66 The Bulletin, 



straight whiskey and cannot be produced as cheaply as the latter, or 

 the original whiskies from which it is produced. 



3. By far the largest class of whiskey is made by adding "silent 

 spirits," or "col.og-ne spirits" and water, to a whiskey of the first class. 

 Generally caramel is added to restore the color lost by the addition 

 of the spirits and water. In this way the volume of whiskey of the 

 first class used is increased to several times its original quantity. 



The flavor of this class of whiskey is imparted by the original 

 whiskey of the first class used in the manufacture, though of course 

 not so pronounced. As the original whiskey is mixed with silent 

 spirits and water, this process of manufacture is called blending, 

 though improperly so called. 



According to the rules and regulations for the enforcement of the 

 Xational Food Law, the term "blend" applies to a mixture of like sub- 

 stances. The process is also called rectifying, as the manufacturer has 

 a rectifier's license, and uses the rectified spirits. Probably 75 per 

 cent, or decidedly the largest part of the whiskey on the market, be- 

 longs to this class. 



4. A fourth class of whiskey on the market is a whiskey that is 

 wholly artificial. It is made by adding water, coloring matter, bead- 

 ing oil, and various essences for flavoring to silent spirits. When 

 this class of whiskey is named at all, it is classified, by the manufac- 

 turer, as a blended or rectified whiskey. As it is wholly an artificial 

 product, it appears to have no right to be so called. 



From the foregoing it is very evident that the term whiskey, as 

 generally used, refers to quite a variety of products, necessarily vary- 

 ing in composition. The composition of the normal constituents 

 and their proportions in a pure whiskey is supposed to be well 

 known, but such is hardly the case. The literature on the subject 

 is very meager, and the subject of distilled liquors seems to have re- 

 ceived but little attention at the hands of chemists. Very few results 

 of analyses are available. 



Whiskey is a very complex liquid. In addition to about 45 to 50 

 per cent by volume of ethyl alcohol and 50 to 55 per cent of water, it 

 contains a number of other substances. Of these substances Allen 

 (Analyst, June, 1901) says: "The secondary constituents of spirits 

 axe by no means to be regarded in the light of impurities, as they have 

 wrongly been called and considered by some. They are the associated 

 bodies which give the alcohol its special and valued characteristics, 

 and to their production, modification or elimination by age we owe 

 the change which spirits undergo during the process of maturing." 



It is well kno\vn that new whiskey is harsh, unpalatable, and not 

 fit for use. The government controls bonded warehouses where 

 Avhiskey is stored during maturation. It is stored in charred barrels, 

 and the theory is that during this storage the fusil oil, or higher 

 alcohols, are either absorbed, eliminated or so changed by oxidation 



