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Electricity as an Agent, Etc

To Impart a Smoky Flavor to Whiskey RECIPE No. 14.

The simplest way to impart this peculiar flavor to whiskey, is by preparing the barrel. Insert securely a large sheet-iron funnel into the bung-hole of a dry 40-gallon barrel; provide a small open furnace, containing a charcoal fire; put 1 pound of birch bark on the fire, and support the barrel, with its funnel downwards, over the furnace, so that the funnel, which should be considerably wider than the furnace, will receive the smoke from the bark. When the bark ceases smoking, remove the funnel and bung the barrel up tight. After it has stood 24 hours, put the spirit in the barrel, and keep it there for 36 hours, frequently rolling the barrel, in order that the spirits may be thoroughly impregnated with the smoke and smoky deposit on the inside of the barrel. The spirits will then be found to have acquired the desired flavor. Creosote, diluted with alcohol, is sometimes used to impart the smoky flavor to spirits, but it is not so good as the above method.

Electricity as an Agent for improving Whiskey and Wines.

From experiments made on a large scale, it has been found that electricity in any form, either as a regular current or a succession of discharges, renders wine or whiskey mellow and mature. It is supposed that the bitartrate of potassa is decomposed, setting free potash and tartaric acid: the former tending to neutralize the acids of the wine; and the tartaric acid, reacting upon the fatty matters present, favors the formation of the ethers which constitute the bouquet