Untitled

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XI, Issue 511, 4 October 1900, Page 18

PLAIN . SPIRITS FROM TIMBER.

The "boundless birch forests of Russia, and its dependency, Siberia, which whitens the

steppes for thousands of miles, are beginning to possess a special interest for spirit merchants. We have already seen samples of plain spirit from Scandinavia, for example, as low as tenpence per proof gallon ; and some from Belgium even cheaper than that. According to Dr Simonsen (who left, the laboratory for the purpose of making experiments bn a large scale, in order to arrive at results commercially profitable), our future supply of cheap spirit will be obtain ed not from potatoes, beetroot, or molasses, but from wood. He has tested several kinds of timber, and finds that the birch is the most satisfa cfory of all. This tree flourishes everywhere in Northern Europe.; but is especially plentiful in Norway, Sweden, and Russia.

For economical reasons, the learned doctor has been experimenting largely with sawdust, and sometimes even with this substance after decomposition had brought changes within it. We are not surprised to learn that the results obtained were more satisfactory when the raw material was perfectly fresh than -when it was partially putrid. Our distillers, who pride themselves upon producing high-class whisky, are very careful in the selection of their barley.

The principal ingredients in wood fibre is cellulose,. a substance that is, chemically nearly akin to starch,; and, therefore, it is capable of being converted into sugar by the enzyme called diastase. With the object of distilling as cheaply as possible, the first thing is to discover which kind of timber .yields the largest percentage of cellulose, and then to devisd the most expeditious xhethod of converting such cellulose into sugar. When quality has to be also considered, it is needful to find out which tree surpasses all others in imparting a pleasant flavour to the finished alcohol.

The cellulose can be converted into saccharine matter by treating it with water, containing one-half per cent, of hydrochloric or sulphuric acid, in a closed vessel, at a high temperature. The proportion of wood to water is about four to one. There is a great deal of draff in this malting of wood; for the yield of

sugar varies from forty-five down to twenty per cent., leaving the residue as waste matter, for. which no use appears to have been at present suggested. Then, from the sugar thus produced there has to be deducted a further thirty-five per cent of unfermentable ingredients. Yet, withal, it is the cheapest spirit yet produced, and some of the latest runnings are said to be remarkably free from tne impurities of commercial alcohol, and even to possess an agreeable flavour. Spirits distilled from wine, or barley, or fruit, or sugar cane, have always commanded a higher price in the market than those which are distilled from roots. Therefore, reasoning by analogy, the distillate from a tree should be superior to that derived from potatoes ; but much would depend upon the innate qualities or virtues of the tree itself Sundry of the earlier experiments of Dr Simonsen were made with the pinus sylvestris, anA no one need be astonished to hea r that the. resultant spirit was redolent of tar and turpentine. For industrial purposes such alcohol would scarcely require methylation. . . It will be interesting, to watch this now development of commerce, and to see whether alcohol intended for a beverage can be produced much more cheap y than it is at present; and whether a plain spirit, suitable for blending, can be distilled from the trees of the forest, with a certainty that age will impart to it an agreeable aroma instead of a stench.