Homemade & Commercial

Wine, Beer, Spirits, Cider & Mead Guides

Alcoholic beverages; most commonly beer and wines made at home. Brews made from brewing kits purchased at shops specialized in spirits. The Beer Pirate features homebrew recipes, equipment requirements, and commercial productions information; and all the best practices needed to make that perfect batch!

The French Government has passed laws to protect the public as to what is and is not Cognac. It supplies every purchaser with a certificate, called an Acquit Regional [aune d’Or. This has nothing to do with age; it merely guarantees that the product comes from Cognac. The various qualities of Cognacs are generally indicated by stars: one, two, or three, in ascending quality. All wine people are superstitious. One of their firmest beliefs is that comet years produce fine wines. The legend goes that in the comet year of 1811, when a superb brandy was produced, one of the shippers decided to designate the brandy of that year with a star. An equally excellent brandy was produced in the following year and this he designated by two stars. By this time he had acquired the habit, but fortunately he stopped when he reached five stars. The firm of Hennessy claims to have originated the system. The stars on the label have no age significance. Each house blends its brandies for uniformity of quality, which is maintained year in and year out. The standards represented by the stars vary with the different houses. For instance, all “3 star” brands will not be alike, for with one house it might be a 10 year brandy, with another a 6 year brandy, and with still another a 20 year brandy.

Aside from the matter of stars on the label, all brandy houses handling better quality brandies use letters to indicate quality. And the letters, oddly enough, represent not French words-but English. They represent the following:

• E means Especial
• F means Fine
• V means Very
• O means Old
• S means Superior
• P means Pale
• X means Extra
• C means Cognac

For instance, when you see on the neck labels of a bottle of Cognac the letters V.S., they mean Very Superior; S.F.C. means Superior Fine Cognac, and so forth.

There is a good deal of misunderstanding about the question of age in Cognac. It improves in the wood for roughly fifty to fifty-five years. The cost of aging the brandy for this length of time is very high, as the losses through evaporation and the risk of aging too long are considerable, and make the ultimate selling prices so excessive that even millionaires would refuse to pay them. Once the Cognac is bottled, it neither varies nor improves. A Cognac bottled in 1900 will taste exactly the same today as it did the day it was placed in the glass.

The romantic nonsense about the 80 and 104 year old so-called Napoleon Brandies is nothing but a come-on for the gullible amateur.

The question naturally arises: “What is the best age for Cognac?” To quote the late M. Georges Roullet of Cognac, France: “Cognac is like a woman. She is at her best between the ages of 25 and 40.” He obviously knew Cognac as well as he knew the ladies.

From the consumer’s point of view, there are several questions which are frequently asked.

“What is Fine Champagne?” This means that the brandies have been made from grapes grown either in the Grande or Petite Champagne; consequently a Fine Champagne Cognac should be very good.

“What is Fine de la Maison?” In France every restaurant includes among its list of brandies a Fine de la Maison. This is its “bar” brandy, and can be anything the worthy boniface wishes to buy. More than likely it will be “everything but” Cognac, and will usually be a sound enough French brandy. It does not mean that it is “Fine Champagne Cognac.” When you order a “Fine” (pronounced feen) all you can expect is brandy of some sort.

As for the “snifters,” they are not best for the appreciation of Cognac. The large body and relatively small opening are good, but the size requires too much to be put into each glass. The glass should never be larger than one capable of being held and warmed in one hand. By the same token avoid the tiny, thimble size one ounce pony or cordial glass.

The question of bottles is also important. An old bottle means nothing. Distilled spirits do not change in corked bottles. Much better is an old brandy from the wood in a gleaming, newly labeled container. Large magnum bottles are bad. It is true that a bottle of Cognac need not be consumed at one sitting like a bottle of wine. However, it stands to reason that the larger the bottle, the longer it remains partly full, and the combination of evaporation and oxidation in contact with air in time results in a flat and lifeless drink.

A good test of a fine Cognac is to empty a glass after it has been thoroughly wetted on the inside by the brandy. The glass will retain its delicious aroma for hours, and even days.

The ancient city of Cognac, on the Charente River, is in the heart of the district which produces the brandies that have carried its fame throughout the world. In fact, they have done the job so well that Cognac is probably the best-known French word in the world. In far-off China, or deep in darkest Africa, the word Cognac will evoke smiles of recognition when any other French word would produce a blank stare.

The story is told of a certain Cardinal who was dining one day in Rome with several other Cardinals, all come to pay their respects to the Holy Father. One of the princes of the Church, turning to the newcomer, asked:

“Where is your See?”

“I am Bishop of Angouleme,” he replied, and then, amused by their blank expressions, he added, with a twinkle in his eye: “I am also Bishop of Cognac!”

Smiles lit up the faces of his brother Cardinals. “Ah, the magnificent bishopric!” they exclaimed.

The Cognac district, the Charentais, has seven subdivisions, which, in the order of quality, are:

1. Grande Champagne
2. Petite Champagne
3. Borderies
4. Fins Bois
5. Bons Bois
6. Bois Ordinaires
7. Bois communs dits a Terroir

The qualities which make Cognac superior to all other brandies are not only the special process of distillation used in this district for centuries, but also the combination of ideal soil, climate, and other conditions. While it might be possible for another section to reproduce one or two of these essentials, the combination of all the factors cannot be achieved elsewhere.

The Cognac region was delimited by law in 1909. The Grande Champagne is a small district which is the kernel of the region. In it lies the town of Cognac about which everything centers, the territory, the commerce, and the fame of the product. Almost completely surrounding it is the Petite Champagne. To the north, and situated about at the point where the encirclement of the Grande Champagne is incomplete, are the Borderies, the smallest district.

Completely surrounding these first three districts are the Fins Bois. Around all these are the Bons Bois. And advancing from the Bons Bois to the Atlantic Ocean in the west, one passes through the Bois Ordinaires and the Bois a Terroir.

If the Bordeaux system of classifying growths were to be followed, one might say that the two Champagnes plus the Borderies would make up the great crus; the Fins Bois, the bourgeois crus; and the last three, the ordinary crus.

The nature of the soil is limy, and the more lime, the finer the wines produced for distillation.

The grape varieties which produce the wine are predominantly the Folle Blanche, with St. Emilion making up 30 to 40 per cent of the total, and an even smaller quantity of Colombar, all white grapes. They produce a white wine which is fruity, thin, and slightly acid, harsh and unpleasant to drink, with an average alcoholic content of 8 to 10 percent.

In Cognac, the little farmer often has his own still. Big shippers very often own a vineyard or two but they cannot possibly own the amount of vineyard land they need to take care of the demand for wine to produce brandy to supply the world. It is the custom in Cognac, therefore, for all the shippers to buy the brandy from the farmer. Each farmer has his little vineyard, gathers his grapes, makes his wine, and distills it as soon as it falls bright or has it distilled for him by one of the regional distillers. Distillation of brandy in France and in Cognac is supervised by Government inspectors. They have padlocks and seals on every one of these stills. At vintage time the inspectors visit each farm, measure the wine, and tell the farmer how much he can distill from such an amount.

The grapes are picked, pressed, and allowed to ferment, then dumped into stills or alembics-skins, pips, and all. These impurities are necessary to give the full character to the brandy. The stills are the old-fashioned pot stills; there are no modern patent stills in Cognac. Naturally, when you have so many different men carrying out this process of distillation, you will have a variety, so each shipper examines and tastes the young, new brandy. Sometimes the farmers will decide to keep a puncheon or so of brandy, but usually they sell it as soon as it has been distilled. At that time, as with other spirits, it is colorless and has a sharp, but fruity, coppery bouquet and taste. This coppery character, “gout de cuivre,” passes after the brandy has been in wood for a year.

At the distillery, the wine is received in large wooden casks, demimuids of about 157 gallons capacity. As the wine producers make wine both for consumption and distillation, there is always the temptation to mix the lees and other deposits from the drinkable wine with the wine to be distilled. The new wine, therefore, passing from the receiving room to the stills, goes through settling basins where gravity draws out the excess impurities. The wine now enters the still.

The distilling apparatus consists of a simple boiler, heated directly by a coal or wood fire. On top of the boiler is a metal hood to collect the vapors before they pass through to the condenser. This condenser is simply a pipe coiled inside of a large container which is continually supplied with cold water to provide the difference in temperature necessary to condense the vapors which then trickle out into a receiving can. All the metal used in a still of this type is pure copper.

The conversion of the wine into eau-de-vie de Charente is accomplished in two operations: the premiere chauffe and the bonne chauffe. The first gives a distillation of about 30 per cent alcoholic strength, which is then redistilled to give the eau-de-vie. The liquid coming from the condenser commences at a very high alcoholic content which eventually goes down to zero when the distillation is finished.

The most important thing in the distillation of Cognac is regularity: regularity of procedure, regularity of heating, and regularity of quantity. The alembics work continuously, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, during the distilling season, which lasts from three to eight months, depending on the quantity of the vintage.

As it comes from the alembic, the brandy is colorless, has about 70 per cent of alcohol, and a fruity, coppery taste and smell which come more from the newly formed ethers than from the copper in the still.

Cognac is aged in casks made of “limousin oak,” obtained from the forest near Limoges. The cooperage must be very good to stand up for 40 to 50 years. The casks are laid away in light-tight cellars or warehouses.

In the cask the Cognac changes by action of the wood and by contact with the oxygen in the air which enters through the pores of the wood, between the staves, and by the bung. In the same way that the air enters, the brandy evaporates, so there is a continual, inevitable loss in volume. As the alcohol evaporates more rapidly than the water and other constituents of the brandy, there is also a diminution of strength, rapid during the first few years, becoming more gradual after that, the average being about 1 per cent per year. During this time the brandy gradually changes from a colorless state, taking on a beautiful amber tone, and the taste and perfume are changed, so that which finally results is a finished Cognac, a delicate mellow liqueur with a natural bouquet of grape blossoms.

Today the demand is for qualities which remain the same, year in and year out, and therefore there are few vintage Cognacs in existence. This requires large stocks being held by the brandy merchant, and judicious and exact blending.

This coupage, or blending, is done many months before bottling. The various brandies are put into tremendous oaken vats, brought down to shipping strength-from 40 to 43 per cent alcohol as required-by the addition of distilled water. Coloring matter (caramel) is added to assure uniform color in every bottle. Inside these vats, wooden, propeller-like paddles rotate from time to time, thoroughly mixing the brandies. In several months’ time, the blend, thoroughly “married,” is put in bottles, cased, and is ready for market.

Brandy is a potable spirit obtained from the distillation of wine or a fermented mash of fruit, which usually has been suitably aged in wood. An alcoholic beverage answering this description may be produced in any part of the world, except Little America. However, when we say brandy, we usually mean the delightful “soul” of wine. In this sense, brandy is distilled wherever wine grapes grow and are pressed. There is one brandy which the world has accepted and recognized as superior to all others. This is Cognac brandy.

It is important to understand that all Cognac is brandy, but all brandies are not Cognac. Cognac is a brandy distilled from wines made of grapes grown within the legal limits of the Charente and Charente Inferieure Departments of France. Brandies distilled from wines other than these are not legally entitled to the name Cognac, even though they be shipped from the city of Cognac, by a recognized and reputable Cognac shipper.

History

The art of distillation, although known to the ancients, was not applied to wine commercially until the sixteenth century, when the brandy trade began. According to legend, a brisk trade in wine existed between the port of La Rochelle, on the Charente River, and Holland. All of this trade was carried on by sea, and the perils of war, which were great then as they are now, placed a premium on shipping.

Casks of wine take up quite a lot of space, particularly if you are using small sailing vessels. So the story is told of one very bright Dutch shipmaster who hit upon the idea of concentrating the wine-eliminating the water transporting the spirit, or the “soul,” of the wine to Holland, where the water could be put back. In his thrifty mind he figured that he could save an enormous amount on the freight charges.

When this enterprising man arrived in Holland, however, with his “concentrated wine,” his Dutch friends tasted it and liked it as it was. It would be a waste of water, they decided, to try to make it wine again. And thus the brandy trade had its inception. The Dutch called the new product brandewijn (burnt wine), presumably because fire, or heat, is used in the process of distillation. In time this term was Anglicized to the present-day word-brandy.

Alcohol is absorbed, in its original state, from the stomach directly into the blood stream.
Alcohol does not physically damage any of the healthy important organs of the body, such as the heart, liver, kidneys, stomach, brain, or nervous system.

The normal alcoholic strength of human blood (teetotalers included) is .003 per cent. In the average adult, the lethal limit is around .7 per cent.

Alcohol produces energy without making the body work, because it is taken into the blood stream in its original state. Alcohol itself does not produce fat. Other foods, which would normally produce the energy needed by the body, are stored, as an energy reserve, in the form of fat by those who drink regularly in substantial amounts.

The part of the body most quickly and directly affected by alcohol is the brain. Its effect, both on the brain and the nervous system, is relaxing, not stimulating.

Excess of alcohol once absorbed cannot be “worked off” except by oxidation and excretion. The normal rate of elimination is about 10 c.c. (This is one third of an ounce of absolute alcohol) per hour and this remains constant, whether you lie in bed, walk around in the open, or sit in a Turkish bath.

The best insulation against the effects of over-indulgence is food to line the walls of the stomach. The best food is the fat of milk. In the order of their protection value, these are the foods you can take: cream, whole milk, butter, meat fats, olive oil, and meat.

The heart of a hang-over is fatigue poison, lactic acid, physiologically induced by the alcohol. The only cure is rest and time.

There is no evidence that alcohol in itself causes any disease.

The principal danger of too much alcohol is social. One who is drunk whether from imbibing one or ten drinks, has a narcotized brain-one which is not awake. In a moment of crisis, when a quick decision is necessary, the part of the brain which reasons may be awake, while the part which commands the muscles may be asleep, or vice versa. The result in either case is trouble.

Alcohol is prescribed in many ailments, but is proscribed in some for which the layman believes it most valuable. These are shock, snake bite, fatigue and colds. In the first two the blood pressure is lowered. That’s what alcohol does to you. Fatigue means that you have too much lactic acid in the system and alcohol adds to it.

The conclusion one reaches from the assembled evidence is that alcoholic beverages in themselves, even when consumed in large quantities, are neither damaging nor harmful to man, physically. When taken temperately, they are beneficial.

We do not advocate that anyone drink for the “kick.” Drinking should be done for pleasure, relaxation, and the release to which the beverage contributes; it should be made a part of the good life.

The whole question of drinking, unhappily, has been invested with so much mumbo-jumbo, loudly proclaimed by badly informed zealots of reform, which the quieter, more restrained voices of the scientific investigators have been drowned out. There is room in all this discussion for a balanced judgment which can recognize the beneficial qualities of alcoholic beverages to man, and at the same time be aware of their faults.

The biggest bugaboo of all is the fact that these beverages contain alcohol.

Alcohol is a compound of several elements: carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, and in itself it not only is not harmful to man but is a necessary constituent of his blood stream. The normal alcoholic content of the average man’s blood is .003 per cent, the alcohol being produced by the action of the gastric juices on the sugars and starches consumed.

Alcohol is the only food taken into the system which is unaffected by the digestive system. The stomach and intestines pass it into the blood stream, unchanged, and it is diffused so rapidly, that within a few minutes after swallowing, it has reached every part of the body. It is carried to the liver, then to the right ventricle of the heart, to the lungs, back to the left ventricle of the heart, then through the aorta into the arteries, and throughout the body, finally coming to the brain and the higher nerve centers. Here is where it has its most pronounced effect.

The popular idea is that alcohol is a stimulant. Pathologically, that is not true. There is a false stimulation due to the loss of control of the inhibitory nerve centers which control heart beat, thus increasing the heart beat and causing a sensation of warmth. Actually, the effect is relaxing rather than stimulating.

Again, in regard to this sensation of warmth, there is another general misconception. It is actually only the surface of the body, the skin, which is warmed; and in reality more heat is given off by the body than is supplied by the alcohol. As a matter of fact, alcohol is an excellent way of reducing body heat rapidly. This is why so much rum is drunk in the tropics. It is more cooling than ice water.

All investigations made on the toxic effects of alcohol have been based on doses of pure alcohol. These effects are materially reduced as dilution is increased, and when alcohol is part of other substances, such as the solids of wine or beer, its intoxicating quality is reduced further.

A book which has done much to correct the countless misconceptions about the properties of alcohol is Smith and Helwig’s Liquor, the Servant of Man, which proves conclusively the following points:

“Alcohol is actually manufactured in the human body, but is less toxic than most of the other natural secretions, such as thyroid, pituitary, adrenal, pancreas and bile.”

“Alcohol, if taken in anything remotely approaching customary amounts, is harmless to the body and in many cases beneficial.”

“Alcohol is one of the most valuable medicines in the world, both as a sedative and as a food, is useful for these and other reasons in many disease conditions, and is almost always indicated in old age.”

“Alcohol, to indulge in an understatement, has had a conspicuous position in the history of the race. It fathered religion and science and agriculture, provided more human confidence, and promoted good will toward men. It is the most efficient and practical relaxer of the driving force in the brain; it offers an immediate method of personal enjoyment; it is the greatest medium known for the purpose of permitting man to forget, at least for a little while, the shortness of life and the ludicrously helpless and infinitesimal part he plays in the functions of the universe.”

What is rectifying? Theoretically, to purify or improve, but practically it means anything which changes the character of a spirit, with certain exceptions as provided by law.

Rectified spirits must pay a “rectifying tax” of thirty cents per gallon.

Rectifying must be performed in an establishment which holds a “Rectifier’s License.”

Only tax paid spirits may be used for rectifying.

What constitutes rectifying?

1. Blending two different spirits.
2. Blending two different whiskies, i.e., whiskies distilled in two different distilleries or in two different seasons of the year.
3. Blending whiskey with neutral spirits.
4. Redistillation of a whiskey which has been stored in a barrel.
5. Adding coloring, flavoring or anything except water.
6. Redistillation of neutral spirits for potable purposes.
7. The distillation of neutral spirits over a flavoring agent.
8. Compounding of neutral spirits with essential oils for gin or liqueurs, and/ or simple syrup for sweetening.

The following do NOT constitute rectifying and consequently are not subject to the thirty cents per gallon rectification tax:

1. The blending of whiskies which are four years old or more, when such blending takes place under U.S. Government supervision.
2. The distillation of gin, where the spirit is produced from grain and the entire process is continuous within closed pipe lines in one plant.
3. The mere reduction in proof with water only.

Before the making of distilled spirits became a science, the primitive distillers had a very simple method for determining the potable strength of the distillate. An equal quantity of spirit and gunpowder were mixed and a flame applied. If the gunpowder failed to burn, the spirit was too weak; if it burned too brightly, it was too strong. But if the mixture burned evenly, with a blue flame, it was said to have been “proved.”

Today we know that this potable mean was approximately 50 per cent of alcohol by volume, and we have adopted the term “proof” to describe the strength of alcoholic beverages. In the United States proof spirit is a spirit containing 50 per cent of alcohol by volume at a temperature of 60° F. This is an arbitrary measurement. Each degree of proof is equal to one-half of one per cent of alcohol. Therefore, a spirit of 90 proof contains 45 per cent of alcohol, and a spirit of 150 proof contains 75 per cent of alcohol. The trade term for a spirit of more than 100 proof is “overproof” spirit.

Wines, which are the result of the natural processes of fermentation of the sugar contained in the grape juice is quite different to alcoholic beverages obtained by distilling out the essence of an alcohol-containing liquid.

• Brandy is a potable spirit, suitably aged in wood, obtained by distilling wine or a fermented mash of fruit. Examples are: Cognac, Armagnac, Spanish brandy, Greek brandy, American brandy, Kirsch or Kirschwasser (cherry brandy), Calvados or Apple Jack (apple brandy), Slivovitz (plum brandy), and other fruit brandies.
• Whisky is a spirit, suitably aged in wood, usually oak, obtained from the distillation of a fermented mash of grain. Examples are: Scotch whisky, Irish whiskey, Canadian whisky, Rye whiskey, and Bourbon whiskey.
• Rum is a potable spirit, suitably aged in wood, obtained from the distillation of a fermented mash of sugar-cane juice or molasses. Examples are: Jamaica rum, Demerara rum, Barbados rum, Martinique rhum, Cuban ron, Puerto Rican ron, Haitian rhum, Philippine ron, New England rum, Batavia Arak, and others.
• Gin is a flavored beverage, obtained by rectifying a high-proof spirit in the presence of a flavoring agent. Examples are: English London dry and Old Tom gins, Geneva, Schiedam or Holland’s gin, American gins similar to these, and fruit-flavored gins.
• Cordials or Liqueurs are flavored beverages, whose flavor is obtained either by infusion or distillation of the flavoring agent, to which is then added simple syrup for sweetening. They mayor may not be artificially colored. All liqueurs or cordials are sweet. For tariff and taxation purposes, the regulations specify that a cordial or liqueur must have in excess of 2~ per cent of sugar by volume. Examples are: apricot liqueur, Benedictine, blackberry liqueur, Cointreau, Crème de Cassis, Crème de Cacao, Crème de Menthe, Chartreuse, Grand Marnier, Prunelle, strawberry liqueur, Triple Sec, and many others.
• Miscellaneous Spirits are obtained by distilling from various starchy or sugar-containing products. They include: Akvavit, Pisco, Tequila, Vodka, Zubrovka, Okolehao, Bitters. M

In other words, I have merely said that a potable spirit, obtained from a given basic material, has an accepted trade name. But it should be explained that the factors which make them differ from one another are the matters, aside from alcohol, which are necessarily distilled out with the alcohol: the flavoring elements, the small amounts of alcohols other than ethyl; the solids and minerals, which differ in fruits, grains, and sugar cane.

While distillation is in progress, it can be carried to the point where all the alcohol is separated. The resultant spirit would be pure or absolute alcohol of 200 proof. Such a spirit would be the same, whether obtained from fruit, grain, or molasses, and would have no character whatsoever. We are not concerned here with such a pure spirit-in fact, for all practical purposes a spirit of 190 proof is sufficiently neutral for blending, and such spirits are used by the trade daily. The trade term for them is neutral spirits or cologne spirits.

Newly distilled spirits, whether obtained from fruit, grain, or molasses, are colorless, have little character, and are quite similar. They have a sharp, biting aroma and taste. When they have been matured for a certain length of time in wood, however, the “impurities” or congeners develop, creating products entirely different in aroma, taste, and character.

The various congeners in spirits consist of fusel oils, extracts of mineral salts and solids in minute quantities, acids, esters, aldehydes, and furfural.

Fusel oils are other or higher alcohols, such as propyl, butyl, amyl, hexyl, heptyl, and the dialcohols and trialcohols.

Acids found in spirits vary with different liquors, but include propionic, butyric, tartaric, lactic, succinic, and so forth.

Esters are produced by the combination of the acids and the alcohols, and form the volatile substance that gives the aroma to the spirit.

Aldehydes are produced by the combination of the alcohols and air, and are a contributing factor in giving a distinctive character to the spirit.

Furfural is an aldehyde. It is mostly obtained during distillation and partly extracted from the oak casks in which spirits are matured.

When the freshly distilled spirit flows from the still it is colorless, has a sharp pungent alcoholic aroma and sharp taste. If distilled out at 180 proof, it would be difficult for any but experienced distillers to differentiate among distillates of grain, fruit (grape), or cane. When the spirit is distilled out at a lower proof, 160 or less, it contains more congeners, and naturally has more character. Such a spirit, upon maturing in wood, undergoes certain changes in its composition, which develop its flavor and character.

Once it is placed in glass, and sealed against air, no further change will take place. But as long as it is in wood, there is constant change, brought about by the oxidizing effect of the air or oxygen on the alcohol. The oxidation, or burning, causes the esters and acids to increase materially, the aldehydes slowly, the fusel oils to remain practically the same, and a certain amount of loss of alcohol to take place in proportion to volume. Furthermore, the spirit will absorb some tannin and other coloring material from the wood container, and become less harsh and, in a sense, sweeter than it was originally.

The origin of the art and science of distillation is shrouded in the dim past. It is poetical to call its secret a gift of the gods, but it is more reasonable to suppose that it was discovered by some long-forgotten alchemist.

The essence of the principle of distillation is this: alcohol vaporizes, i.e., becomes a gas, at a lower temperature than water. The boiling point of water is 212ºF., when it becomes steam or vapor; while that of alcohol is 176ºF. Therefore, if heat is applied to an alcohol-containing liquid, and the temperature is kept below 212º, all of the alcohol may be separated from the original liquid. If, at the same time, an apparatus is used whereby the alcoholic vapors are gathered and not allowed to escape into the air, it is possible to condense them into liquid form. The result will be an alcohol of high purity. This sounds simple and so it is, if one wishes to produce alcohol, but if one is trying to produce a potable alcoholic beverage, the problem is more difficult, and, if the product is to be a fine one, more delicate.

Apparently the science of distillation was known to the ancient Egyptians and Chaldeans. Long before the Christian era the Chinese obtained a spirit from rice beer; and Arak has been distilled from sugar cane and rice in the East Indies since 800 B.C. Later we find Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), the great Greek philosopher, stating in his Meteorology that “sea water can be made potable by distillation; wine and other liquids can be submitted to the same process.” There are many such references to distilled spirits in ancient writings. Even Captain Cook, on his voyage of discovery to the South Pacific, found the natives of the islands familiar with the distillation process.

For our practical purposes, however, the modern history of distillation may be said to date from the Arabs or Saracens. They gave us the words “alcohol” and “alembic” -the word for still, used in all but English-speaking countries. The first mention of distillation is attributed to an Arabian alchemist of the tenth century, one Albukassen; later in the thirteenth century a Majorcan chemist and philosopher, Ramon Lull, described the process. Even before his time, the Celts of Eire and Scotia, unaware of the efforts of the Arabs, were producing a potable spirit which they called uisgebeatha or uisgebaugh – “water of life.”

Curiously enough, every ancient treatise referred to spirits as acquae vite or aqua vitae-the eau de vie of France today. It is strange that the product men have designated from the beginning as the “water of life,” should have been regarded by many in this country as dangerous to life.

Although modern science has progressed amazingly, and methods have grown more and more efficient, the apparatus used for distilling most spirits is still much the same, save for a few refinements, as the one used by the original distillers, many centuries ago. Reduced to its two essential parts, it consists of a still and a worm condenser. The still is a copper pot, with a broad, rounded bottom, and a long taper-neck. The worm condenser is a copper spiral tube which is connected to the still by a copper pipe. The worm passes through a jacket containing cold water to assist in a more rapid condensation of the vapors. Such an apparatus is known in the trade as a pot still. Pot stills are used exclusively in the distillation of brandies, Scotch and most Irish whiskies, most liqueurs, Arak, and some rums.

In 1826, Robert Stein, of the famous Scotch whisky distilling family, invented the patent still. This was later perfected by Aeneas Coffey, whose patent replaced Stein’s and whose name has come down to us in connection with this type of still, which is known as a Coffey or patent still.

Wine gifts for the discriminate wine taster.

Examine your glass of wine. This is not actually tasting, to be sure. But color is extremely important to our appetites, and the color of a wine can have tremendous appeal. A well made wine is a mighty fine sight. To be enjoyed fully it.should be served in fine glasses-simple and clear-so that it may shine to its best advantage. Wine served otherwise is being sold short.

Once the color and sparkle of the wine have been appreciated, it is time to begin the tasting. Our experience of tasting involves four separate factors: bouquet or the nose of the wine; aroma or the peculiar sensation of smelling internally inside the mouth; body or the feel of the alcoholic content of the wine; and finish or those sensations which linger in the mouth when the wine has been swallowed. And so, the business of tasting a wine is nothing more than weighing the pleasure you find in each of these factors-bouquet, aroma, body and finish-and discovering how well your pleasures stack up.

Begin by sniffing the wine. Sniff it. Don’t inhale it in a furious snort. Hold the glass three or four inches below your nose and gingerly take in two or three whiffs of the perfume. Hold those little whiffs in your nose until you feel them ooze into the back of your throat. Exhale completely and swallow, freeing your head of the smell completely. Repeat the entire sniffing process-two or three times if you are enjoying yourself. Now, bring your nose directly over the rim of the glass and very slowly and steadily breathe in the complete bouquet of the wine. What you now fill your head with cannot be described as anything but a bouquet-a combination of all the perfumes in the wine. If it is a good wine, the bouquet has cleanliness and freshness as well as a haunting compound of odors, a firm sweetness binding the whole. If there is the faintest trace of sourness, bitterness, mustiness, sulphur or mould, we know immediately the wine is inferior.

One deep breath of a fine bouquet is hardly enough. Why not enjoy such a pleasure? Breathe again. You may discover a few delightful sensations you missed the first time. And you may just as well know, at this point, very few wines are as wonderful as their smell. When somebody describes a wine as “great” this is what he means: its aroma, body and finish are in the same league with its bouquet.

Next, investigate the aroma. Take a good, bold sip of the wine. Hold it firmly in your mouth. You will notice at once the perfumes you smelled in the bouquet are suddenly present inside your mouth. You seem to be feeling the smell of the wine as though the smell were tangible. You will know whether all the bouquet is there or whether some of it has faltered on the way and been lost. You will decide whether new perfumes are present. And you will decide for yourself whether all the various odors are as delightful in the mouth as they were in the nose. This will be your judgment of the aroma.

Now you slurp the wine around in your mouth as you set about judging the body of the wine. Some Americans look on this operation as being somewhat vulgar, like dunking petits fours in a teacup. Actually that slurping, complete with whatever gurgling sounds it may produce, is an essential part of wine-tasting. After a little practice, you can hold the gurgling down to something less clamorous than faulty plumbing, but it is not until it has come in contact with the entire lining of the mouth that the body of the wine is felt. The body is the alcohol; this is what causes the faintly burning sensation which now fills the mouth. It appears to give the wine a feeling of substance or lack of substance. Quite often we are almost automatically tempted to chew a wine, it feels so substantial. Such a wine we describe as “full-bodied.” Then as the wine is swallowed a warmth wells in the back of the throat, and the fine qualities of the alcohol and the gentleness of the heat blend with the lingering bouquet and aroma.

You swallow; and what is left is the finish. This is quite often the most dazzling part of wine-tasting. Among people who are just learning how to taste, it often is the most vivid part of tasting. This is particularly true if the wine is a fine one, for all of a sudden one is aware of lingering fragrances which have heretofore been undetected: they suddenly permeate the mouth and nose. This finish seems to be a recapitulation of all the charm-from the first whiff of bouquet to the final swallow-and the pleasure is considerably enhanced by the knowledge that it is a transitory pleasure, that like a sunset or a sweet chord of music, it can be treasured only in one’s memory.

This, in effect, is the process of tasting a wine. Developing a wine-tasting technique requires much patience, but it should be a pleasure.