Alcohol in Liquors.
The following table shows the proportion of alcohol (by volume) in the various liquors.
| Volume of Alcohol, per cent. | ||
|---|---|---|
| Cognac Brandy | 55 to 70 | |
| Arrack, made from Rice | 60 to 61 | |
| Whiskey, | American | 60 |
| “ | Scotch | 50 to 51 |
| ” | Irish | 50 |
| Rum | 49-7 | |
| Gin | 47-8 | |
Brandy.—This is made from wine; that from white grapes is preferred and it requires about seven bottles of wine to make one of brandy. Even the best Cognac is burning and rough until kept for two or three years, and it improves with increased age, until, when thirty or forty years old, it develops a flavor somewhat similar to that of vanilla.
Whiskey is a spirit distilled either from fermented malt, rye, barley, oats, wheat or corn. The very best and sweetest grain is only used for making good whiskey. American whiskey is more easily obtained pure than perhaps any spirituous liquor and is therefore more reliable in this country. The name whiskey is a corruption of the Erse and Irish word Usquebaugh, “Water of Life,” the French Eau de Vie.
Rum is made from distilled molasses and skimmings from the boiling sugar.
Gin is distilled from unmalted grain, the product being rectified and flavored with juniper berries.