96 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



TRADE DISTINCTIONS IN ALCOHOLIC LIQUOES. 



By W. E. BRADLEY. 



THE answer given by Mr. Dawson to the question, " Can pure, un- 

 adulterated alcoholic liquors be now obtained ? " supposed to be 

 vicariously asked by an inquiring public in his article, " How Alco- 

 holic Liquors are made," in the May issue of " The Popular Science 

 Monthly," would have been entirely correct if it had ended with a 

 simple affirmation. As it stands, however, it is grossly misleading, 

 inasmuch as it confounds substances possessing essentially different 

 characteristics, which are universally recognized commercially by dis- 

 tinctive nomenclatures, and under the United States internal revenue 

 system are controlled by different laws and regulations. 



After giving a brief outline of the processes of mashing, fermenta- 

 tion, and distillation, which is in the main correct so far as it goes, Mr. 

 Dawson says : " The process of rectification is generally done by re- 

 distilling, or filtering tbrough alternate layers of woolen blankets, 

 sand, and granulated charcoal, . . . after which process a little 

 burnt sugar is added to give them a kind of straw-color, simply, I 

 presume, to distinguish them from water. . . . After rectification, the 

 spirits are gauged by the United States gauger, and a rectifier's stamp 

 is placed upon each package, and the whisky is then ready for market, 

 pure and unadulterated, and known as one-stamp goods. Remember 

 that I am now stating how good whisky is made. . . . Therefore, if 

 you want a pure article, purchase from a distiller or first class relia- 

 ble dealer. . . . Insist that the spirit must be at least twelve months 

 old." Merely remarking that spirits to which burnt sugar has been 

 added would not ordinarily be called pure and unadulterated, or the 

 addition be considered necessary to distinguish between two such dis- 

 similar substances as alcoholic spirit and water, I make the unqualified 

 assertion that what is above described as good whisky is not whisky 

 at all, and never can be. This will become plain upon a considera- 

 tion of some of the distinctive details in the production of rectified 

 spirit and whisky, by which it will appear that, although the molecu- 

 lar changes by which starch is converted into glucose, and glucose into 

 spirit, are the same in both cases, the subsequent treatment differs 

 widely, with a corresponding dissimilarity in the finished product. 



It is well known that in the chemical transformations which take 

 place during alcoholic fermentation, besides ethyl or ordinary alcohol, 

 which is the chief remaining product, certain other substances are gen- 

 erated which are collectively known as fusel-oil, and which may be 

 defined as "those products of alcoholic fermentation which distill at 

 a higher temperature than ethyl alcohol " (173° Fahr.). The principal 

 of these is always amyl alcohol, which boils at 273° Fahr. Besides this 

 there are butylic and propylic alcohols and volatile fatty acids, princi- 



