685 



DISTILLERY. 



DISTILLERY. 



now largely used in Scotland, in the distillation of grain whiskey; 

 some of the stills are so large as to produce 3000 gallons per hour. 

 Another kind of still, invented by Stein, is much used in Scotland for 

 malt-whiskey. Most of the Scotch whiskey now sold in England is 

 made from grain by Coffey's apparatus, and becomes marketable by 

 mere dilution ; but the malt-whiskey, mostly distilled in small esta- 

 blishments by the old apparatus, contains flavouring ingredients of 

 various kinds. The peat-reek or turf-smoke flavour of some of the 

 whiskey, made illicitly in out-of-the-way places, is, there is reason to 

 believe, more or less imitated in whiskey distilled where no peat is 

 employed principally because English purchasers like that flavour, as 

 on evidence of genuineness. 



The great spirit-distilleries of England, if few in number, and not 

 among the largest of our immense factory establishments, are certainly 

 among those which contribute most amply to the revenue ; indeed it 

 may be doubted whether they have any parallel in this particular. In 

 order that every gallon distilled may pay its share of duty, excise 

 officers watch the operations with a closeness unequalled in any other 

 department of British industry. It is difficult to say whether the dis- 

 tiller or the exciseman is more completely the master. Some of the 

 London firms pay more than 300,000^. annually each to the revenue ; 

 and the Excise insists, not only that all the spirit made shall pay duty, 

 but that the distillery shall be so conducted as to obtain the greatest 

 quantity of spirit from a given quantity of malt or grain ; thus the 

 exciseman becomes virtually a chemist as well as a tax-collector. 

 Moreover, the duty is paid per gallon of spirit of a certain defined 

 strength ; and the exciseman must be learned on the subject of specific 

 gravity, to see that various degrees of dilution are not produced in 

 such a way as to defraud the revenue. Excisemen, one or more, are 

 never absent from the distillery, day or night, Sunday or week-day ; 

 they relieve guard, and one does not depart until his successor arrives. 

 Each exciseman employed knows every vessel on the premises ; he has 

 a voice in the number, size, and shape of them; he is empowered to 

 limit the number of openings in the more important vessels, and to 

 trace the course and action of every pipe, valve, cock, and tap con- 

 nected with each ; he has duplicate keys to some vessels, and the only 

 key to certain others ; he can lock up the furnace doors, and lock up 

 the stills, whenever he deems it his duty so to do ; he can require, and 

 does require, that the distilling of the wash into spirit shall not take 

 place in the same week as the brewing of wort into wash ; in order 

 that he may know exactly how much wort and wash, as well as spirit, 

 is in the several vessels at one time. He tests the specific gravity of all 

 the liquids aa often as he pleases ; he requires that the numerous pipes 

 shall be painted, some black, some red, some blue, and some white, in 

 order that he may know which ia for the conveyance of wort, which 

 for wash, which for the first spirit, and which for the finished spirit ; 

 he demands the aid of ladders and passages to give him access to every 

 part of every piece of apparatus : in short, the master distiller is so 

 thoroughly controlled in all the operations, that nothing but the pro- 

 spect of large profits, arising out of a large business, would induce a 

 manufacturer to wear such shackles. 



It is partly owing to this excise supervision, and partly to the 

 enormous capital necessary, that the number of great distilleries 

 remains pretty equal year after year. The following figures are 

 interesting, showing the influence of different causes on the number of 

 distilleries in different parts of the United Kingdom : 



England : Malt distilleries . 



Grain, or mixed distilleries 



Scotland : Malt distilleries . 



Grain, or mixed distilleries 



Ireland : Mult distilleries . 



Grain, or mixed distilleries 



1834. 







15 



216 



23 



1 



80 



332 



1344. 







10 



164 



11 



2 



59 



246 



1854. 





 11 



140 

 15 



I 

 43 



210 



We thus see that, in 1854, there was not one malt distillery in 

 England or Ireland ; whereas, in Scotland, malt distilleries were nearly 

 tenfold as numerous as those in which grain was employed, or grain 

 mixed with malt. It will fall to be considered under the article 

 SPIRITS, how much is produced yearly down to a much later date than 

 1854 ; but it will be useful to show here what was the ratio of pro- 

 duction in the three kingdoms in the three years above named : 



England 

 Scotland 

 Ireland . 



1834. 

 Gallons. 

 4,600,000 

 9,200,0110 

 9,900,000 



23,300,000 



1844. 

 Gallons. 



5,800,000 

 7,600,000 

 5,600,000 



19,000,000 



1894. 

 Gallons. 



7,300,000 



10,400,000 



8,800,000 



26,500,000 



England began to increase its relative ratio about the year 1851. 

 To what extent poverty, to what extent temperance advocacy, caused 

 the fluctuations in the Scotch and Irixh ratios, this ia not the place to 

 discuss. Dividing the quantity of spirits which paid duty, by the 

 number of distilleries known to the excise, it appears that, in 1854, 

 ilcriej produced 600,000 gallons on an average each, 

 the Irish 200,000, and the Scotch 70,000; showing that tlv 



distilleries were, on an average, only about one- third the size of the 

 English, and the Scotch one-third that of the Irish. These ratios, 

 however, may have undergone some modification by 1859 ; for it is 

 known that there is a tendency to increase the size of the distillery 

 establishments. 



The process of distilling, hitherto described, has been that in which 

 grain, either raw or malted, has yielded the saccharine element ; but we 

 have now to notice certain recent attempts to produce ardent spirits 

 from beet-root. 



That this can be done has long been known to chemists, practically 

 in France, theoretically in England. The only question has been, 

 whether beet-root distilling can be profitably conducted. One among 

 many systems of operation patented is that of M. Le Play, depending 

 on the fact that the refuse of the distillery can be profitably applied 

 in the immediate neighbourhood of the distillery itself. In 1857 

 Mr. Dray, the agricultural implement maker, obtained permission from 

 the Excise to make trial of Le Play's plan in a farm homestead owned 

 by him at Farningham, in Kent. This consent was necessary, owing 

 to the rigorous control exercised by the Excise over all spirit distilleries 

 in this country. At Mr. Dray's homestead, spirit was distilled from 

 the beet-root, and live stock were fed from the refuse. The roots, 

 having been gathered from the fields, were washed, cut into slices, 

 placed in vats, and allowed to ferment for twenty-four hours, the 

 fermentation being aided by a little sulphuric acid. The same liquor 

 was available many tunes over. The pulp, when removed from the 

 vats, was placed in layers in cylinders, the layers being separated by 

 perforated metal plates. The cylinders were then closed air-tight, and 

 steam was admitted to the bottom of one of them. The steam 

 extracted a juice or watery spirit from the pulp in the first cylinder, 

 and passed thence into a second. The vapour was then condensed by 

 passing through a worm in cold water, and, as a liquid, was received 

 in a vat. AVhile the first cylinder was being emptied and re-filled, 

 steam was admitted to the second and third. The object of this 

 three-fold process was, to make the operation a continuous one, and 

 cause each portion of pulp to be acted on twice over, go as to render 

 the extraction thoroughly complete. 



The hopes and expectations relating to this system were thus set 

 forth in a letter to the ' Times,' written by Messrs. Ridley : " It is 

 much to be regretted that misconception prevails respecting the pro- 

 perties of beet-root to yield a fine consumable spirit. In France, 

 during the last three years, millions of gallons have been distilled from 

 this cereal, converted into and freely consumed as cognac brandy. So 

 far this tends to demonstrate its superiority over gram for spirit- 

 making purposes. Beet-root contains from 10 to 12 per cent, of solid 

 saccharine matter, which, when disengaged by maceration and distilled 

 in the ordinary manner, will yield, in good seasons, 25 gallons of proof 

 spirit from one ton of root. The root can be cultivated at a cost of 

 10. per ton ; and allowing its value to be augmented to 20., or even 

 30., when used for distilling purposes, a very handsome profit might 

 be obtained by selling its spirit at 2s. per gallon. Besides which, the 

 pulp of the root, after being denuded of ita saecharum, is in no way 

 deteriorated as cattle food ; on the contrary, some authorities assert 

 that, being partially cooked, it is then more nutritious. Our Inland 

 Revenue laws in many instances are found to operate obnoxiously 

 against native enterprise. Why not allow our farmers freely to distil 

 their produce and apply the refuse to fatten cattle, as is the commou 

 order of things on the continent, particularly in Germany. A new 

 field might easily be opened for the cultivation of beet-root, on lands 

 now lying waste, which could be profitably turned to account, to 

 provide spirit for man and food for beast ; while the highly-cultivated 

 grain lands could be more exclusively devoted to their legitimate 

 purpose of raising bread-stuffs for the actual wants of the community." 



This bright picture has hitherto been only a picture : either because 

 the estimates were far beyond the average truth, or because the heavy 

 spirit-duty operates as a bar to improvement in England. The Excise 

 authorities have certainly not been obdurate in the matter. At 

 Faruingham, the spirit produced was found to be very raw, but was 

 improved by rectifying ; and it was proposed to fix a rectifying 

 apparatus to the stills themselves, so as to complete all the operations 

 on the spot. The spent pulp was said to be worth 15s. per ton, to be 

 mixed with cut hay aa a food for horses, cattle, and sheep. Listening 

 to the representations made, the Excise, on the authority of tho 

 Treasury, permitted eleven more beet-root distilleries to be established 

 in various parts of England. The result, after a year or so, came out 

 as follows : 



Root Spirit Produce per 



distilled. obtained. ton of root. 



Budding ton 



Lincoln 

 Louth 

 I.nxton . 

 Fineshade . 

 Bolney . 

 Minety 



CrOWIli:'!!-]! 



Keuding 

 Otford . 

 Pnlhnm 



Tons. 

 517 

 COO 

 834 

 3D7 

 515 

 313 

 750 

 207 

 400 

 224 

 70 



