WHEY POWDER. Prep. 1. From whey gently evaporated to dryness, and powdered along with about 1-3rd of its weight of lump sugar.
2. Sugar, 7 oz.; sugar of milk, 2 oz.; gum Arabic, 1 oz. (all in fine powder); mix well. 1 oz. dissolved in 11⁄4 pint of water forms extemporaneous whey.
WHIS′KY. Dilute alcohol obtained from the fermented wort of malt or grain. That from the former is the most esteemed. The inferior qualities of this spirit are prepared from barley, oats, or rye, a small portion only of which is malted, or from potatoes mashed with a portion of barley malt, the resulting wash being carelessly fermented and distilled, and purposely suffered to burn, to impart the peculiar empyreumatic or smoky flavour so much relished by the lower orders of whisky drinkers. The malt whisky, sold as such, of the principal Scotch and Irish distillers is fully equal in quality to London gin, from which it merely differs in flavour. The peculiar flavour of whisky may be imitated by adding a few drops each of pure creosote and purified fusel oil to 2 or 3 gallons of good London gin; and the imitation will be still
more perfect if the liquor be kept for some months before drinking it.
We are indebted to ‘Land and Water’ for the following interesting particulars relating to Irish whiskey:
“Genuine unadulterated Irish whisky has, of late years, become a great desideratum as a wholesome and agreeable beverage, and in the article produced by the large and successful company whose premises and business I am about to describe, the consuming public have every guarantee of its excellence and purity, as far as can be insured by the use of the very best materials, great skill and care in the manufacturing processes, and the valuable and extensive buildings in which the spirit is stored until it attains the maturity and mellowness which age alone can confer.
“No blending process of new whiskies can effect this, no distiller who has not very extensive bonded warehouses is to be trusted. Acre after acre of cellars, vault after vault, corridor after corridor, each and all dim, damp, and dark, and guarded by the exciseman’s talismanic padlock—all these are necessary for the soundness of the distillery. For to secure age and quality, the effect of several years storage in these vaults is required. If you wish to see such store-rooms to perfection, go to Cork, which may be considered the capital of the Irish whisky trade. Even Dublin, with its Jamiesons, its Powers, and its Roes, must bow down before it.
“But what is most singular of all, one company represents that important branch of manufacture, and have therefore a good right to their title of ‘Cork Distilleries Company.’ A little over a quarter of a century ago there were five distilleries in Cork—Wise’s, Hewett’s, Daly’s, Murphy’s, and Waters’. In 1867, however, an amalgamation took place, and the present company was started, and the work of the five distilleries was concentrated into three—the North Mall, still known as Wise’s (that proprietor wisely allowing himself to be bought out, after having made one of the largest private fortunes in Ireland); the Midleton, situated at a pretty village of that name, about ten miles from Cork, and the Watercourse, in the north-western suburb of the city. The three distilleries are capable of producing 1,000,000 gallons each per annum, which represents an annual duty of one million and a half pounds sterling. Their paid-up capital is a quarter of a million, and a very large rest fund. Their works and property are insured for over three-quarters of a million sterling, and they find employment for about 1000 men.
“The Brewing Process.—I shall have occasion to describe each of these three distilleries during the course of this paper, but it would perhaps be as well to run hurriedly through the several processes of whisky distillation. It may be divided roughly into brewing and distilling. Malt and barley, are, of course,
the ingredients used. Barley as it comes from the market is distinguished by the appellation ‘green.’ This is either steeped and converted into malt, or kiln-dried and ground. It is then removed to the mash-tuns, where water is added, and the whole mixed by revolving machinery. After some hours’ steeping, the water has soaked all the desired properties from the grain, and is known as wort. This is led away or pumped by a complicated series of pipes to the top of the manufactory, where it undergoes a cooling process. When of the desired temperature it is conducted to the fermenting vats—vast wooden vessels of imposing appearance ranged in rows. The brewing processes end with this fermentation.