Researches on Wines and other Fermented Liquors. 49 
the mean of these, is given. The Ale, No. 27, contains more al- 
cohol, than any put down in the table of Mr. Brande, as ordinarily 
published ; but in the Journal of Science and the Arts, (Vol. 5. p. 
. 124.) he states, that Lincolnshire Ale, brewed by Sir Joseph Banks, 
contained 10.84 per cent. of alcohol. Our cider, it would seem, 
contains less alcohol than the lowest average of the specimens exam- 
amined by Mr. Brande, which is 5.21 per cent. 
Addition of Brandy to Wine.—An opinion has been recently 
advanced, that the large proportion of alcohol which some wines — 
contain, is due to the addition of brandy to the must. And it has 
even been maintained, that, without such addition, wines speedily 
undergo the acetous fermentation, and thus, lose their peculiar fla- 
vors. These opinions, if correct, must render quite fallacious, the 
results of the analyses of the older wines, and they deserve, therefore, 
to be carefully examined. 
In regard to this point, I avail myself, in part, of the mformation 
contained in the excellent treatise on Domestic Economy, by Mr. 
Donovan.—(Lardner’s Cabinet Cyclopedia. ) 
Brandy is not added to wines in France or Germany: the finer 
wines, claret, bureundy and hock, are said to be totally destroyed 
by it. But the practice is quite common, nay, almost universal, in 
the wines of Spain, Portugal and Sicily, which are intended for for- 
eign markets. The reason of this, | apprehend, is, not that the 
wines cannot be kept without such an admixture, but that these 
strong wines are in great repute, and perhaps, also, that with the ad- 
dition of brandy, less care is required in preparing them for export- 
ation. 
That wines may be kept fora great number of years, without the 
admixture of brandy, is evident, from the age of many ancient wines. 
Horace speaks of wine, that is nearly seventy years old; and the 
Opimian wine, which had been made in the time of the consul Opi- 
mius, was two hundred years old. “ In order to preserve their 
wines to these ages, the Romans concentrated the must, or grape 
juice, of which they were made, by evaporation, either spontaneous- 
ly, in the air, or over a fire, and, so much so, as to render them thick 
and syrupy.” 
This process of evaporation, however, was by no means, necessa- 
ry to their being preserved ; for wines, not treated in this manner, 
have been known to keep equally long. We are informed by Neu- 
man, “that the tartish German wines, keep the longest of any: 
Vout. XXVIII.—No. 1. 7 
. 
