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    Chemical Examination of Alcoholic Liquors - A Manual of the Constituents of the Distilled Spirits and Fermented Liquors of Commerce, and Their Qualitative and Quantitative Determination
    Chemical Examination of Alcoholic Liquors - A Manual of the Constituents of the Distilled Spirits and Fermented Liquors of Commerce, and Their Qualitative and Quantitative Determination
    Chemical Examination of Alcoholic Liquors - A Manual of the Constituents of the Distilled Spirits and Fermented Liquors of Commerce, and Their Qualitative and Quantitative Determination
    Ebook187 pages1 hour

    Chemical Examination of Alcoholic Liquors - A Manual of the Constituents of the Distilled Spirits and Fermented Liquors of Commerce, and Their Qualitative and Quantitative Determination

    By Albert B. Prescott

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    About this ebook

    An indispensable manual unravelling the qualitative and quantitative determination of distilled spirits and fermented liquors.

    First published in 1875, this vintage volume was originally written as an outline of the basic chemistry of various alcoholic drinks to make it accessible to those with little scientific knowledge. Albert B. Prescott’s Chemical Examination of Alcoholic Liquors manual offers a wealth of information on alcohol’s composition and properties as well as its various uses and a look at the history and development of the alcohol industry.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherVintage Cookery Books
    Release dateAug 25, 2017
    ISBN9781473339392
    Chemical Examination of Alcoholic Liquors - A Manual of the Constituents of the Distilled Spirits and Fermented Liquors of Commerce, and Their Qualitative and Quantitative Determination

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      Book preview

      Chemical Examination of Alcoholic Liquors - A Manual of the Constituents of the Distilled Spirits and Fermented Liquors of Commerce, and Their Qualitative and Quantitative Determination - Albert B. Prescott

      CHEMICAL EXAMINATION

      OF

      ALCOHOLIC LIQUORS.

      A MANUAL OF

      THE CONSTITUENTS OF THE DISTILLED SPIRITS AND FERMENTED LIQUORS OF COMMERCE, AND THEIR QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE DETERMINATION.

      BY

      ALBERT B. PRESCOTT, M. D.,

      PROFESSOR OF ORGANIC AND APPLIED CHEMISTRY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

      Copyright © 2013 Read Books Ltd.

      This book is copyright and may not be

      reproduced or copied in any way without

      the express permission of the publisher in writing

      British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the

      British Library

      Cocktail and Beverage Making

      Water, water everywhere,

      And all the boards did shrink;

      Water, water, everywhere,

      Nor any drop to drink!

      As Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798) warns us; water is everywhere - but drinks for human consumption are an entirely different matter! A drink, or beverage, is a kind of liquid which is specifically prepared for human consumption. There are many types of drinks. They can be divided into various groups such as plain water, alcohol, non-alcoholic drinks, soft drinks (carbonated drinks), fruit or vegetable juices and hot drinks, such as hot chocolate. In addition to fulfilling a basic need, drinks form an important part of the culture of human society. Cocktail mixing and hot beverages (specifically coffee) are the only two sub genres to have really taken the publics imagination however, but today they have evolved into a highly specific and skilled craft form.

      A cocktail is a beer or an alcoholic mixed drink that contains three or more ingredients—at least one of the ingredients must be a spirit, one sweet/sugary and one sour/bitter. This is the traditional definition of a cocktail, however today, the term will commonly be used for almost any mixed alcoholic drink, including mixers, mixed shots, etc. The origin of the word 'cocktail' is heavily disputed. The first recorded use of the word cocktail is found in The Morning Post and Gazetteer in London, England on March 20, 1798:

      'Mr. Pitt, two petit vers of L’huile de Venus.

      Ditto, one of perfeit amour.

      Ditto, 'cock-tail' (vulgarly called ginger).'

      The first recorded use of the word cocktail in the United States is said to be in The Farmer’s Cabinet on April 28, 1803, however the Oxford English dictionary lists the word as originating in the United States. Regardless of this controversy, the first publication of a bartenders' guide, which included cocktail recipes was in 1862 — How to Mix Drinks; or, The Bon Vivant’s Companion, by 'Professor' Jerry Thomas. In addition to listings of recipes for Punches, Sours, Slings, Cobblers, Shrubs, Toddies, Flips, and a variety of other types of mixed drinks, were ten recipes for drinks referred to as 'Cocktails.' A key ingredient which differentiated 'cocktails' from other drinks in this compendium was the use of bitters as an ingredient.

      During Prohibition in the United States (1919–1933), when alcoholic beverages were illegal, cocktails were still consumed illegally in establishments known as speakeasies. The quality of liquor available during Prohibition was much worse than previously, and there was a shift away from whiskey towards gin - which did not require ageing, and was therefore easier to produce illicitly. Honey, fruit juices, and other flavourings served to mask the foul taste of the inferior liquors. Sweet cocktails were also easier to drink quickly, an important consideration when the establishment might be raided at any moment. After this period, the popularity of cocktails began to wane, however they experienced a resurgence in 1980, with vodka often substituting the original gin in drinks such as the 'martini'. Traditional cocktails and gin began to make a comeback in the 2000s.

      Coffee-making, compared to cocktail making has an incredibly long history. Establishments serving prepared coffee, or other hot beverages have existed for over five hundred years. Various legends involving the introduction of coffee to Istanbul at a 'Kiva Han' in the late fifteenth century circulate in culinary tradition, but with no documentation. However, Coffeehouses in Mecca soon became a concern, as they became places for political gatherings. Some Imams consequently banned them, and the drink, for Muslims between 1512 and 1524. In 1530 the first coffee house was opened in Damascus. Soon after, coffee houses became part of the Ottoman Culture, spreading rapidly to all regions of the Ottoman Empire. In the seventeenth century, coffee appeared for the first time in Europe outside the Ottoman Empire, and coffeehouses were established quickly, soon becoming immensely popular.

      The modern espresso machine was born in Milan in 1945, by Achille Gaggia, and from there, spread across coffeehouses and restaurants across Italy and the rest of Europe and North America in the early 1950s. Interestingly, the term 'barista' originates from the Italian word for 'bartender', thus linking the professions of cocktail and coffee making. Usually, it refers to a coffeehouse employee, who prepares coffee drinks, but can often also serve alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages too. There are now competitions for baristas to showcase their coffee making skills all over the world. Many professional 'cocktail-makers' today prefer to be referred to as a 'mixologist' as opposed to a bartender, specifically differentiating someone who creates innovative as well as historical beverages. We hope that the reader is inspired by this book to create some beverages of their own! Enjoy.

      PREFACE.

      THE numerous inquiries from chemists for some guide or for references to use in proving alcoholic liquors, and the steadily increasing demand, in the author’s own experience, for a manual to diminish the task of personally directing students in this branch of commercial analysis, have led to the preparation of this little work—as a help to the analyst. It has been shaped by the design, firstly and as a necessary basis for analysis, to place in outline the chemistry of alcoholic liquors, including their current impurities and adulterations, in such terms as to be understood by persons having only an ordinary acquaintance with chemical science. Secondly, to furnish directions, so far as possible, for an efficient chemical examination, not more elaborate than required for commercial, hygienic, and legal purposes, and containing all details except such as are found in the first books of chemical analysis.

      With no desire to fix the comparative importance of the prevalent impurities in alcoholic liquors, the writer, in common with very many persons, holds it to be of absolute importance to society that all articles used as foods, medicines, or beverages, be made subject to strict scientific examination by authority of the law, and that concealed impurities and additions be systematically exposed and suppressed. Legal provisions to this end, now being rigidly enforced in all other countries with which this consents to be classed, are nowhere more necessary than in the enterprising, inventive, instable, and eager commerce of America, and here at last and at a time not distant, they must be initiated. For that time let analysts be prepared.

      The author acknowledges his great indebtedness, not only in this volume, but as an analyst and teacher, to the authorities and collators to whom he has given references, and to others whose contributions have been so long published and so well established as to render personal reference unnecessary.

      UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN,

          ANN ARBOR, December 17, 1874.

      CONTENTS.

      PRODUCTS OF THE ALCOHOLIC FERMENTATION AND ITS ACCOMPANYING CHANGES.

          1. Alcohol, its composition and properties

          2. Generic use of the term alcohol for classes of distinct substances

          3. The invariable properties of alcohol and the variability of its mixtures

          4. The alcoholic fermentation proper: the yeast plant

          5. Formation of succinic acid and glycerine and other alcohols

          6. Saccharine Fermentation — of starch, woody-fibre, cane sugar

          7. Lactic Fermentation: Butyric Fermentation: Formation of other Fatty Acids

          8. Acetic acid formation, conditions of. Aldehyde.

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