1953 The U K B G Guide to Drinks

GLOSSARY OF USEFUL INFORMATION

Bodega.

The Spanisli name for a wine store or cellar: the name has

been adopted in many lands for wine bars and cellars.

Bond.

'i'lie store, vault or cellar in which wine and spirits are kept

under Customs and Excise supervision before duty has been paid.

The purchaser of wine or spirit'in bond'is liable for the payment

of the duty thereon before he can take'delivery'of his purchase.

To pay duty on and take delivery of wine and spirits in bond

is'to clear from bond '.

Bottles.

Rottles are containers in which to store and carry liquids. The

earliest bottles were made of skins sewed together, but the Ancients

also had bottles made of stone, alabaster, glass, ivory, horn, silver,

and common earthenware. Modern wine-bottles are made of glass

composed chiefly of silica, soda and lime in varying proportions.

The shades of green of wine-bottles, other than plain white ones,

are imparted by iron oxide. Quart and pint bottles must, by law,

contain a fourth and an eighth of a gallon, but the actual liquid

contents of bottles, lialf-bottles or quarter-bottles are not legally

defined, a fact taken advantage of by some unscrupulous dealers

in wine. According to current commercial usage, wine bottles

should never appreciably varj'" from the accepted standard of

contents of 20.2/3 fluid ounces per reputed quart, or 6 quarts to

the gallon, equal to 4 imperial quarts of 40 fluid ounces each.

The more usual names of bottles in Great Britain, besides half-

bottles and quarter-bottles, are the magnum (two bottles), double

magnum (four bottles), tappithen (three imperial quarts), imperial

pint (three-quarters of the reputed quart or ordinary bottle).

Outsize bottles, for show purposes more than for practical use:

Jeroboam or Double-Magnum

4bottles or 3.20litres

or 0.70 gals.

Rehoboam

4.80 „

1.05 „

Methuselah

6.40 „ 1.40 „

Salmanazar

9.60 „

2.10 „

Balthazar

12.80 „

2.80 „

Nebuchadnezzar

16.00 „ 3.50 „

In France, the fluid contents of various bottles are fixed by

law as follorvs:

Litre

= 100 centilitres or 0.220 gallon

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