DISTILLATION. 
W 
no Cm .ill advantage to the public revenue. In order to 
obtain ardent fpirit, nothing more is neceffary than to 
■expofe wine, beer, or any other fermented vinous liquor, 
to the aftion of the dill; and the product which comes 
over is the ardent fpirit itfelf, contaminated more or lefs 
with an effential or empyreumatic oil. If this be refti- 
fied by a fecond and third diftillation, it becomes pro¬ 
portionally purer, and hence acquires the name of refti- 
■tled, or double rectified, fpirit. 
The great defideratum among the Britifh diftillers is, 
a mode of clofely imitating the flavour of foreign l'pirits ; 
an acquifition, however, which has not yet been com¬ 
pletely attained, notwithftanding the great improvements 
recently made in the diflillation of all Britifh fpirits. 
The general method of diftilling brandies in France dif¬ 
fers very little from that praftifed here, in working from 
malt-wafh or molaffes; nor are they more exaft in the 
operation. They are faid to throw in a little of the na¬ 
tural ley into the (till along with the wine, as finding 
this gives their fpirit the flavour for which it is gene¬ 
rally preferred. But, though brandy is extracted from 
wine, experience tells us, that there is a great difference 
in the grapes from which the wine is made ; much more 
fo than in the malt from which brandy is diffilled in Eng¬ 
land. Every foil, every climate, every kind of grapes, 
varies, more or lefs, with regard to the quantity and qua¬ 
lity of the fpirits extracted from them. A large quan¬ 
tity of brandy is diffilled in France during the time of 
the vintage ; for all the poor grapes, that prove unfit for 
wine, are ufually firft gathered, prefled, their juice fer¬ 
mented, and direftly diddled. This takes off their poor 
wines at once, and leaves their cafks empty for the re- 
-ception of better- It is a general rule with them not to 
diftil wine that will fetch any price as wine; for, in this 
date, the profits obtained are vaftly greater than when 
reduced to brandies. This large flock of final 1 wines, 
with which they are almoft over-run in France, fuffi- 
ciently accounts for their making fuch vaft quantities of 
brandy in that country, more than in others which lie in 
warmer climates, and are much better adapted to the 
production of grapes. Nor is this the only fource of their 
brandies: for all the wine that turns eager, is alfo con¬ 
demned to the ftill; and, in ffiort, all that they can nei¬ 
ther export nor confume at home, which amounts to a 
large quantity; fince much of the wine laid in for do- 
meflic ufe is fo poor as not to keep during the time of 
drawing from the calk. Hence our Englilh fpirits, with 
proper management, are convertible into brandies that 
will hardly be diftinguiihed from the foreign in many re- 
fpefts, provided the operation be neatly performed, and 
the flavour properly attended to, by preventing the too 
common evil of burning in the ftill, and by eradicating 
the effential oil. 
The common method of rectifying fpirits from alkaline 
falts, deftroys their vinofity, and in its ftead gives an uri¬ 
nous or lixivious tafte. But as it is abfolutely neceffary 
to reftore, or at leaft to fubftitute in its room, fonte de¬ 
gree of vinofity, feveral methods have been propofed, pud 
a multitude of experiments tried, in order to dilcover this 
great defideratum. But none has fucceeded equal to the 
fpirit of nitre ; which is accordingly ufed by mod diftil¬ 
lers. Several difficulties, however, occur in the method 
of ufing it ; the principal of which is, its being apt to 
quit the liquor in a fliort time, and confequently depriv¬ 
ing it of that vinofity it was intended to give. In order 
to obviate this, the dulcified fpirit of nitre, which is 
much better than the ftrong fpirit, Ihould be prepared 
by a previous digeftion, continued for fome time, witli 
alcohol ; the longer the digeftion is continued, the more 
intimately will they be blended, and the compound ren¬ 
dered the milder and lofter. After a proper digeftion, 
the dulcified fpirit (hould be mixed with the brandy, by 
which the vinofity will be intimately blended, and not 
difpoled to fly off. No general rule can be given for 
the quantity requifite to be employed ; becaufe different 
j 
proportions of it are neceffary in different fpirits. But 
though a fmall quantity of nitre will undoubtedly give 
an agreeable vinofity, refembling that naturally found 
in the fine fubtile fpirits drawn from wines, yet an ex¬ 
cels will not only caufe a difagreeable flavour, but alfo 
render the defign abortive, by discovering the impofition. 
But the beft, and, indeed, the only method of imita¬ 
ting French brandies to perfection, is by an effential oil 
of wine ; this being the very tiding that gives the French 
brandies their flavour. It muff, however, be remem¬ 
bered, that, in order to ufe this ingredient to advantage, 
a pure taftelefs fpirit muff firft be procured ; for it would 
be abfurd to expeCt that thi effential oil fliould be able 
to give the agreeable flavour of French brandies to our 
malt fpirit, while loaded with" its own naufeous empy¬ 
reumatic oil, or ftrongly impregnated with a lixivious 
tafte from the alkaline falts tiled in reftification. To 
prepare the oil of wine, take fome cakes of dry wine- 
lees, diffolve them in fix or eight times their weight of 
water, diftil the liquor with a flow' fire, and feparate the 
oil with a feparating giafs; referving for the niceft ufes 
only that which comes over firft, the fucceeding oil be. 
ing more refinous. Having procured this fir e oil of wine, 
let it be diffolved in alcohol; by which means it may be 
preferved a long time fully poffeffed of all its flavour; 
but otherwife it will foon grow rancid. 
With a fine effential oil of wine thus procured, and a 
clean fpirit, French brandies may be imitated very nearly 
to perfection. The effential oil, however, rfiuft be drawn 
from the fame kind of lees as the brandy to he imitated 
was procured from ; c. g. in order to imitate Coniac 
brandy, it will be neceffary to diftil the effential oil from 
Coniac lees ; and the fame for any other kind of brandy. 
For, "as different brandies have different flavours, and as 
thefe flavours are entirely owing to the effential oil of 
the grape, it would be prepofterous to endeavour to imi¬ 
tate the flavour of Coniac brandy witlt an eflential oil 
procured from the lees of Bourdeuux w ir.e. When the 
flavour of the brandy is well imitated by a proper quan¬ 
tity of the effential oil, and the whole reduced into one 
fimple and homogeneous fluid, other difficulties are ftill 
behind : the flavour, though the effential part, is not 
the only one ; the colour, the proof, and the foftnefs, 
muff alfo be regarded, before a fpirit that'perfectly re- 
fembles brandy can be procured. With regard to the 
proof, it may be eafily fixed, by ufing a fpirit reftified 
above proof; which, after being intimately mixed with 
the effential oil of wine, may be let down to a proper 
ftandard with fair water. And the foftnefs may, in a 
great meafure, be obtained by diftilling and rectifying 
the fpirit with a gentle fire; and what is wanting of this 
criterion in the liquor, when firft made, will be (applied 
by time : for it is tiine alone that gives this property to 
the French brandies. With regard to the colour, a par¬ 
ticular method is required to imitate it to perfection, 
which may be effected by means of treacle or burnt fu- 
gar. The treacle gives the fpirit a fine colour, nearly 
refembling that of French brandy ; but as its colour is 
dilute, a large quantity mu ft be ufed : this is not, how¬ 
ever, attended with any bad confequences ; for, notwith¬ 
ftanding the fpirit is really weakened by this addition, 
yet the bubble proof, the common criterion of fpirits, is 
greatly mended by the tenacity imparted to the liquor 
by the treacle. The fpirit alfo acquires from the mix¬ 
ture a lufeious tafte, and a ffulnefs in the mouth ; both 
which properties render it very agreeable to fome pa¬ 
lates. A much fmaller quantity of burnt fugar than of 
treacle will be fufficient for colouring the fame quantity 
of fpirits : the tafte is alfo very different; for, inftead of 
the fweetnefs imparted by the treacle, the fpirit acquires 
from the burnt fugar an agreeable bitternefs, and by that 
means recommends itfelf to many who are offended with 
a lufeious fpirit. The burnt fugar is prepared by dif- 
folving a proper quantity of fugar in water, and fcorch- 
ing it over the lire till it acquires a black colour. Though 
treacle. 
