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Spirits

These alcoholic drinks differ from wines and beers in the fact that they are distilled from some form of fermented liquor. We may obtain the alcohol from beer or wine, or from any substance containing sugar which is fermented. Alcohol, under the form of distilled spirits, may be obtained from any saccharine substance in a state of fermentation. Koumis is manufactured in Tartary from fermented mares' milk, arika from cows' milk. Aqua ardiente is procured in Mexico from the sweet juice of the American sloe. In the East Indies, arrack is made from fermenting rice or palm sago. Fermenting Machaleb cherries are the source of the German Kirschenwasser. Maraschino is made from Macaiska cherries in Dalmatia. From rice wine a Chinese spirit, Show-choo, is distilled. In short, there hardly exists a race of men who have not acquired the art of distilling alcohol after its formation during the fermentation of sugar. In Britain, we are more particularly acquainted with brandy, gin, whiskey, and rum.

Brandy is produced by the distillation of wine alone, and not from any other fermented liquor; any spirits made from other liquors than wine are improperly termed brandy. Brandy is prepared in all the wine countries of Europe, but particularly in France, where, however, the localities of the best French brandy are extremely limited. The grapes most proper for wines are not the best suited for brandy. The general mode of preparing brandy is extremely simple, being nothing more than a well-regulated distillation of wine in suitable vessels. At the commencement of the vintage, the manufacturers collect all the grapes that are not fit for good wine, ferment their juices, and distil them for brandy; they also use for this purpose all wines that have failed in the making--although, if they have become at all acid, the brandy is tainted.

The spirit next in importance is Gin. "This word is a corruption of Geneva, as that is of the French word genievre, or juniper. Gin is also called Hollands. Geneva, however, is not gin, but a kind of liqueur made from the berries of the juniper, which contain as much as thirty-four per cent. of sugar, and may be easily fermented. Gin was first made in Holland, and was brought into this country as Hollands gin. It is distilled from corn malt, and various substances are added to it to give it flavour. The most common substances of this kind are juniper berries, but a variety of substances are added to suit the taste of the customer, so that no two gins are alike. In this country every gin distiller uses his own ingredients, whilst the retailer of gin has also his particular recipes for rendering his gin profitable or palatable, or both. Sometimes injurious substances are added to gin to make it taste strong, as sulphuric acid and sulphate of zinc; these, however, are adulterations. The substances used for flavouring gin are numerous enough. Thus we find enumerated bitter almonds, turpentine, creosote, lemon, cardamoms, caraways, cassia, garlic, Canada balsam, horse-radish, cayenne pepper, and grains of paradise. None of these things are poisonous, and probably all of them assist in determining the action of the alcohol of the gin as a diuretic. Gin does not usually contain so much alcohol as brandy--not more than eight ounces to the pint being found in the best gins. Sugar is added by many distillers, but others do not add this ingredient. Gin, as it is retailed, usually contains sugar, and not frequently more than four ounces of alcohol to the pint. It is consequently a weaker spirit generally than brandy, and so far is perhaps less injurious when taken raw. The practice, however, of taking any kind of raw spirits is a very hazardous proceeding, and cannot be habitually indulged in without danger." --Dr. Lankester.

Whiskey is a spirit produced by distillation from grain, roots, and other materials. The best is obtained from barley after it has been malted, though that which goes under the name of raw grain whiskey, made from wheat, oats, rye, Indian corn, rice, etc., is also much used. Whiskey is also manufactured from potatoes, beetroot, beans, molasses, sugar, etc., malt being sometimes added to a small extent. This spirit used to be made almost solely in Scotland, Ireland, and the United States; but distilleries now are numerous in England, France, Germany, Holland, and Sweden. The foreign spirit is, as a rule, coarse in quality, and only suited for fortifying wines. Whiskey has frequently a slight smoky flavour, supposed to be owing to the way in which it is prepared. The whiskey ordinarily sold in England is more free from flavouring ingredients than any other form of distilled spirit. "Rum," says Dr. Lankester, in his valuable work "On Food," "is less generally consumed in England than any other spirit; but from the fact of its being supplied by the Government to our soldiers and sailors, large quantities are entered for consumption in Great Britain. It is principally made in the West Indies, and our supplies are almost wholly drawn from Jamaica, where it is manufactured from the fermented scum of the sugar boilers and molasses. A flavour is often given to it by the addition of slices of pineapple. It is usually sold much above proof, so that a pint of rum will contain fifteen ounces of alcohol. It has a peculiar odour, which is due to butyric ether. Like brandy, it improves by keeping, and probably develops the same class of bouquets as wine. The action of the alcohol of rum is of course the same as that of other fermented liquors; but Dr. Edward Smith has pointed out a curious fact in its action on the system, and that is, that it increases the quantity of carbonic acid thrown out from the lungs. This may be due to the butyric ether. Whether this suggestion be correct or not, it is a curious fact, resulting from Dr. Smith's experiments, that whilst other alcoholic drinks decrease the expiration of carbonic acid, rum should increase it."