For the principles of this process, see Distillation, Supplement.
The objects of distillation, considered as a trade distinct from the other branches of chemistry, are chiefly spirituous liquors, and those waters impregnated with the essential oil of plants, commonly called simple distilled waters. The distilling compound spirits and wort between distillers is reckoned a different branch of business, and they who deal in that way are commonly called rectifiers. This difference, however, though it exists among commercial people, is not at all founded in the nature of the thing; compound spirits being made, and simple spirits being rectified, by the very same operations by which they are at first distilled, or with at least very trifling alterations.
The great object with every distiller ought to be, to procure a spirit perfectly flavourless, or at least as well freed from any particular flavour as may be; and in this country the procuring of such a spirit is no easy matter. The only materials for distillation that have been used in large quantity, are malt, and molasses or treacle. Both of these, especially the first, abound with an oily matter, which, rising along with the spirit, communicates a disagreeable flavour to it, and from which it can scarce be freed afterwards by any means whatever.—Some experiments have been made upon carrots, as a subject for the distillers; but these are not yet sufficiently decisive; nor is it probable that a spirit drawn from carrots would be at all devoid of flavour, more than one drawn from malt.—To dissipate the essential oil which gives the disagreeable flavour to malt spirits, it has been proposed to inspissate the wort into a rob, or thin extract like a syrup; afterwards to thin it with water, and ferment it in the usual manner. This certainly promises great success; there is no subject we know of that is possessed of any kind of essential oil, but what will part with it by distillation or by long boiling. The inspissating of the wort, however, does not seem to be either necessary or safe to be attempted; for, in this case, there is great danger of its contracting an empyreuma, which could never be remedied. The quantity lost by evaporation, therefore, might be occasionally added, with an equal certainty of dissipating the obnoxious oil. Whether the yield of spirit would be as great in this case as in the other, is a question that can by no means be discussed without further experiments. According to a theory adopted by some distillers, namely, that essential oils are convertible into ardent spirits; and that the more oily any subject is, the greater quantity of spirits is obtainable from it; the practice of dissipating the oil before fermentation must certainly be a loss. But we are too little acquainted with the composition of vinous spirits, to have any just foundation for adopting such theories. Besides, it is certain, that the quantity of ardent spirit producible from any substance, malt for instance, very greatly exceeds the quantity of essential oil which can by any means be obtained from the same; nor do we find that those substances, which abound most in essential oil, yield the greatest quantity of spirits. So far from this, fine sugar, which contains little or no essential oil, yields a great deal of ardent spirit.
Previous to the operation of distilling, those of brewing and fermentation are necessary; but as these concerns are fully treated of under the article Brewing, we shall here only observe, that unless the boiling of the wort, before fermentation, is found to dissipate the essential oil, so as to take away the flavour of the malt, there is no necessity for being at the trouble of that operation. The wort may be immediately cooled and fermented.
—The fermentation ought always to be carried on as slowly as possible, and performed in vessels closely stoppered; only having at the bung a valve pressed down by a spring, which will yield with less force than is sufficient to burst the vessel. It should even be suffered to remain till it has become perfectly fine and transparent; as by this means the spirit will not only be superior in quantity, but also in fragrance, pungency, and vinosity, to that commonly produced.
With regard to performing the operation of distilling, there is only one general rule that can be given, namely, to let the heat, in all cases, be as gentle as possible. Accidents will be effectually prevented by having the worm of a proper wideness, and by rectifying the spirit in a water bath; which, if sufficiently large, will perform the operation with all the dispatch requisite for the most extensive business. The vessel in which the rectification is performed, ought to be covered with water up to the neck, and to be loaded with lead at the bottom, so that it may sink in the water. Thus the operation will go on as quickly as if it was on an open fire, and without the least danger of a miscarriage, nor will it ever be necessary to make the water in the bath come to a boiling heat.
As the end of rectification is to make the spirit clean as well as strong, or to deprive it of the essential oil as well as the aqueous part, it will be proper to have regard to this event in the first distillation. For this purpose, the spirit, as it first comes over, should be received into a quantity of cold water; as by this means the connexion betwixt it and the oily matter will be considerably lessened. For the same reason, after it has been once rectified in the water bath, it should be again mixed with an equal quantity of water, and distilled a second time. Thus the spirit will be freed from most of the oily matter, even though it hath been very much impregnated with it at first. It is necessary to observe, however, that by using such a quantity of water, a considerable part of the water will be left in the residuum of each rectification. All these residuums, therefore, must be mixed together, and distilled on an open fire, with a brisk heat, that the remainder of the spirit may be got out.
After the spirit has been distilled once or twice in this manner from water, it may be distilled in a water bath without any addition; and this last rectification will free it from most of the water it contains. But if it is required to be highly dephlegmated, a quantity of pur pure and dry salt of tartar must be added. The attraction between this salt and water is greater than that betwixt water and the spirit of wine. The salt therefore imbibes the water contained in the spirit, and sinks with it to the bottom. The spirit, by a single distillation, may then be rendered perfectly free from water; but there is great danger of some of the alkaline salt rising along with it, and impregnating it with what is called an urinous flavour. When this once happens, it is impossible to be remedied; and the only way to prevent it is, to make the heat with which the spirit is distilled as gentle as possible. It hath been proposed, indeed, to prevent the rising of any thing alkaline, by the admixture of some calcinated vitriol, sal catharticus amarus, or other imperfect neutral salt; but this can scarcely be supposed to answer any good purpose, as the alkali unites itself with the oily matter of the spirit, and forms a kind of saponaceous compound, which is not so easily affected by the acid of the vitriol or other salt, especially as these salts will not dissolve in the spirit itself.
One very great desideratum among the distillers of this country is, a method of imitating the foreign spirits, brandy, rum, gin, &c. to a tolerable degree of perfection; and notwithstanding the many attempts that are daily made for this purpose, the success in general hath been very indifferent. On this subject, Mr Cooper has the following observations, in his Complete System of Distillation: which, as they are applicable to all other spirits as well as brandy, we shall here transcribe.—"The general method of distilling brandies in France need not be formally described, as it differs in nothing from that practised here in working from malt, wash, or molasses; nor are they in the least more cleanly or exact in the operation. They only observe more particularly to throw in a little of the natural ley into the still along with the wine, as finding this gives their spirit the flavour for which it is generally admired abroad.—But, though brandy is extracted from wine, experience tells us, that there is a great difference in the grapes from which the wine is made. Every soil, every climate, every kind of grapes, varies with regard to the quantity and quality of the spirits extracted from them. There are some grapes which are only fit for eating; others for drying, as those of Damascus, Corinth, Provence, and Avignon, but not fit to make wine.—Some wines are very proper for distillation, and others much less so. The wines of Languedoc and Provence afford a great deal of brandy by distillation, when the operation is performed on them in their full strength. The Orleans wines, and those of Blois, afford yet more; but the best are those of the territories of Cogniac and Andaye; which are, however, in the number of those the least drunk in France. Whereas those of Burgundy and Champagne, though of a very fine flavour, are improper, because they yield but very little in distillation.
"It must also be farther observed, that all the wines for distillation, as those of Spain, the Canaries, of Alicant, of Cyprus, of St Peres, of Toquet, of Grave, of Hungary, and others of the same kind, yield very little brandy by distillation; and consequently would cost the distiller considerably more than he could sell it for. What is drawn from them is indeed very good, always retaining the saccharine quality and rich flavour of the wine from whence it is drawn; but as it grows old, this flavour often becomes aromatic, and is not agreeable to all palates.
"Hence we see that brandies always differ according as they are extracted from different species of grapes. Nor would there be so great a similarity as there is between the different kinds of French brandies, were the strongest wines used for this purpose; but this is rarely the case; the weakest and lowest flavoured wines only are distilled for their spirit, or such as prove absolutely unfit for any other use.
"A large quantity of brandy is distilled in France during the time of the vintage; for all those poor grapes that prove unfit for wine, are usually first gathered, pressed, their juice fermented, and directly distilled. This rids their hands of their poor wines at once, and leaves their casks empty for the reception of better. It is a general rule with them not to distil wine that will fetch any price as wine; for, in this state, the profits upon them are vastly greater than when reduced to brandies. This large stock of small wines, with which they are almost overrun in France, sufficiently accounts for their making such vast quantities of brandy in that country, more than in others which lie in warmer climates, and are much better adapted to the production of grapes.—Nor is this the only fund of their brandies; for all the wine that turns eager, is also condemned to the still; and, in short, all that they can neither export nor consume at home, which amounts to a large quantity; since much of the wine laid in for their family provision is so poor as not to keep during the time of spending.
"Hence many of our English spirits, with proper management, are convertible into brandies that shall hardly be distinguished from the foreign in many respects, provided the operation be neatly performed.
"The common method of rectifying spirits from alkaline salts, destroys their vinosity, and in its stead introduces an urinous or lixivious taste. But as it is absolutely necessary to restore, or at least to substitute in its room, some degree of vinosity, several methods have been proposed, and a multitude of experiments performed, in order to discover this great desideratum. But none has succeeded equal to the spirit of nitre; and accordingly this spirit, either strong or dulcified, has been used by most distillers to give an agreeable vinosity to their spirits. Several difficulties, however, occur in the method of using it; the principal of which is, its being apt to quit the liquor in a short time, and consequently depriving the liquor of that vinosity it was intended to give. In order to remove this difficulty, and prevent the vinosity from quitting the goods, the dulcified spirit of nitre, which is much better than the strong spirit, should be prepared by a previous digestion, continued for some time, with alcohol; the longer the digestion is continued, the more intimately will they be blended, and the compound rendered the milder and softer.
"After a proper digestion, the dulcified spirit should be mixed with the brandy, by which the vinosity will be intimately blended with the goods, and not disposed to fly off for a very considerable time.—No general rule can be given for the quantity of this mineral acid requisite to be employed; because different proportions of it are necessary in different spirits. It should, however, be carefully attended to, that though a small quantity of it will undoubtedly give an agreeable viscosity, resembling that naturally found in the fine subtle spirits drawn from wines, yet an over large dose of it will not only cause a disagreeable flavour, but also render the whole design abortive, by discovering the imposition. Those, therefore, who endeavour to cover a foul taste in goods by large doses of dulcified spirit of nitre, will find themselves deceived.
"But the best, and indeed the only method of imitating French brandies to perfection, is by an essential oil of wine; this being the very thing that gives the French brandies their flavour. It must, however, be remembered, that, in order to use even this ingredient to advantage, a pure tasteless spirit must first be procured; for it is ridiculous to expect that this essential oil should be able to give the agreeable flavour of French brandies to our false malt spirit, already loaded with its own nauseous oil, or strongly impregnated with a lixivious taste from the alkaline salts used in rectification. How a pure insipid spirit may be obtained, has already been considered; it only therefore remains to show the method of procuring this essential oil of wine, which is this:
"Take some cakes of dry wine lees, such as are used by our hatters; dissolve them in six or eight times their weight of water; distil the liquor with a slow fire, and separate the oil with a separating glass; reserving for the nicest uses only that which comes over first, the succeeding oil being coarser and more resinous.—Having procured this fine oil of wine, it may be mixed into a quintessence with pure alcohol; by which means it may be preserved a long time fully possessed of all its flavour and virtues; but, without such management, it will soon grow resinous and rancid.
"When a fine essential oil of wine is thus procured, and also a pure and insipid spirit, French brandies may be imitated to perfection, with regard to the flavour. It must, however, be remembered, and carefully adverted to, that the essential oil be drawn from the same kind of lees as the brandy to be imitated was procured from; we mean, in order to imitate Cogniac brandy, it will be necessary to distil the essential oil from Cogniac lees; and the same for any other kind of brandy. For, as different brandies have different flavours, and as these flavours are entirely owing to the essential oil of the grape, it would be preposterous to endeavour to imitate the flavour of Cogniac brandy with an essential oil procured from the lees of Bourdeaux wine.—When the flavour of the brandy is well imitated by a proper dose of the essential oil, and the whole reduced into one simple and homogeneous fluid, other difficulties are still behind: The flavour, though the essential part, is not, however, the only one; the colour, the proof, and the softness, must also be regarded, before a spirit that perfectly resembles brandy can be procured. With regard to the proof it may be easily hit, by using a spirit rectified above proof; which, after being intimately mixed with the essential oil of wine, may be let down to a proper standard with fair water. And the softness may, in a great measure, be obtained by distilling and rectifying the spirit with a gentle fire; and what is wanting of this criterion in the liquor when first made, will be supplied by time; for it must be remembered, that it is time alone that gives this property to French brandies; they being at first acrid, foul, and fiery. But, with regard to the colour, a particular method is required to imitate it to perfection.
"The art of colouring spirits owes its rise to observations on foreign brandies. A piece of French brandy coloured that has acquired by age a great degree of softness and ripeness, is observed at the same time to have acquired a yellowish brown colour; and hence our distillers have endeavoured to imitate this colour in such spirits as are intended to pass for French brandy. And in order to this, a great variety of experiments have been made on different substances. But in order to know a direct and sure method of imitating this colour to perfection, it is necessary we should be informed whence the French brandies themselves acquire their colour. This discovery is very easily made. The common experiment of trying whether brandy will turn blackish with a solution of iron, shows that the colour is owing to some of the resinous matter of the oak cask dissolved in the spirit. There can be no difficulty, therefore, in imitating this colour to perfection. A small quantity of the extract of oak, or the shavings of that wood, properly digested, will furnish us with a tincture capable of giving the spirit any degree of colour required. But it must be remembered, that as the tincture is extracted from the cask by brandy, that is, alcohol and water, it is necessary to use both in extracting the tincture; for each of these dissolves different parts of the wood. Let, therefore, a sufficient quantity of oak shavings be digested in strong spirit of wine, and also at the same time other oak shavings be digested in water; and when the liquors have acquired a strong tincture from the oak, let both be poured off from the shavings into different vessels, and both placed over a gentle fire till reduced to the consistence of treacle. In this condition let the two extracts be intimately mixed together; which may be effectually done by adding a small quantity of loaf-sugar, in fine powder, and rubbing the whole well together. By this means a liquid essential extract of oak will be procured, and always ready to be used as occasion shall require.
"There are other methods in use for colouring brandies; but the best, besides the extract of oak above mentioned, are treacle and burnt sugar. The treacle gives the spirit a fine colour, nearly resembling that of French brandy; but as its colour is dilute, a large quantity must be used; this is not, however, attended with any bad consequences; for notwithstanding the spirit is really weakened, by this addition, yet the bubble proof, the general criterion of spirits, is greatly mended, by the tenacity imparted to the liquor by the treacle. The spirit also acquires from the mixture a sweetish or luscious taste, and a fulness in the mouth; both which properties render it very agreeable to the palates of the common people, who are in fact the principal consumers of these spirits. A much smaller quantity of burnt sugar than of treacle will be sufficient for colouring the same quantity of spirits: the taste is also very different; for instead of the sweetness imparted by the treacle, the spirit acquires from the burnt sugar an agreeable bitterness, and by that means recommends itself to nicer palates, which are offended with a luscious spirit. The burnt sugar is prepared by dissolving a proper quantity of sugar in a little water, and scorching it over the fire till it acquires a black colour. Either treacle or burnt sugar will nearly imitate the genuine colour of old French brandy; but neither of them will succeed when put to the test of the vitriolic solution.
"The spirit distilled from molasses or treacle is very clean or pure. It is made from common treacle dissolved in water, and fermented in the same manner as the wash for the common malt spirit. But if some particular art is not used in distilling this spirit, it will not prove so vinous as malt spirit, but more flat and less pungent and acid, though otherwise much cleaner tasted, as its essential oil is of a much less offensive flavour. Therefore, if good fresh wine lees, abounding in tartar, be added and duly fermented with the molasses, the spirit will acquire a much greater vinosity and briskness, and approach much nearer to the nature of foreign spirits. Where the molasses spirit is brought to the common proof strength, if it is found not to have a sufficient vinosity, it will be very proper to add some good calcified spirit of nitre; and if the spirit be clean worked, it may, by this addition only, be made to pass on ordinary judges for French brandy. Great quantities of this spirit are used in adulterating foreign brandy, rum, and arrack. Much of it is also used alone in making cherry brandy and other drams by infusion; in all which many, and perhaps with justice, prefer it to foreign brandies. Molasses, like all other spirits, is entirely colourless when first extracted; but distillers always give it as nearly as possible the colour of foreign spirits."
If these principles hold good, the imitation of foreign spirits of all kinds must be an easy matter. It will only cost the procuring of some of those substances from which the spirit is drawn; and distilling this with water, the essential oil will always give the flavour desired. Thus, to imitate Jamaica rum, it will only be necessary to procure some of the tops, or other useless parts, of the sugar-canes; from which an essential oil being drawn, and mixed with clean molasses spirit, will give it the true flavour. The principal difficulty must lie in procuring a spirit totally, or nearly free of all flavour of its own. The spirit drawn from the refuse of a sugar-house is by our author commended as superior to that drawn from molasses; though even this is not entirely devoid of some kind of flavour of its own; nor indeed is that drawn from the best refined sugar entirely flavourless. It is very probable, therefore, that to procure an absolutely flavourless spirit is impossible. The only method, therefore, of imitating foreign spirits is, by choosing such materials as will yield a spirit flavoured as much like them as possible. The materials most recommended by our author in this case, and probably the best that can be used, are raisins. Concerning these he gives the following directions: "In order to extract this spirit, the raisins must be infused in a proper quantity of water, and fermented in the manner already directed. When the fermentation is completed, the whole is to be thrown into the still, and the spirit extracted by a strong fire. The reason why we here direct a strong fire is, because by that means a greater quantity of the essential oil will come over the helm with the spirit, which will render it fitter for the distiller's purpose: for this spirit is commonly used to mix with common malt goods: and it is surprising how far it will go in this respect, ten gallons of it being often sufficient to give a determining flavour and agreeable vinosity to a whole piece of malt spirits. It is therefore well worth the distiller's while to endeavour at improving the common method of extracting spirits from raisins; and perhaps the following hint may merit attention. When the fermentation is completed, and the still charged with fermented liquor as above directed, let the whole be drawn off with as brisk a fire as possible; but, instead of the cask or can generally used by distillers for a receiver, let a large glass, called by chemists a separating glass, be placed under the nose of the worm, and a common receiver applied to the spout of the separating glass: by this means the essential oil will swim upon the top of the spirit, or rather low wine, in the separating glass, and may be easily preserved at the end of the operation.—The use of this limpid essential oil is well known to distillers; for in this resides the whole flavour, and consequently may be used to the greatest advantage in giving that distinguishing taste and true vinosity to the common malt-spirits. After the oil is separated from the low wine, the liquor may be rectified in balneum mariae into a pure and almost tasteless spirit, and therefore well adapted to make the finest compound cordials, or to imitate or mix with the finest French brandies, arracks, &c. In the same manner a spirit may be obtained from cider. But as its particular flavour is not so desirable as that obtained from raisins, it should be distilled in a more gentle manner, and carefully rectified according to the directions we have already given."
These directions may suffice for the distillation of any kind of simple spirits. The distillation of compound ones depends on the observation of the following general rules, which are very easy to be learned and practised.
1. The artist must always be careful to use a well cleansed spirit, or one freed from its own essential oil. For, as a compound water is nothing more than a spirit impregnated with the essential oil of the ingredients, it is necessary that the spirit should have deposited its own.
2. Let the time of previous digestion be proportioned to the tenacity of the ingredients, or the ponderosity of their oil.
3. Let the strength of the fire also be proportioned to the ponderosity of the oil intended to be raised with the spirit.
4. Let only a due proportion of the finest parts of the essential oil be united with the spirit; the grosser and less fragrant parts of the oil not giving the spirit so agreeable a flavour, and at the same time rendering it unsightly. This may in a great measure be effected by leaving out the faints, and making up to proof with fine soft water in their stead.
A careful observation of these four rules will render this part of distillation much more perfect than it is at present. Nor will there be any occasion for the use of burnt alum, white of eggs, isinglass, &c. to fine down cordial waters; for they will presently be fine, sweet, and pleasant tasted, without any further trouble. We shall now subjoin particular receipts for making some Strong Cinnamon Water. Take eight pounds of fine cinnamon bruised, 17 gallons of clean rectified spirit, and two gallons of water. Put them into your still, and digest them 24 hours with a gentle heat; after which draw off 16 gallons with a pretty strong heat.
A cheaper spirit, but of an inferior quality, may be obtained by using cassia lignea instead of cinnamon. If you would dulcify your cinnamon water, take double refined sugar in what quantity you please; the general proportion is about two pounds to a gallon; and dissolve it in the spirit, after you have made it up proof with clean water. One general caution is here necessary to be added; namely, that near the end of the operation, you carefully watch the spirit as it runs into the receiver, in order to prevent the faints from mixing with the goods. This you may discover by often catching some of it as it runs from the worm in a glass, and observing whether it is fine and transparent; for as soon as ever the faints begin to rise, the spirit will have an azure or bluish cast. As soon as this alteration in colour is perceived, the receiver must be immediately changed; for if the faints are suffered to mix themselves with the rest, the value of the goods will be greatly lessened. Here we may observe, that the distillers call such goods as are made up proof, double goods; and those below proof, single.
Clove water. Take of cloves bruised, four pounds; pimento, or all spice, half a pound; proof spirit, 16 gallons. Digest the mixture 12 hours in a gentle heat, and then draw off 15 gallons with a pretty brisk fire. The water may be coloured red, either by a strong tincture of cochineal, alkanet, or corn-poppy flowers. It may be dulcified at pleasure with double refined sugar.
Lemon water. Take of dried lemon peel, four pounds; clean proof spirit, 10 gallons and a half, and one gallon of water. Draw off ten gallons by a gentle fire, and dulcify with fine sugar.
Citron water. Take of dry yellow rinds of citrons, three pounds; of orange peel, two pounds; nutmegs, bruised, three quarters of a pound; clean proof spirit, ten gallons and a half; water, one gallon. Digest with a gentle heat; then draw off ten gallons in balneo mariae, and dulcify with fine sugar.
Aniseed water. Take aniseed bruised, two pounds; proof spirit, 12 gallons and a half; water, one gallon. Draw off ten gallons with a moderate fire.—This water should never be reduced below proof; because the large quantity of oil with which it is impregnated, will render the goods milky and foul when brought down below proof. But if there is a necessity for doing this, their transparency may be restored by filtration.
Orange water. Take of the yellow part of fresh orange peel, five pounds; clean proof spirit, ten gallons and a half; water, two gallons. Draw off ten gallons with a gentle fire.
Cedrat water. The cedrat is a species of citron, and very highly esteemed in Italy, where it grows naturally. The fruit is difficult to be procured in this country; but as the essential oil is often imported from Italy, it may be made with it according to the following receipt.—Take of the finest loaf sugar reduced to powder, a quarter of a pound; put it into a glass mortar, with 120 drops of the essence of cedrat; rub them together with a glass pestle; and put them into a glass alembic, with a gallon of fine proof spirits and a quart of water. Place the alembic in balneo mariae, and draw off one gallon, or till the faints begin to rise, and dulcify with fine sugar. This is reckoned the finest cordial yet known; it will therefore be necessary to be particularly careful that the spirit is perfectly clean, and, as much as possible, freed from any flavour of its own.
Orange Cordial water, or Eau de Bigarade. Take the outer or yellow part of the peels of 14 bigarades, (a kind of orange); half an ounce of nutmegs, a quarter of an ounce of mace, a gallon of fine proof spirit, and two quarts of water. Digest all these together two days in a close vessel; after which draw off a gallon with a gentle fire, and dulcify with fine sugar. This cordial is greatly esteemed abroad, but is not so well known in this country.
Ros Solis. Take of the herb called Ros Solis, picked clean, four pounds; cinnamon, cloves, and nutmegs, of each three ounces and a half; marigold flowers, one pound; caraway seeds, ten ounces; proof spirit, ten gallons; water, three gallons. Distil with a pretty strong fire, till the faints begin to rise. Then take of liquorice root sliced, half a pound; raisins stoned, two pounds; red saunders, half a pound: digest these three days in two quarts of water; then strain out the clear liquor, in which dissolve three pounds of fine sugar, and mix it with the spirit drawn by distillation.
Usquebaugh. Take nutmegs, cloves, and cinnamon, of each two ounces; the seeds of anise, caraway, and coriander, of each four ounces; of liquorice root sliced, half a pound. Bruise the seeds and spices; and put them together with the liquorice, into the still with 11 gallons of proof spirits, and two gallons of water. Distil with a pretty brisk fire till the faints begin to rise. But, as soon as the still begins to work, fasten to the nose of the worm two ounces of English saffron tied up in a cloth, that the liquor may run through it, and extract all its tincture; and in order to this, you should frequently press the saffron with your fingers. When the operation is finished, dulcify your goods with fine sugar.
Ratafia—Is a liquor prepared from different kinds of fruits, and is of different colours according to the fruits made use of. Of red ratafia there are three kinds, the fine, the dry or sharp, and the common. The fruits most proper for making red ratafia, are the black heart cherry, the common red cherry, the black cherry, the merry or honey cherry, the strawberry, the raspberry, the red gooseberry, and the mulberry. These fruits should be gathered when in their greatest perfection, and the largest and most beautiful of them chosen for the purpose.—The following is a receipt for making red ratafia, fine and soft. Take of the black heart cherries, 24 pounds; black cherries, four pounds; raspberries and strawberries, of each three pounds. Pick the fruits from their stalks, and bruise them; in which state let them continue 12 hours: press out the juice; and to every pint of it add a quarter of a pound of sugar. When the sugar is dissolved, run the whole through the filtrating bag, and add to it three quarts of of clean proof spirits. Then take of cinnamon, four ounces; of mace, one ounce; and of cloves, two drachms. Bruise these spices; put them into an alembic with a gallon of clean proof spirits and two quarts of water, and draw off a gallon with a brisk fire. Add as much of this spicy spirit to your ratafia as will render it agreeable to your palate; about one-fourth is the usual proportion.
Ratafia made according to the above receipt will be of a very rich flavour and elegant colour. It may be rendered more or less of a spicy flavour, by adding or diminishing the quantity of spirit distilled from the spices. Some, in making ratafia, suffer the expressed juices of their fruits to ferment several days; by this means the vinosity of the ratafia is increased; but, at the same time, the elegant flavour of the fruits is greatly diminished. Therefore, if the ratafia is desired stronger or more vinous, it may be done by adding more spirits to the expressed juice; by which means the flavour of the fruits may be preserved, as well as the ratafia rendered stronger. It is also a method with some to tie the spices in a linen bag, and suspend them in the ratafia. But if this method is taken, it will be necessary to augment the quantity of spirit first added to the expressed juice. There is no great difference in the two methods of adding the spices, except that by suspending them in the ratafia the liquor is rendered less transparent.
Dry or sharp Ratafia. Take cherries and gooseberries, of each 30 pounds; mulberries, seven pounds; raspberries, ten pounds. Pick all these fruits clean from their stalks, &c. bruise them, and let them stand 12 hours; but do not suffer them to ferment. Press out the juice, and to every pint add three ounces of sugar. When the sugar is dissolved, run it through the filtering bag, and to every five pints of liquor add four pints of clean proof spirit; together with the same proportion of spirit drawn from the spices in the foregoing composition.
Common Ratafia. Take of nutmegs, eight ounces; bitter almonds, ten pounds; Lisbon sugar, eight pounds; ambergrise, ten grains; infuse these ingredients three days in ten gallons of clean proof spirit, and filter through a flannel bag for use. The nutmegs and bitter almonds, must be bruised, and the ambergrise rubbed with the Lisbon sugar in a marble mortar, before they are infused in the spirit.
Gold Cordial. Take of the roots of angelica, four pounds; raisins stoned, two pounds; coriander seeds, half a pound; caraway seeds and cinnamon, of each half a pound; cloves, two ounces; figs and liquorice root, of each one pound; proof spirit, eleven gallons; water, two gallons. The angelica, liquorice, and figs, must be sliced before they are added. Digest two days; and draw off by a gentle heat till the faints begin to rise; hanging in a piece of linen, fastened to the mouth of the worm, an ounce of English saffron. Then dissolve eight pounds of sugar in three quarts of rose water, and add to it the distilled liquor.—This liquor derives its name of gold cordial from a quantity of leaf gold being formerly added to it; but this is now generally disused, as it cannot possibly add any virtue.
Cardamom or All-fours. Take of pimento, caraway, and coriander seeds, and lemon peel, each three pounds; of malt spirits, eleven gallons; water, three gallons. Draw off with a gentle fire, dulcify with common sugar, and make up to the strength desired with clear water. This is a dram greatly used by the poorer sort of people in some countries.
Geneva. There was formerly sold in the apothecaries shops a distilled spirituous water of juniper; but the vulgar being fond of it as a dram, the distillers supplanted the apothecaries, and sold it under the name of Geneva. The common kind, however, is not made from juniper berries, but from oil of turpentine; and indeed it is surprising that people should accustom themselves to drink such liquors for pleasure.—The receipt for making this kind of spirit, sold in the gin shops at London, is as follows: Take of the ordinary malt spirits, ten gallons; oil of turpentine, two ounces; bay salt, three handfuls. Draw off by a gentle fire till the faints begin to rise; and make up your goods to the strength required with clear water.
The best kind is made by the following recipe.—Take of juniper berries, three pounds; proof spirit, ten gallons; water, four gallons. Draw off by a gentle fire till the faints begin to rise, and make up your goods to the strength required with clean water.
There is a sort of this liquor called Hollands Geneva, from its being imported from Holland, which is greatly esteemed. The ingredients used by the Dutch are the same with those given in the last recipe; only, instead of malt spirits, they use French brandy. But from what has been already observed concerning the nature of these kinds of spirits, it is easy to see, that by the help of a well rectified spirit, geneva may be made in this country at least nearly equal to the Dutch, provided it is kept to a proper age; for all spirituous liquors contract a softness and mellowness by age, impossible to be imitated any other way.