Fig. 39 —The shaded part at the bottom of each bottle shows the amount of alcohol in the drink.
Fig. 40 —A still used in making whisky or brandy. The heat makes the alcohol fumes or vapor rise and pass over through the pipe coiled in a vessel of cold water. The cold changes the vapor to a liquid which is whisky.
Whisky and Rum.—These two drinks are strong in alcohol. Nearly one half of each is pure alcohol. Whisky is usually made from rye, corn, or wheat, or all three together. They furnish the food in which the yeast grows and makes alcohol. This watery mixture of grain and alcohol is then heated and the vapor or steam forms whisky after it goes off through a pipe into another vessel. This kind of heating is distillation. Rum is formed in somewhat the same way from molasses or cane juice.
PRACTICAL QUESTIONS
1. Name some alcoholic drinks.
2. What is an unnatural thirst?
3. Explain how the yeast plant forms alcohol.
4. Tell how beer is made.
5. Tell how wine is made.
6. What is brandy?
7. Which drinks contain most alcohol?