fill 



WINE AND SPIRIT TRADE. 



WINES, BRITISH. 



933 



Of this total quantity, 3,001,413 gallons belonged to the class of re 

 wines, and 4,356,779 to that of tchite. The most noticeable feature i 

 that year was the advance in the French wine trade. In 1857, 185i 

 and 1859, the French wine drunk averaged about 600,000 gallon 

 annually : in 1860 it was nearly double. This resulted from only 

 few months' operation of the new tariff, which opened the way for th 

 introduction of French wines at a moderate duty. By the Custom 

 Duties Act, passed August 28th, 1860, foreign wines, during th 

 remainder of that year, were to pay 3s. per gallon, and colonial wine 

 2*. 9</., plus 5 percent. From and after January 1st, 1861, all wine 

 pay Is. per gallon, if containing less than 18 per cent, proof spirit ; th 

 duty rises to 2s. llrf., according to the alcoholic strength. Ther 

 seems something reasonable in this, making the stronger wines pay th 

 higher duty provided the mode of testing the quality be not to 

 complex and troublesome. [ALCOHOLOMETRY.] 



AVe may here remark that Sykes's Hydrometer [HYDROMETER] i 

 declared by the legislature to be the official means of deciding th 

 alcoholic strength of wines and spirits ; but as wine is now to be esti 

 mated by the quantity of spirit it contains, attention will naturally be 

 j>aid to the easiest mode of making the estimate. Mr. Phillips, chemis 

 to the Revenue Department, has reported favourably of Crockford' 

 Patent Spirit Indicator for wines. This apparatus is based on the 

 principle that the boiling point of any spirituous liquor depends on the 

 quantity of contained alcohol. It consists of a spirit-lamp and stand 

 a boiler and condenser, and a thermometer with a moveable scale 

 graduated to show the degrees per cent, of pure spirit, and fitting wit] 

 an air-tight plug into the boiler. There is a till vessel to hold water 

 which flows thence through a flexible tube to the inlet of the con 

 denser ; a similar tube is attached to the outlet whence the water rum 

 to waste. The boiler is provided with a condenser, which returns to i 

 whatever portion of the alcohol is exhaled, so as to include it in thi 

 estimate of the sample. 



The Refreshment Houses and Wine Licences Act of 1860 is likel; 

 to have some influence on the consumption of wine in England. An 1 

 shopkeeper may take out a licence, varying from 10*. 6d. to SI. St. pe" 

 annum, according to the rated value of his house, for the sale by 

 retail of foreign wine. The word " retail " is considered to refer to 

 quantities less than two gallons, or one dozen bottles. The wine mai 

 be drunk on the premises, under certain specified conditions, and 01 

 payment of a higher licence-duty. All liquor sold as wine must contain 

 less than 40 per cent, of proof spirit, or it will be regarded as spirit 

 Excise officers are to possess large powers in respect of the examination 

 at all times of premises licensed as wine-shops. Standard measures are 

 to be used. Numerous precautions are taken to insure the honest inter 

 pretation of the Act rendered necessary by the fact that spirits now 

 pay ten times as much duty per gallon as wine. 



*piri( Trade. The duty on spirits has been heavy for more than 

 half a century past, varying from 200 to 600 per cent, on the value oi 

 the article taxed. The quantity of home-made spirits which paid duty 

 rose from 9,000,000 gallons in 1802 to 23,000,000 gallons in 1849, and 

 26.000,000 gallons in 1854 ; while in the last-named year foreign spirits 

 (mm, brandy, hollands. ic. ) were taxed to the extent of about 5,000,000 

 gallons. Spirit drinking is not increasing among us. In 1858, 1859, 

 and 1 860, the home-made spirits charged with duty did not in any one 

 year reach 24,000,000 gallons, being less than in 1854. The foreign 

 spirits in 1860 (slightly greater than in the two preceding years) pre- 

 sented the following quantities: Rum, 3,700,000 gallons; Brandy, 

 1,460,000 ; Geneva, or Hollands, 260,000. British and foreign together, 

 there are about 30,000,000 gallons of spirits for 30,000,000 people, or a 

 gallon per head per annum each. 



An interesting matter concerning spirit duties is that of methylated 

 spirit. Spirits of wine, or alcohol in a strong form, is used for many 

 purposes in the arts. It is a solvent of resinous substances, which, 

 when thus dissolved, are used in stiffening hats, and in making var- 

 nishes. It is used as a solvent in the manufacture of many chemical 

 substances, including the alkaloids and other organic products, largely 

 used in medicine. It is used in the production of ether, chloroform, 

 sweet spirits of nitre, and fulminating nitre ; as a solvent or menstruum 

 for administering the animal and vegetable substances used in medicine 

 in the form of tinctures ; as a fuel for burning in spirit lamps ; as an 

 addition to oil of turpentine or other hydro-carbons in lamps ; and as 

 a solvent fur essential oils and other odoriferous substances used in 

 perfumery. For all such purposes alcohol is very valuable ; but the 

 high price is a bar to extensive use. There is, however, a liquid now 

 well known to chemist*, called methylated spirit, which will answer for 

 these purposes nearly as well ; and as this is not fit for drinking, manu- 

 facturers have for some years urged the Excise to remove the duty 

 from it, simply in the interests of productive industry. In 1856, 

 Messrs. Qreatorex. Hofmann, and Redwood presented a report to the 

 government on this subject. They tried to produce a substitute for 

 spirit of wine that would not be drinkable, such as sulphide of ethyl, 

 caoutchicine, Ac. At last they found that wood naphtha, pyroxylie or 

 raethylic spirit, might be so prepared as to be useful to manufacturers, 

 and yet not likely to be ueed by spirit drinkers as a substitute for gin. 

 Measrs. Turnnull of Glasgow announced that they could make it at 

 8. Sd. per gallon ; and others have stated it might possibly be pro- 

 duced for 5*. Two gallons and a half of methylated spirit can be 

 obtained from one ton of dry wood. Mr. Smith, the distiller, of White- 

 ARTS AJtD SCI. DIV. VOL. VIII. 



chapel, expressed a belief that publicans would not venture, if the 

 methylated spirit were rendered ever so cheap by the removal of the 

 duty, to mix more than ^ part with their gin, for fear of exciting the 

 suspicion of their customers. The chemists reported to the Excise 

 that, in their opinion, methylated spirit might be set free from duty 

 without affecting the ordinary revenue from ardent spirits. " It 

 appears to us that it would be proper to mix the spirit in the distillery, 

 and to declare illegal the possession of the methylated spirit by a 

 rectifier or publican. The retail sale of the methylated spirit would 

 then fall into the hands of druggists and oilmen, who could be supplied 

 direct from the distillers." This advice has been acted on. A small 

 per centage of pure methylated spirit, mixed with alcohol, is allowed 

 duty free ; it is suitable for all manufacturing purposes, but is not 

 drinkable, nor can the alcohol be separated from it by any available 

 process. All the government pyrotechnic or artillery compositions 

 are now made with methylated spirit instead of spirit of wine ; and 

 the liquid is coming very largely into use. 



The duty on spirits underwent changes in 1853, 1854, 1855, 1858, 

 and 1860. In 1860 an act was passed, which repealed wholly or par- 

 tially no less than twenty-six former acts, embodying all the regulations 

 for the guidance of manufacturers of, and dealers in, spirits. In the 

 same year, another act fixed the duty on British spirits at 8j. Id. per 

 gallon till July 17th, 1860, and 10. after that date. By the Customs 

 Act of the same year, foreign spirits pay an import duty about equal 

 to the Excise duty on British spirits, namely, 10s. 2d. to 10s. 5d. per 

 gallon. 



WINES, BRITISH. British wines, or Sweets, as they are called by 

 the Excise, are sweet beverages made as substitutes for real wine. The 

 making of them forms a part of domestic chemistry or household skill, 

 as well as a branch of trade. Generally speaking they are prepared from 

 the juice of fruits ; but a large number of other chemical substances 

 are similarly employed. The common English fruit wines comprise 

 gooseberry, currant, cherry, raspberry, mulberry, strawberry, apple, 

 elder, whortleberry, blackberry, damson, bullace, apricot, orange, 

 juniper, lemon, grape, peach, quince, and mixtures of these. The dry- 

 fruit wines are chiefly raisin, fig, and date. The root wines are such 

 as rhubarb, celery, parsnip, turnip, and beet-root. The flower and sap 

 wines comprise cowslip, elder-flower, rose, clove, gilliflower, violet, 

 carnation, lavender, primrose, balsam, pine-apple, birch, &c. 



In the preparation of ordinary fruit wines, the fruit is selected 

 mature and ripe, but not so sweet as over-ripe fruit. The stalks ami 

 the damaged portions are picked off. The rest is bruised in a tub, put 

 into a vat, and steeped thirty or forty hours in water, with frequent 

 stirring. The liquor is drawn off. The pulp is pressed in hair bags ; 

 sugar, tartar, Ac., are added, and stirred for some time. Vinous fer- 

 mentation then commences ; during its continuance the liquor is 

 frequently skimmed, and after three or four days is run off into cask.?. 

 In about a week, flavouring ingredients are added ; and several days 

 afterwards brandy or some other spirit. Fining and racking complete 

 the process. Some fruits are better for boiling before these operations ; 

 others would be spoiled thereby. 



The Excise authorities first gave the name of sweets to raisin wine ; 

 but the mime became afterwards applied to all the fermented bever- 

 ages known as British wines. The making of raisin wine as a branch 

 of trade arose in a curious way. In VINEOAB MANUFACTURE it is 

 explained that a substance called rape, consisting of the stalks and 

 skins of raisins, forms the best known filtering and clarifying sub- 

 stance for vinegar. When Mark Beaufoy established his vinegar works 

 at Lambeth more than a century ago, he could devise no better way of 

 obtaining rape then by purchasing raisins, steeping them, throwing 

 away all the juicy portion, and retaining the rest. Dr. Fothergill, an 

 eminent physician, suggested to him the making of raisin wine out of 

 the juice, instead of wasting it. He did so ; and thus commenced .1 

 rrade which has been continued by his descendants ever since. The 

 manufacture of raisin wine requires larger appliances than those 

 which relate to familiar English fruits. The kinds of raisins chiefly 

 ised are Smyrnas, Malagas, Lexias, Faros, and Cape de Verds ; these 

 aroduce various qualities of wine known by such terms as dry, sweet, 

 trong-bodied, rich, full, &c. The wholesale purchases of raisins are 

 made chiefly towards the close of the year ; and the wine is made 

 rom thence to spring. The hard masses of fruit are beaten open, and 

 teeped in water till the raisins swell and float. All the vinous and 

 accharine juices are then pressed out by hydraulic-presses, screw- 

 resses, or heavy weights, according to the scale on which the opera- 

 ions are conducted. Fermentation is then induced in the juice by a 

 eaven or yeast. From the fermenting tuns the juice, which is now 

 vine, passes to other vessels, where the racking, fining, and sweetening 

 re carried on. 



Home-made wines or sweets paid a small duty until 1834 ; but the 

 uty was abolished in that year, since which time the extent of the 

 lanufacture has not been known. 



A maker of sweets may be as honest a dealer as a maker of th 

 eat foreign wines ; but unfortunately the cheaper wine has come to 

 e used as an adulterant of that which is more costly. There is hardly 

 ly possibility now of determining to what extent the rectifier and thi; 

 ritish wine maker are, knowingly or unknowingly, concerned in pro- 

 ucing imitations of foreign wine. If the name given to the bev<'i:i:;'- 

 >e such as to denote home manufacture, there in no difficulty. '1'ln-iv 



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