Chapter VII: Part I: Of the Distillation of Spirits (3)

But, perhaps, if neutral Salts were used instead of the alcaline ones, the Spirit might be rendered pure, without contracting an alcaline Flavour; soluble Tartar might be used for this Purpose, though the Spirit acquires from hence a little saponaceous Flavour. Dr. _Cox_ has mentioned another Method for this Purpose, namely, to deprive the volatile Salts of their Oil, by rendering them neutral with Spirit of Salt, and afterwards subliming them with Salt of Tartar: The Acid may be varied if the Spirit of Salt should not be found so well adapted to the Purpose as could be wished: But fine dry Sugar seems the best adapted to the Purpose of rectifying these Spirits; as it readily unites with the essential Oil, detains and fixes it, without imparting any urinous, alcaline, or other nauseous Flavour to the Spirits rectified upon it.

Thus have I considered the principal Methods used by our Distillers in rectifying their Spirits; and shall conclude this Chapter with remarking, that there is no other Way of rectifying to Perfection besides what we first laid down, namely, by gentle Distillation. But then it must be remembered, that the whole Process must be of a Piece: We mean, that the first Distillation from the Wash must be performed in a gentle manner; for otherwise the essential Oil will be so intimately blended with the Spirit, as not to be easily separated by Re-distillation. Another good Property attending this Method is its Universality; all kinds of Spirits, from whatever Ingredients extracted, require Rectification; and this is adapted to all kinds.

CHAP. XXIV.

_Of the Flavouring of Spirits._

We have observed in the preceding Chapter, that the common Method of rectifying Spirits from alcaline Salts, destroys their Vinosity, and in its stead introduces an urinous or lixivious Taste. But as it is absolutely necessary to restore, or at least to substitute in its room some Degree of Vinosity, several Methods have been proposed, and a Multitude of Experiments performed, in order to discover this great _Desideratum_: But none has succeeded equal to the Spirit of Nitre; and accordingly this Spirit, either strong or dulcified, has been used by most Distillers to give an agreeable Vinosity to their Spirits.

Several Difficulties however occur in the Method of using it; the principal of which is, its being apt to quit the Liquor in a short Time, and consequently depriving the Liquor of that Vinosity it was intended to give. In order to remove this Difficulty, and prevent the Vinosity from quitting the Goods, the dulcified Spirit of Nitre, which is much better than the strong Spirit, should be prepared by a previous Digestion continued for some Time with Alcohol; the longer the Digestion is continued the more intimately will they be blended, and the Compound rendered the milder and softer.

After a proper Digestion, the dulcified Spirit should be mixed with the Brandy, by which Means the Vinosity will be intimately blended with the Goods, and disposed not to fly off for a very considerable Time.

No general Rule can be given for the Quantity of this mineral Acid requisite to be employed, because different Proportions of it are necessary in different Spirits. It should, however, be carefully adverted to, that though a small Quantity of it will undoubtedly give an agreeable Vinosity resembling that naturally found in the fine subtile Spirits drawn from Wines, yet an over large Dose of it will not only cause a disagreeable Flavour, but also render the whole Design abortive, by discovering the Imposition. Those, therefore, who endeavour to cover a foul Taste in Goods by large Doses of dulcified Spirit of Nitre, will find themselves deceived.

But the best, and indeed the only Method of imitating _French_ Brandies to Perfection, is by an essential Oil of Wine; this being the very thing that gives the _French_ Brandies their Flavour. It must, however, be remembered, that in order to use even this Ingredient to Advantage, a pure, tasteless Spirit must be first procured; for it is ridiculous to expect that this essential Oil should be able to give the agreeable Flavour of _French_ Brandies, to our fulsome Malt Spirit, already loaded with its own nauseous Oil, or strongly impregnated with a lixivious Taste from the alcaline Salts used in Rectification. How a pure insipid Spirit may be obtained has been already considered in some of the preceding Chapters; it only therefore remains to shew the Method of procuring this essential Oil of Wine, which is this:

Take some Cakes of dry Wine Lees, such as are used by our Hatters, dissolve them in six or eight times their Weight of Water, distil the Liquor with a slow Fire, and separate the Oil by the Separating Glass; reserving for the nicest Uses that only which comes over first, the succeeding Oil being coarser and more resinous.

Having procured this fine Oil of Wine, it may be mixed into a Quintessence with pure Alcohol; by which Means it may be preserved a long time fully possessed of all its Flavour and Virtues; but without such Management, it will soon grow resinous and rancid.

When a fine essential Oil of Wine is thus procured, and also a pure and insipid Spirit, _French_ Brandies may be imitated to Perfection with regard to the Flavour. It must, however, be remembered, and carefully adverted to, that the essential Oil be drawn from the same sort of Lees, as the Brandy to be imitated was procured from; we mean, in order to imitate _Coniac_ Brandy, it will be necessary to distil the essential Oil from _Coniac_ Lees; and the same for any other kind of Brandy. For as different Brandies have different Flavours; and as these Flavours are owing entirely to the essential Oil of the Grape, it would be preposterous to endeavour to imitate the Flavour of _Coniac_ Brandy, with an essential Oil procured from the Lees of _Bourdeaux_ Wine.

When the Flavour of the Brandy is well imitated by a proper Dose of the essential Oil, and the Whole reduced into one simple and homogeneous Fluid, other Difficulties are still behind: The Flavour, though the essential Part, is not however the only one; the Colour, the Proof and the Softness must be also regarded, before a Spirit, that perfectly resembles Brandy, can be procured. With regard to the Proof, it may be easily hit, by using a Spirit rectified above Proof; which, after being intimately mixed with the essential Oil of Wine, may be let down to a proper Standard by fair Water. And the Softness may in a great Measure be obtained by distilling and rectifying the Spirit with a gentle Fire; and what is wanting of this Criterion in the Liquor, when first made, will be supplied by Time; for it must be remembered, that it is Time alone that gives this Property to _French_ Brandies; they being at first, like our Spirits, acrid, foul, and fiery. But with regard to the Colour a particular Method is necessary to imitate it to Perfection: And how this may be done shall be considered in the next Chapter.

CHAP. XXV.

_Of the Methods of colouring Spirits._

The Art of colouring Spirits owes its Rise to Observations on foreign Brandies. A Piece of _French_ Brandy that has acquired by Age a great Degree of Softness and Ripeness is observed, at the same time, to have acquired a yellowish brown Colour; and hence our Distillers have endeavoured to imitate this Colour in such Spirits as are intended to pass for _French_ Brandy. And in order to do this a great Variety of Experiments has been made on various Substances, in order to discover a direct and sure Method of imitating this Colour to Perfection. But, in order to do this, it is necessary to know from whence the _French_ Brandies themselves acquire their Colour; for till we have made this Discovery, it will be in vain to attempt an Imitation; because, if we should be able to imitate exactly the Colour, which is indeed no difficult Task, the Spirit will not stand the Test of different Experiments, unless the Colour in both be produced from the same Ingredient.

This being undeniably the Case, let us try if we cannot discover this mighty Secret; the Ingredient from whence the _French_ Brandy acquires its Colour.

We have already observed, that this Colour is only found in such Brandies as have acquired a mellow Ripeness by Age; it is therefore not given it by the Distiller, but has gained it by lying long in the Cask. Consequently, the Ingredient from whence this Colour is extracted, is no other than the Wood of the Cask, and the Brandy in reality is become a dilute Tincture of Oak.

The common Experiment used to prove the Genuineness of _French_ Brandy proves, that this Opinion is well founded. The Experiment is this: They pour into a Glass of Brandy a few Drops of a Solution of calcined Vitriol of Iron in a diluted Spirit of Sulphur, or any other mineral Acid, and the Whole turns of a blue Colour; in the same Manner, as we make Ink of a Tincture of Galls and Vitriol.

Since, therefore, the Colour of _French_ Brandies is acquired from the Oak of the Cask, it is no Difficulty to imitate it to Perfection. A small Quantity of the Extract of Oak, or the Shavings of that Wood properly digested, will furnish us with a Tincture capable of giving the Spirit any Degree of Colour required. But it must be remembered, that as the Tincture is extracted from the Cask by Brandy, that is Alcohol and Water, it is necessary to use both in extracting the Tincture; for each of these Menstruums dissolves different Parts of the Wood. Let, therefore, a sufficient Quantity of Oak Shavings be digested in strong Spirit of Wine; and also at the same Time other Oak Shavings be digested in Water: And when the Liquors have acquired a strong Tincture from the Oak, let both be poured off from the Shavings, into different Vessels, and both placed over a gentle Fire till reduced to the Consistence of Treacle. In this Condition, let the two Extracts be intimately mixed together; which may be done effectually by adding a small Quantity of Loaf Sugar, in fine Powder, and well rubbing the Whole together. By this Means a liquid essential Extract of Oak will be procured, and always ready to be used as Occasion shall require.

There are other Methods in Use for colouring Brandies; but the best, besides the Extract of Oak above-mentioned, are common Treacle and burnt Sugar.

The Treacle gives the Spirits a fine Colour, nearly resembling that of _French_ Brandy; but as its Colour is but dilute, a large Quantity must be used; this is not however attended with any bad Consequences; for notwithstanding the Spirit is really weakened by this Addition, yet the bubble Proof, the general Criterion of Spirits, is greatly mended by the Tenacity imparted to the Liquor by the Treacle. The Spirit also acquires from this Mixture a sweetish or luscious Taste, and a Fulness in the Mouth; both which Properties render it very agreeable to the Palates of the common People, who are, in fact, the principle Consumers of these Spirits.

A much smaller Quantity of burnt Sugar than of Treacle will be sufficient for colouring the same Quantity of Spirits; the Taste is also very different; for, instead of the Sweetness imparted by the Treacle, the Spirit acquires from the burnt Sugar an agreeable Bitterness, and by that Means recommends itself to nicer Palates, which are offended with a luscious Spirit. The burnt Sugar is prepared by dissolving a proper Quantity of Sugar in a little Water, and scorching it over the Fire till it acquires a black Colour.

Either of the above Ingredients, Treacle or burnt Sugar, will nearly imitate the genuine Colour of old _French_ Brandy; but neither of them will succeed, when put to the Test of the vitriolic Solution.

Thus have I traced the Subject of Distillation from its Origin; shewn the Methods commonly made use of by Distillers, and pointed out various Improvements, that might be introduced into this Art with great Advantage; and shall conclude this Part with recommending the several Hints to those Distillers who are desirous of improving their Art, and proceeding on a rational Foundation, it being from such only that Improvements are to be expected; for where the Operations are constantly carried on in the same beaten Tract, it is in vain to expect Improvements, unless Chance should be kind enough to throw that in their Way, which a rational Theory would have easily led them to discover.

A
Complete System
OF
DISTILLATION.