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GENUINE COGNAC BRANDIES

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 430 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GENUINE See also:

COGNAC BRANDIES . (Excepting the See also:alcohol, results are expressed in grammes per too litres of See also:absolute alcohol.) I See also:Age, &c. Alcohol See also:Total Non-volatile See also:Esters " Higher Aldehyde. Furfural. See also:IIII % by vol. See also:Acid. Acid. . See also:Alcohols." r. New 1904 61.7 45 5 82 125 8 2.3 12. New, still heated by See also:steam coil . 56.3 22 4 61 too 3 1.2 3. New 67.7 51 .

. 158 152 6 I.3 4. Five years old, 1900 vintage 57'7 92 37 125 . . 5. 1'875 vintage, See also:

pale 46'7 144 37 177 261 55 1•o 6. 1848 vintage, See also:brown . 38.5 254 109 190 488 32 2•I See also:Note.—In the above table the acid is expressed in terms of acetic acid, the esters are expressed as See also:ethyl acetate, and the aldehyde as acetaldehyde. The " Higher Alcohol " figures do not actually represent these substances, but indicate the relative coloration obtained with sulphuric acid when compared with an iso-butyl See also:standard under certain conditions. See also:middle ' seventies to the 'nineties of the 19th century—the cognac See also:industry was, owing to the inroads of the See also:phylloxera, threatened with almost total extinction, but after a lengthy See also:series of experiments, a See also:system of replanting and hybridizing, based on the characteristics of the soils of the various districts, was evolved, which effectually put a stop to the further progress of the disease. In 1907 the See also:area actually planted with the See also:vine in the Cognac See also:district proper was about 200,000 acres, and the See also:production of cognac See also:brandy, which, however, varies widely in different years, may be put down at about five million gallons per annum. The latter figure is based on the amount of See also:wine produced in the two Charentes (about See also:forty-five million gallons in 1905). Brandy is also manufactured in numerous other districts in See also:France, and in See also:general See also:order of commercial merit may be mentioned the brandies of See also:Armagnac, See also:Marmande, See also:Nantes and See also:Anjou. The brandies commanding the lowest prices are broadly known as the Trois-Six de See also:Montpellier.

In a class by themselves are the Eaux-de-See also:

vie de Marc, made from the wine pressings or from the solid residues of the stills. Some of these, particularly those made in See also:Burgundy, have characteristic qualities, and are considered by many to be very See also:fine. The See also:consumption is chiefly See also:local. Brandy of See also:fair quality is also made in other wine-producing countries, particularly in See also:Spain, and of See also:late years colonial (Australian and Cape) brandies have attracted some See also:attention. The comsumption of brandy in the See also:United See also:Kingdom amounts to about two million gallons. Brandy, in See also:common with other potable See also:spirits, owes its flavour and aroma to the presence of small quantities of substances terrhed secondary or by-products (sometimes " impurities "). These are dissolved in the ethyl alcohol and See also:water which See also:form over 99% of the spirit. The nature and quantity of all of these by-products have not yet been fully ascertained, but the know-ledge in this direction is rapidly progressing. Ch. Ordonneau fractionally distilled too litres of 25-See also:year-old cognac brandy, and obtained the following substances and quantities thereof: Grammes in 100 Litres. Normal propyl alcohol 40.0 Normal butyl alcohol 218.6 Amyl alcohol . 83.8 Hexyl alcohol . o•6 Heptyl alcohol I.5 Ethyl acetate .

35.0 Ethyl propionate, butyrate and caproate 3.0 Oenanthic See also:

ether (about) . 4.0 Aldehyde . 3.0 Acetal . traces See also:Amines . traces Most of the above substances, in fact probably all of them, excepting the oenanthic ether, are contained in other spirits, such as See also:whisky and See also:rum. The oenanthic ether (ethyl pelargonate) is one of the See also:main characteristics which enable us chemically to differentiate between brandy and other distilled liquors. Brandy also contains a certain quantity of See also:free acid, Storage and Maturation.—Brandy is stored in specially selected See also:oak casks, from which it extracts a certain quantity of colouring See also:matter and See also:tannin, &c. Commercial cognac brandies are generally blends of different growths and vintages, the blending being accomplished in large vats some little See also:time See also:prior to bottling. The necessary colouring and sweetening matter is added in the vat. In the See also:case of pale brandies very little colouring and sweetening are added, the usual quantity being in the See also:neighbour-See also:hood of a to 1 %. Old " brown brandies," which are nowadays not in See also:great demand, require more caramel and See also:sugar than do the pale varieties. The preparation of the "liqueur," as the mixed caramel and sugar See also:syrup is termed, is an operation requiring much experience, and the methods employed are kept strictly See also:secret. Fine " liqueur " is prepared with high-class brandy, and is stored a number of years prior to use. Brandy, as is well known, improves very much with age (for chemical aspects of maturation see SPIRITS), but this only holds See also:good when the spirit is in See also:wood, for there is no material appreciation in quality after bottling.

It is a See also:

mistake to believe, however, that brandy improves indefinitely, even when kept in wood, for, as a matter of fact, after a certain time—which varies considerably according to the type of brandy, the vintage, &c.— there is so much evaporation of alcohol that a number of undesirable changes come about. The brandy begins to " go back," and becomes, as it is called, " worn " or " tired." It is necessary, therefore, that the bottling should not be deferred too See also:long. Sometimes, for See also:trade reasons, it is necessary to keep brandy in cask for a long See also:period, and under these conditions the practice is to keep a series of casks, which are treated as follows: The last cask is kept filled by occasionally adding some spirit from the cask next in order, the latter is filled up by spirit taken from the third cask from the end, and so on, until the first cask in the See also:row is reached. The latter is filled up or " topped " with some relatively fresh spirit. Brandy is much employed medicinally as a See also:food capable of supplying See also:energy in a particularly labile form to the See also:body, as a stimulant, carminative, and as a hypnotic. See also:Adulteration.—A good See also:deal has been written about the preparation of artificial brandy by means of the addition of essential See also:oils to See also:potato or beetroot spirit, but it is more than doubtful whether this practice was really carried on on a large See also:scale formerly. What undoubtedly did occur was that much See also:beet, potato or See also:grain spirit was used for blending with genuine See also:grape spirit. Prosecutions under the Food and Drugs See also:Act, by certain See also:English local authorities in the year 1904, resulted in the See also:practical fixation of certain chemical See also:standards which, in the See also:opinion of the See also:present writer, have, owing to their arbitrary and unscientific nature, resulted in much adulteration of a type previously non-existent. There is no doubt that at the present time artificial esters and higher alcohols, &c., are being used on an extensive scale for the preparation of cheap brandies, and the position, in this respect, therefore, has not been inproved. Where formerly See also:fraud was practically confined to the blending of genuine brandy with spirit other than that derived from the grape, it is now enhanced by the addition of artificial essences to the blend of the two spirits. (P.

End of Article: GENUINE COGNAC BRANDIES

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