Prep. 1. To 12 galls. of malt spirit (finest and flavourless) at proof, add, of water, 5 galls.; crude red tartar or wine-stone, 3⁄4 lb. (previously dissolved in 1 gall. of boiling water); acetic ether, 6 fl. oz.; French wine-vinegar, 2 quarts; French plums (bruised), 5 lbs.; sherry wine-bottoms, 1⁄2 gall.; mix in a sherry or French-brandy cask, and let them stand for about a month, frequently ‘rummaging up’ the liquor with a stick; next draw over 15 galls. of the mixture from a still furnished with an agitator. Put the ‘rectified spirit’ into a clean, fresh-emptied Cognac-brandy cask, and add of tincture of catechu, 1 pint; oak shavings, 1 lb.; and spirit colouring, 1⁄2 pint; agitate occasionally for a few days, and then let it repose for a week, when it will be fit for use. Prod., 15 galls, of BRANDY, 17 u. p. Age greatly improves it.
2. Malt spirit (as before), 99 galls.; red tartar (dissolved), 7 lbs.; acetic ether, 1⁄2 gall.; wine-vinegar, 5 galls.; bruised raisins or French plums, 14 lbs.; bitter-almond cake (bruised and steeped for twenty-four hours in twice its weight of water, which must be used with it), 1⁄4 lb.; water, q. s.; macerate as before, and draw over, with a quick fire, 120 galls. To the distilled spirit add a few lbs. of oak shavings; 2 lbs. of powdered catechu (made into a paste with hot water), and spirit-colouring q. s.; and ‘finish’ as in the last. Prod., 120 galls, of spirit, fully 17 u. p. Equal in quality to the last.
3. Clean spirit (17 u. p.), 100 galls; nitrous ether, 2 quarts; cassia buds (ground) 4 oz.; bitter-almond meal, 5 oz.; orris-root (sliced), 6 oz,; powdered cloves, 1 oz.; capsicum, 11⁄2 oz.; good vinegar, 3 galls.; brandy colouring, 3 pints; powdered catechu, 2 lbs.; full-flavoured Jamaica rum, 2 galls. Mix in an empty Cognac ‘piece,’ and macerate for a fortnight, with occasional stirring. Prod., 106 galls., at 21 or 22 u. p.
4. Malt spirit (17 u. p.), 100 galls.; catechu, 2 lbs.; tincture of vanilla, 1⁄2 pint; burnt sugar colouring, 1 quart; good rum, 3 galls.; acetic or nitrous ether, 2 quarts. Mix as the last.
5. Clean spirit (17 u. p.), 89 galls.; high-flavoured Cognac, 10 galls.; oil of cassia, 2 dr.; oil of bitter almonds, 3 dr.; powdered catechu, 1 lb.; cream of tartar (dissolved), 11⁄4 lbs.; Beaufoy’s concentrated acetic acid, 1⁄2 gall.; sugar colouring, 2 to 3 pints; good rum, 1 gall. When the above mixtures are distilled, the French brandy, colouring, and catechu, should be added to the distilled spirit.
6. To plain spirit (coloured), at 17 u. p., add a little tincture of catechu, and a sufficient quantity of eau-de-vie de marc, or of the oil distilled from wine-lees, to flavour it.
Obs. The oil referred to in the last formula is obtained by distillation from the lees of wine, either dried and made up into cakes, or in their wet state, mixed with about 7 or 8 times their weight of water. This oil should be kept dissolved in alcohol, as it is otherwise apt to lose its flavour. Brandy from any part of the world may be very closely imitated by distilling the oil from the lees of the wines produced in that particular district. Where black tea is cheap, as in the United States of America, it is very commonly employed to impart the roughness of brandy to the coloured spirit, and the subsequent addition of a little ‘flavouring’ greatly improves it. A really good article of cider-spirit thus treated forms a passable ‘mock brandy.’ In conclusion, we may remark that, as the strength and quality of ingredients frequently vary, and success depends greatly on skill in manipulation, much must be left to the experience, judgment, and discretion of the operator. In all cases he must recollect that a certain degree of ‘age’ is absolutely necessary to give a high character to any spirit. Indeed, to age in the one case, and its absence in the other, may be referred the reasons why French brandy and British brandy, apart from mere shades of flavour, so materially differ.
The production of a flavoured British spirit closely resembling French brandy is a subject well worthy of the attention of the ingenious chemist, rectifier, and cellarman, as a matter of profit; and of the amateur, as affording an interesting field for useful and amusing experiment.
Brandy, Car′away. A species of cordial commonly prepared as follows:—1. Caraway-seeds (bruised), 4 oz.; lump sugar, 2 lbs.; British brandy, 1 gall.; macerate a fortnight, occasionally shaking the bottle.—2. Sugar, 1 lb.; caraways (bruised), 1 oz.; 3 bitter almonds (grated); spirit-colouring, 1 oz.; plain spirit or gin (22 u. p.), 1⁄2 gall.; as before. Some persons omit the colouring.
Brandy, Cher′ry. Prep. 1. Brandy and cherries (crushed), of each 1 gall.; let them lie together for 3 days, then express the liquor, and add 2 lbs. of lump sugar; in a week or two decant the clear portion for use.