100 
German  Cherry  Juice, 
f  Am.  Jour.  Phabm. 
1     Mar.  1, 1873. 
Cherry  juice  is  a  richly  colored,  dark  red  liquid  ;  it  is  somewhat 
glutinous,  but  perfectly  bright  and  clear.  Its  taste  is  rather  pleas- 
ant, fruity,  slightly  acidulous  and  somewhat  alcoholic.  Without  the 
addition  of  sugar  it  is  rather  too  sour  to  be  agreeable  as  a  beverage. 
The  specific  gravity  of  a  specimen  examined  was  1*041,  but  this,  of 
course,  may  vary  materially. 
The  importers  state  that  its  alcoholic  strength  ranges  from  10  to  15 
per  cent.  In  order  to  arrive  at  a  more  definite  figure  in  regard  to  the 
cask  under  examination,  one  gallon  of  it  was  subjected  to  fractional 
distillation,  with  the  following  results  : 
1st  pint  distilled  contained  33J  per  cent,  of  alcohol. 
2d  "  "  12J       «  « 
Summing  these  up  and  reducing  them  to  the  full  quantity,  an  av- 
erage of  11J  per  cent,  is  obtained.  Allowing  for  a  little  loss,  though, 
as  the  distillation  was  conducted  carefully,  this  could  not  have  been 
very  great,  it  is  probable  that  the  proportion  of  alcohol  was  really 
about  12J  per  cent.,  or  one-eighth  of  the  entire  bulk.  It  may  be  here 
remarked  that  the  article  pays  an  ad  valorem  duty  of  25  per  cent., 
and  as  this  is  usually  about  17  cents  per  gallon,  the  importers  save 
the  difference  between  this  and  the  specific  duty  on  the  spirit  which 
it  contains,  which  would  be  12J  per  cent,  of  $2.00,  or  25  cents  per 
gallon.  The  above  amount  of  alcohol  seems  to  be  sufficient  to  pre- 
serve the  juice  under  ordinary  circumstances,  although  it  will  occa- 
sionally ferment  during  the  hot  weather  of  summer,  particularly  when 
left  in  half  filled  barrels. 
As  the  importer's  price  for  German  cherry  juice  is  usually  rather 
less  than  $1.00  (gold)  per  gallon,  this  low  figure  is  one  of  its  main 
recommendations.  This  rate  in  reality  is  only  about  one-fourth  of 
that  which  is  usually  paid  for  fruit  juices  put  up  in  hermetically-sealed 
quart  bottles.  The  small  proportion  of  alcohol  contained  in  the  cherry 
juice  cannot  be  held  to  detract  from  its  merits,  as  it  can  readily  be 
expelled  by  heat,  and  wherever  the  arrangements  are  such  that  it  can 
be  recovered  by  distillation,  it  will  positively  add  to  the  money  value, 
being  worth  nearly  double  that  which  has  been  paid  for  the  article. 
The  fact  of  the  juice  being  perfectly  clear  and  transparent,  so  that  it 
will  mix  in  all  proportions  with  syrupy  and  alcoholic  liquids  without 
producing  the  slightest  turbidity,  is  another  important  point  in  its  favor. 
Besides  this,  the  juice  is  always  ready  for  immediate  use,  requiring 
neither  filtering,  straining  nor  any  other  troublesome  and  tedious  pre- 
