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MIXED DRINKS.
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bank of the Charente is the Grande Champagne,and
radiating beyond it on the Petite Champagne, the
Premiers Bois, and the Seconds Bois. The Grande
Champagne is the source of the finest brandy anywhere
produced. The quantity of brandy exported from
Tonnay, Charente, varies annually from 6,000,000 to
over 9,000,000 gallons. One year it was valued at over
$9,000,000. Storage in oak casks gives it a delicate
golden hue caused by incidentally taking tannin from
the oak, but the deeper brown brandy is colored with
caramel. It is ventilated two years, and mellows and
develops aroma the longer it is kept. It is popular as
a medicinal stimulant,and is used for diarrhoea,spasms,
etc. Much of the spirit that passes for brandy is beet
root or gl'ain" whisky colored and aromatised with the
Cognac-flavored oenathic ether or Hungarian oil.
The average proportion of alcohol in brandy ranges
from forty-eight to fifty-four per cent. The name
brandy is now given to spirit distilled from other liquors,
and in the United States to that which is distilled from
cider and from peaches.
The brandies most used are Hennessey, Otard,
Martel, and Claverie.
British brandy is a common kind distilled in Eng-