The following table shows the proportion of alcohol (by volume) in the various liquors.
BRANDY.—This is made from wine; that from white grapes is preferred and it requires about seven bottles of wine to make one of brandy. Even the best Cognac is burning and rough until kept for two or three years, and it improves with increased age, until, when thirty or forty years old, it develops a flavor somewhat similar to that of vanilla.
WHISKEY is a spirit distilled either from fermented malt, rye, barley, oats, wheat or corn. The very best and sweetest grain is only used for making good whiskey. American whiskey is more easily obtained pure than perhaps any spirituous liquor and is therefore more reliable in this country. The name whiskey is a corruption of the Erse and Irish word _Usquebaugh_, “Water of Life,” the French _Eau de Vie_.
RUM is made from distilled molasses and skimmings from the boiling sugar.
GIN is distilled from unmalted grain, the product being rectified and flavored with juniper berries.
CHAMPAGNES come in quarts and pints, _Sec_ or “Dry,” “Extra Dry,” etc. Among favorite Brands are those of Heidsieck, Mumm, Roederer, Cliquot, Bouché, Morizet, Pommery, Delbeck, etc.; the AMERICAN Champagnes of California, Urbanna, Pleasant Valley, etc., besides various imitation sparkling wines. Among favorite CLARETS are St. Julien, Medoc, St. Emillion, St. Estephe, Floirac, Pontet Canet, Chateaux Margaux, Lafitte, La Rose, etc.; also the SAUTERNES and WHITE WINES of Graves; Barsac, Chateaux, Yquem, Latour, etc. There are the Johannisberger, Hockheimer, Rüdesheimer, Marcobrunner of the RHINE; the ITALIEN Capri, Falerno and Chianti; Port, Sherry and Madeira of various brands; and Claret, Port, Sherry, Muscatel, Angelica, Tokay, and other vintages of AMERICAN MAKE.
CORDIALS include Anisette, Benedictine, Curaçao, Chartreuse, Maraschino, Kirschwasser, Kummel, Chocolate, Ginger, Raspberry, Rock and Rye, and Absynthe. There are Ales, Porter, Stout, Lager Beer, Peach and Apple cider, Orgeat, Soda and Sarsaparilla. Favorite Brandies are those of Otard, Hennessy, Martelle, Robin, Seignette, Dupin, and good California Brandy; also Blackberry, Cherry, Ginger, Peach and Cider Brandies. Besides scores of fine AMERICAN WHISKEYS, there are the SCOTCH Thistle and IRISH Cruiskeen Lawn; Old Tom, London, Holland and Geneva GINS; St. Croix, Jamaica and N. E. RUMS. Many Grocers keep also a supply of NATURAL and ARTIFICIAL MINERAL WATERS, as the Congress, Hathorn, etc., of Saratoga; Carlsbad, Seltzer, Clysmic, Vichy, Apollonaris, Williams Quelle, Lithia, Hunyadi; and a variety of Bitter Waters.