1827 Wine and spirit adulterators unmasked

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not appear as below the standard prescribed by Act of Parliament, from the time it would otherwise consume, it is only in the event of an information, or when the Exciseman has any very great sus- picion, that he makes a trial of such strengths, by the hydrometer ; or if, from any suspected spirit having been unlawfully sweetened, he can obtain no satis- factory result by that instrument, of ascertaining its real strength by distillation; which is the only pro- cess, under the circumstances I have mentioned, by which it can be truly discovered. Should the officer be able to find that a Spirit has been sweetened, which has not been admitted by him to be either a British or a Foreign Compound (independently of a penalty, should he find it of an illegal strength^, he can enforce one, which, by a late Act, has become attached to all Traders who are detected of effecting this alteration, with such Spirituous Liquors as do not rank under the head of Compounds. The com- paratively small quantities, however, of Brandy , &c. which the Retailers manage to have on hand, made up in a sweetened form, or of an illegal strength, when the officer surveys their stock, render any detection extremely rare. The method therefore, of making up sixty-three gallons of Brandy without the possibility of its strength being proved by the hydrometer, and to answer the end, of concealing in some degree such of the ingredients as would otherwise be o too powerful, is given in the following