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LIQUORS AND RATAFIAS.
254.
<.!rlouc <.!rorliial.
. Infuse in a big glass jar one-fourth o?nce of roughly pulver–
ized cloves, half an ounce of likewise prepared coriander, and a
handful of dried cherries in a qua rt of brandy, five weeks, in the
sun or on a warm place; shake daily. Clear and refine five
ounces of sugar in half a pint of water; skim verycarefully, let it
get a little cool, add the infusion and filter through blotting–
paper and glass funnel; bottle and let it lie for a few weeks.
255.
Qloffee 1.Ciqncur.
Roast three ounces of the best mocha; grind it; prepare a
syrup out of one pound of sugar and half a pound of water; put
the coffee in the boiling syrup, and let it boil for a few seconds;
mix all with one quart of brandy, cork well, and let it stand for
a month; then filter, and the liquor is ready for use.
256.
([ognac.
All liquors obtained by distillation of the grape-Juice are
usually called cognac in France, although only that prepared in
the city of Cognac, in the arrondissement of the d epartement
Charente, deserves this name; this is the best, while those from
Languedoc, Armagnac, Auris, Rochelle, and Bordeaux, are all
of inferior quality and less aromatic; but even in the genuine
cognac we have to distinguish between many different brands,
which depend upon its age, and the results of the wine crop.
In France it also has the names"
Trois-si'x,"
corresponding to
its percentage of alcohol, and
''Eau de vie,"
while the English
call it "brandy." Charente and Gironde alone produce yearly
more than one million hektoliters
(1
hektoliter=105.67 liquid
quarts). The fineness of this liquor increases with its age, and
when old enough, assumes the taste of an exceedingly fine,
spirituous wine. There a re many imitations, m._ostly with spirits
of 90° proof, cognac oil and coloring.