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103
Whether patent spirit is more or less harmful is a question for
medical men, but there is no doubt that brandy and rum owe much of
their medicinal value to the presence of those ethers and secondary
products which are absent in patent spirit. Other evidence which
may or may not have some bearing on the question is to be found in
the fact that the growing condemnation of the use of alcoholic
stimulants by the medical profession has been coincident with the
increasing output of patent still spirit.
It is alleged that genuine whisky must be blended with plain
spirit to render it palatable, but it must be remembered that for many
years, in consequence of the scarcity of good brandy, there has been a
great demand for whisky, and the stocks of matured whisky have
been practically used up. As genuine whisky requires to be matured
before consumption, the distillers, in many cases, have been unable
to await the effects of time and have blended comparatively new
whisky with a featureless alcohol like plain spirit, and so obtained a
quicker return and prevented much capital lying idle.
But doubtless the real reason for the use of plain spirit is its
cheapness, for it can be made from anything capable of conversion
into sugar. It may be bought for about 1s. per gallon, whereas
whisky or brandy costs three, four, or more times as much. In the
year 1900 nearly (60 million gallons of proof spirit of all kinds were
produced in the United Kingdom, and during that period a sum of
20 million pounds sterling was paid in duty. The larger portion of
this spirit was probably disposed of as whisky, so that, if the statement
of one of the trade authorities that four-fifths of the whisky
sold in the United Kingdom consists of plain spirit is to be accepted,
some idea may be gathered of the large quantity of plain spirit which
must have been sold at the price of whisky. It may be of interest to
add that about 90 per cent. of the spirit made in France is produced
from maize or beetroot, whilst over 80 per cent. of Germany's spirit is
derived from potatoes.
Practically all the Finsbury spirits now under consideration,
with perhaps one or two exceptions, have the composition of mixtures
largely composed of plain spirit. In most places where they were
purchased notices were exhibited stating that they were either sold
as diluted spirit or that the quality was not guaranteed. It is
necessary to point out once more that this wholesale evasion of
responsibility by the vendor hanging some vague but all-embracing
notice in some obscure corner is grossly unfair to the purchaser, and
one which calls for effective legislative amendment. As has already
been pointed out, something more definite is wanted so that the honest
trailer may be protected.
This question of plain spirit and whisky has been taken up by the
United States Government Chemists, and as a result it is announced
that, after the 1st November next, no whisky will be allowed into the
United States unless fully described as to its composition and the
respective quantities of pot still and patent spirit which it contains.