1892 Drinks of the world

DRINKS.

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The manufacture of whiskey was encouraged for several reasons : first, that it gave employment secondly, that it used up large quantities of grain, to the benefit of the farmer ; and thirdly, it was hoped that it would, in many cases, supersede the French brandy, which was most extensively smuggled. But Government imposed so high a duty, that illicit stills sprang up everywhere, and contraband whiskey was universally drank, the smugglers openly bringing their wares down south, and in such force as to defy the Excise, and frequently the military. A wise step was then taken, and in 1823 the excise duty was lowered from 6^. 2d, to 2s. ^%d. per imperial gallon, a proceed- ing which, in a year, doubled the output of exciseable per proof gallon. Now, the quantity of home- made spirits on which duty was paid for the year ending 31st March, 1890, is as follows : spirits ; but, by degrees, fiscal exigencies have raised it to 10 J. or in all, 29,621,070 gallons, yielding a revenue of ;^i4,8io,522. It would be invidious to particularize any of the large Scotch distilleries, which mostly owe their fame to the excellence of their malt and the extreme purity of their water, together with the fact that peat is ex- tensively used as fuel, even to the drying of the malt but " Glenlivet " has a name as world-wide as *' Fer- rintosh." Do we not read in the Bon Gualtier Ballads that England. Scotland. Ireland. Galls. Galls. Galls. 12,636,060 ... 9,463,012 ... 7,521,998