at Cognac for making brandy casks are soaked in water for eight days. This water is then thrown away, and rain-water containing one-tenth of brandy is substituted ; about 10 kilos. of the wood should be employed for every 100 litres of liquid required. Alter remaining for some months, the water acquires a colour and an aroma which, when the mixture is made in the proper proportions, can hardly be distinguished from that of the bet French brandy.
As all new brandies retain a certain eharpne.s of flavour, which wears off as the spirit is kept, and preserve to some extent the peculiar flavour which characterizes the wines from which they were produced, it is customary to take certain precautions to remove this harshness, to " age " the spirit, and to impart to them the bouquet of different valuable growths. A good recipe for an imitation of the brandy of Armagnac is the following : Infusion of hulls of walnuts .. 1 litre.
51 bitter almonds .. 2 Syrup of raisins .. 3 This mixture is added to every hectolitre of the trois-eix employed, which has been previously diluted with water to the required strength.
.Another good imitation of this brandy is : Alcohol (of good flavour, at 85°) .. 56 litres.
Syrup of raisins (at 36°) .. 2 Dried liquorice root .. 500 grin.
tea .. 60 Cream of tartar .. .. 2 Boracic acid .. .. . 1 Bruise the liquorice root and boil it,with half the water intended for reduction ; infuse the tea separately in a hermetically closed vessel with 10 litres of boiling water ; dissolve the cream of tartar and boracio acid in 2 litres of hot water. When all these preparations have become cold, puss the infusions of tea and liquorice root through a hair eloth, and mix the whole together with the alcohol, rum, syrup of raisins, and enough water to make up to 100 litres; colour the mixture with caramel.