1857 The Bordeaux wine and liquor dealers' guide

5

MANUFACTUBING AND ADULTERATING LIQUORS.

rit; a fine old brandy being, perhaps, 8 or 10 u. p., while that of last year's vintage may be as strong as 2or1 u. p.

THE OONSTITUENTS OF BRANDY.

lst. Alcohot-we define as pure spirits of the strongest class, highly rectified. It is obtained from various substancee by distillation: from all kinds of grain ; from wine, molasses and sugar ; from all kinds of froits containing saccharine matter. Di– luted i!olcohol may be obtained by distillation from all kinds of fermented liquors. Its components are hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon, in such proportions as to render it a powerful stimulant, and highly in– toxicating. 2d. Sugar.-This exists in small quantities in nearly every substance from which alcohol is dis– tilled, and its general properties are the same as alcohol. Its presence in liquors softens the alcohol to the taste. 3d. Volatile Oil, known by the commercial name of "Oil Oognac."-'TI1is is a highly odorous oil, that comelJ off, in the distillation of brandy,* to a certain extent, being separated, more or less, according to * It is iUao obtai,Ded by the distillation of the thick lees of French wines.

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