1914 Beverages de luxe

The bonded warehouses are the same as at any other dis- tillery. The old stone warehouses are rapidly giving way to modern rack warehouses. Today no connoisseur will believe any whiskey is properly matured unless maturity is evidenced by an increase in proof over and above the proof at which the whiskey was originally entered into bond. And most distillers of sour-mash whiskies heat their warehouses in extreme cold weather. To hold tem- perature of warehouses too high, is also disadvantageous, as it deprives whiskey of its natural development, impregnates them with too much tannin or tannic acid and deprives them of part of their bouquet. Sour mash whiskies are full of essential oils. Ninety-six iiours of fermentation, primitive methods, all add to make the sour mash whiskies heavier than other whiskies. They take in consequence longer to mature, and are hardly fit for drink until about four years old. From that time on they become mellower in taste and finer in flavor. Some of the re-imported, exported, sour mash whiskies are as fine as any Old Cognac Brandy, in- finitely more wholesome, and pure beyt)nd doubt, and doctors prefer to prescribe them for medicine. The greater part of the morning was taken in my investiga- tion of the distillery and warehouse; a long and loud blow on the horn indicated dinner, and we soon found ourselves, after a wash, at the hospitable table of the distiller. Oh, these Kentuckians are a lovely people. They are gross- ly slandered when people believe they do nothing but shoot and There are rufiians any place you go, the world over, but for genuine true friendshi]), that is all wool and a yard wide and will never fade, I like to think of the friendship of some of my Kentucky friends. N. B.^ — Many drops of water have gone down the stream many drops of sand have marked the hours, the days and years, since the above account recorded the pleasant reflections of a de- lightful period. Thirty years have gone by. The author's hair, such as have been spared to him, are gray. Changes in business conditions are marked with even more distinct ditt'erences. From an honest eft'ort for the temperate use of liquors, to- day the trade is harassed by fanatical prohibition in many places. The lengthening of the bonded period to eight years; the permission granted to the distiller to bottle in bond ; have brought about many changes in the methods of fermentation and distillation, so that today primitive methods as described in the above account are rarely, yes, very rarely found. Notwithstand- ing, the eflervescence of youth, the author himself is now oper- ating a model distillery, employing with good results the ad- vanced methods and apparatus which science and experience have produced. kill.