Old Daddy Flicker Likes Corn Likker 299 



Briefly, the pre-heated beer is led into the still near the top, 

 and flows down over a series of copper plates which are heated 

 by vapor coming up from below through perforations in the 

 plates. By the time the beer reaches the slop chamber at the 

 bottom of the still, all its alcoholic content has been ex- 

 hausted. The spent beer is discharged, screened and dried, for 

 sale as cattle feed. Meanwhile the vapors rising from the top- 

 most plate in the still are led off into a condenser. 



In the making of Bourbon whiskey, the spirit removed from 

 the beer in a continuous still runs from 90 to 100 proof. The 

 first distillate, or singlings, is then passed through the doubler 

 and redistilled. During this doubling process the distiller de- 

 termines the amount of "heads and tails" that are cut off. The 

 Government requires that nothing above 160 proof be called 

 whiskey. Usually the whiskey goes to the cistern room at from 

 115 to 159 proof. 



This high-proof spirit is reduced to not less than 100 proof 

 by the addition of distilled water. It is then put up in new, 

 charred, white-oak barrels for aging. In its raw condition, when 

 placed in the barrels, the whiskey is colorless, and has an 

 unpleasant taste and odor. During the aging the liquor takes 

 on color, the unpleasant odor and taste disappear, and a new 

 product is born. These chemical and physical changes occur 

 slowly, requiring time for their completion. 



Under the provisions of the Bottled in Bond Act, whiskey 

 cannot be bottled in bond and carry the precious green gov- 

 ernment stamp or the statement on the labels until it has 

 been in charred oak barrels for a period of at least four years. 



Under our present laws, all steps in the process of distilling, 

 from the weighing of the grain to the final bottling after it 

 has been aged, are supervised by agents of the U.S. Internal 

 Revenue Service. 



"Corn likker," as made in the Kentucky and Carolina moun- 

 tains in a pot-still, or even in a soap kettle with a barrel in- 

 verted over this to condense the vapor from the fermented corn 

 mash, and drunk within a week is, according to Irving Cobb, 



