The advantages of rectification from an economical standpoint are easily understood when it is remembered that a genuine whisky, which has not been subjected to any rectification, except that incident to its manufacture, has to be stored in wood at least four years before it is deemed to be palatable or eligible to be put into bottles under government stamp. In point of fact, it is well known that four years is too short a time for properly ripening a whisky and securing its best qualities. For this reason whisky, that is 8, 10, 12, 16, and even 20 years old, is much more highly prized and esteemed, and brings a much greater price, than whisky only four years old.

One of the results of ageing whisky is that the harsh and unpleasant taste, which it at first has as it comes from the still, is softened and mellowed in such a way that the flavor is greatly improved. In addition thereto there are developed by oxidation ethereal and aromatic substances and acids, which give flavor, taste and value to the product. At the same time, incident to being stored in wood casks, the whisky extracts from the wood a certain amount of coloring matter, the depth of which becomes an index of age. It follows if it is possible to simulate a whisky of this kind without spending so much time for its ageing that the process would be a profitable one.

To this end it was soon discovered that the pure spirit, which has been described, such as cologne spirit, being of itself free of any characteristic odor or taste as a beverage, and being in point 21 of fact in this sense a "neutral" substance, becomes a vehicle for the practices of that legal rectification, which means mixing, compounding and adulterating. It was soon realized that, by mixing freshly made spirit, perfectly colorless, and which, therefore, had received no value from storage, with a small quantity of whisky, and coloring it by means of caramel to resemble old whisky and adding certain flavoring agents made by chemists, or such substances as prune juice, so-called blending sherry, etc., a liquor could be made resembling in color and flavor old whisky. The compounder could make up hundreds of barrels of this liquor in a day, and place it upon the market in such a guise that the unsuspecting consumer would be certain he was buying an old and valuable product.

The above so-called rectification, enabled mixers to undersell real whisky, which was driven practically out of the markets. So great was the extent of this adulteration that it has been estimated by some authorities that at the time of the passage of the food law in June, 1906, more than 90 percent of all the so-called whiskies sold upon the American markets were of the kind described above.

The total quantity of spirits "rectified" in the United States for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1917, was: