1827 Wine and spirit adulterators unmasked

37

This, reduced to the relative strengths of ten, seventeen, twenty-five, and thirty-two per cent, un- derproof, with the proportionate quantities of Ale or Porter jto soften it, and Extract of Grains of Paradise, or Capsicums, to give it the appearance of a greater strength than it possesses, costs 10*. ; 9*. 5d. ; 8s. 9|rf. ; and 8s. 4d. per gallon ; and my Readers may, therefore, (when they consider, be- sides, that the incalculable expenses of advertising, &c. are not reckoned in any of the foregoing ex- amples,) form some notion of the extent, to which the tempting opportunities of adulteration are pur- sued with this article, and the profits which such practices enable the unfair Dealer to realize at the placarded prices. Without enlarging, however, on the frauds prac- tised with Hollands, by the admixture of a pro- portion of two-thirds of Rectified Spirits to one of Hollands,* and as well also with Compounds, such as Peppermint, Cloves, fyc. we now arrive at that grand climacteric of all adulteration in the ar- ticle of Spirits, viz.

BRITISH GIN.

It will no doubt appear an extraordinary cir- cumstance, to such of my Readers as are unac- quainted with the nature of the concerns, at which * Rectified Spirits costs about 125. 6rf. per gallon, if reduced to Hollands pays the same duty as Brandy, and is usually to D proof.