127 / 174
MIXED DRINKS.
127
flavor to the bulk in cask. The bonding temperature,
if high during any lengthened period, greatly enhances
the internal cask-pressure,and if the casks are tight the
vapors given otf from the liquid rapidly change in the
desirable manner indicated. The internal vapor pres
sure evinces itself if an ullage, or even an empty cask,
be opened -whilst the spirits or casks are -warm. Exper
ience alone can dictate which is the most favorable
bonding temperature to maintain,though as a rule the
acrid flavors will be toned down more rapidly if low
temperatures and low bonding strengths be adopted.
The third governing principle is the bonding strength.
At high strengths the spirits are more volatile, and the
internal cask-pi-essure is always greater than it is at
any given temperature with a lower strength. Thus
the desirable bouquet can be more rapidly acquired
under these conditions, but the disappearance of the
acrid flavors is much slower,inasmuch as the bodies
which impart these are more permanently soluble in
strong than in weak spirit. Hence arises the dispute as
to the desirability of original bonding at high strengths
and in warm warehouses,followed by reduction to a
lower strength in the reducing vat, with ultimate cold
storage. This, in fact, is only one of the questions
which experienced bonders are now discussing.