Red Dead Redemption: The Great Philanthropist of the West

After listening to the old butler's report, Henry instructed him to continue managing the pharmacy business as usual, but to purchase as much medical alcohol and smallpox vaccine as possible next time he went to buy medicine. He told the old butler not to worry about buying too much and to store it in the basement for later use.

When you have some free time, please help find out if there have been any major cases or fires in the nearby states recently.

Use the money first; if it's not enough, he'll find a way to get more. Also, he might be away for a while in a couple of days, so don't worry about him; he can take care of himself.

Saving over $500 a month doesn't last long, and college tuition isn't cheap at this time. Although Henry doesn't plan to go back to school, he already knows all the connections he needs and can contact his sister via email if needed. But his sister still wants to continue her high school and college studies.

Besides, in this day and age, you can't get things done without money. For example, you can allocate $100 of your monthly budget to bribe the police and the market supervision bureau. This pharmacy is a legitimate business that pays its taxes in full every year.

If you don't bribe them, they won't openly harass you, but if any vandalism or other disputes occur, they won't side with you. They might even delay their response, or take both sides equally, bringing you to the police station for questioning. Keep in mind, the pharmacy is located at the border of the poor and rich areas. It's at the end of the busiest street in front, and behind it are a large number of dockworkers and the town's largest pub, where drunken disturbances happen daily. Dealing with it would be counterproductive.

He instructed his maid, Florina, to buy a copy of the Blackwater Town Chronicle and to get money from William's butler to subscribe to the newspaper, with delivery to his door promptly each issue.

Seeing that the newspaper only reported on the escalating US-Mexico border dispute and the infidels' invasion of Valentine, with no other notable events, he put down the newspaper and continued thinking about how to make money quickly.

The fastest way to make money right now is definitely selling bootlegging—low costs, high profits, quick returns, and no taxes. However, after much deliberation, he decided against making the bootlegging himself and needed to find more partners to share the risks. After all, it's an illegal business, and monopolizing it would easily attract jealousy and resentment. He needed to play it safe for now. Once the formula was perfected, he would provide the formula, alcohol, and key ingredients, while the others would handle the production, transportation, and sales, with him sharing the profits proportionally.

To maximize profits and increase competition, illicit liquor producers have to rely on blending and advanced technology. Most illicit liquor on the market is currently produced by small, scattered workshops using coarse grains. It not only tastes bad and contains many impurities, but also has a long production cycle. Crucially, its cost is almost the same as that of well-known factory-produced liquors. If it weren't for the tax exemption, it would probably have been eliminated long ago. It has absolutely no competitive advantage.

Technology and ruthless methods are different; the costs are incredibly low. The main cost is probably in procuring the alcohol. If the taste is decent and production volume can keep up, then they'll dominate the western private liquor market in no time.

But I digress. Let's get to the preparation first. Have the maid, Frena, go downstairs and call up Raphael Albright, the pharmacist from our family's apothecary. Let's review the main ingredients needed for this concoction: alcohol, flavoring, saccharin, anti-bitterness agent, glycerin, and thickener. Alcohol, glycerin, and thickener can all be purchased directly. The main issues are the preparation of the saccharin and anti-bitterness agent, and the selection of the flavoring. That will require the pharmacist to spend time carefully blending them.

Just then, the pharmacist Raphael arrived.

"Young Master, you wanted to see me?" Seeing Henry stand up, Raphael quickly approached respectfully. If it weren't for Henry's father taking him in years ago, he would have long since starved to death on the streets. He wouldn't be able to earn such a high salary now, comfortably sitting in the shop every day, occasionally guiding customers on what medicine to buy. The pharmacist was quite grateful to the Allen family.

“Mr. Raphael, come, sit down and let’s talk. I wonder if you have any knowledge about moonshine?” Henry asked after the pharmacist sat down.

“I haven’t looked into it specifically, young master. Are you thinking of making moonshine?” Raphael replied cautiously.

"We have this plan, but we need to see if it's suitable. The family has too few businesses, and we want to find another way to make money." Henry didn't intend to hide it from Rafael Dijk, since he still needed his help with the work. He couldn't hide it from him anyway, and he didn't want to waste time on such boring things.

Upon receiving Henry's reply, Raphael hesitated, unsure whether he should advise his young master against it. After all, bootlegging was illegal and would attract the attention of special bootlegging agents. He had initially helped others manufacture counterfeit medicine and didn't want to live in constant fear, terrified that the police would suddenly appear, arrest him, and hang him.

Unable to bear the mental anguish, he fled, only to be hunted down by both the police and the underworld. Just when he was at his wit's end and contemplating suicide, he happened to meet Old Allen. Old Allen was kind-hearted and, seeing that he knew some pharmacology, helped him hide his identity and stay at the pharmacy to help him escape this ordeal.

He'd been lucky to live more than a decade longer, and he was open to new possibilities. As long as he could repay Old Allen's kindness, he wasn't opposed to making bootlegging liquor for money; he was just worried that if his illegal activities were discovered, it would negatively impact his young master's reputation.

Henry, seeing that Raphael remained silent, guessed what he was thinking. He reassured him, "Don't worry, I don't plan to manufacture it myself. I just want to develop the formula and sell it to others for a share. Even if we get caught, the worst that can happen is a fine. It'll be fine."

Upon hearing this, Raphael visibly relaxed and immediately replied, "Then, young master, do you wish to brew your own wine, or blend it?"

"Blended liquor and brewed liquor have too long a production cycle and too little profit, so there's not much money to be made."

"As for blended wine, it might take me two months to figure out a slightly better quality. After all, I don't have much experience in this area, and I'll have to start from scratch. It will require a lot of experimentation and will take a lot of time," Lafayette replied after a moment's thought.

"If I could provide you with the ingredient list, a general formula, and a research direction, how confident would you be in being able to manufacture it within a month?"

"If you can provide this information, I'm 80% confident I can produce a sample within a month. I can't guarantee the taste, though; we'll have to test it to find out. But I assure you it won't be any worse than those inferior bootleg liquors on the market."

Raphael didn't doubt why the young master knew these things. The young master had lived in a major eastern city and was said to be a top student at a famous university, so it wasn't surprising that he had a lot of experience.

"Alright, then you'll have to work hard during this time to get the formula out as soon as possible. You don't need to worry about the pharmacy for now. I'll have William's butler arrange for Dom to take care of it and hire a new helper for him."

From now on, you can focus on your experiments. If you do well, once you've earned enough money, we'll buy you a plot of land to build a proper laboratory and give you a raise.

"Oh, by the way, I'm planning to take over the pub next door too. You can come over for a few drinks sometime, see what the customers think, and whatever you like. Just be careful not to get drunk and say anything inappropriate." Henry casually painted a rosy picture for Raphael, then continued:

"First of all, the main ingredients of blended liquor are edible alcohol, flavorings, sweeteners, edible glycerin, and thickeners. Currently, we can't obtain large quantities of edible alcohol through legitimate channels, so we can only use medical alcohol as a substitute. Therefore, the alcohol content can be slightly lower to avoid problems. Keeping it at 30-40 degrees is about right; drinking too much will inevitably lead to hangovers and headaches. Edible glycerin and thickeners can be purchased directly; you just need to get the proportions right during the experiment."

The most crucial elements are fragrances and sweeteners, which are also the most difficult to control and the most time-consuming. Europeans and Americans generally prefer sweet flavors, so you can lean towards that during your experiments. Fragrances are divided into natural and synthetic types. Natural fragrances mainly consist of scent glands, sacs, flowers, leaves, branches, trunks, etc., and their secretions (such as gums, resins, balms, etc.), as well as substances containing aroma-producing components extracted from these tissues or secretions through processing (such as essential oils, extracts, aromatic resins, absolutes, etc.). Synthetic fragrances require the use of different raw materials and are prepared through chemical (or biological) synthesis. I'm not very familiar with this aspect, so you can figure it out through your own experiments.

As for cyclamate, there isn't a definitive definition yet. You can think of it as a low-calorie, high-intensity sweetener. It can be obtained through both synthesis and extraction. I recommend the extraction method, using plants that produce bittersweet compounds for extraction and purification. For example, beetroot. Crush the beetroot roots, then precipitate, filter, and centrifuge to obtain the corresponding liquid. Further purify this liquid using methods like evaporation until you get the solid product you need.

You need to keep the details about flavorings and sweeteners a secret; don't let any third party know. If others know, they'll lose their value. Don't be constrained by what I've said above; I'm just providing direction. You can fully unleash your imagination and research even better products.

My requirements for new wine are: a bright and vibrant color with a glossy sheen, good transparency, no suspended particles or sediment, and most importantly, a good taste—rich, smooth, and full-bodied with a long finish.

"Alright, that's about it. Did you remember everything? You can ask if you have any questions." After watching Raphael go from being relatively relaxed at the beginning to being dumbfounded, and then hurriedly taking out his notebook to scribble and draw, Henry finally asked after a while.

Raphael looked at his young master with admiration and said apologetically, "Young master, you are really amazing. You know so much about moonshine. It's just that you said too much just now, and I can't write it all down. Please repeat it for me."

"...Okay, by the way, the wine made this way might have a slight bitterness. Keep an eye on it and see if you can remove it. You can use something sour or sweet to neutralize it." Henry added after repeating it to Lafayette.

"You can ask William for the equipment, materials and funds needed for the experiment. I will tell him in a moment. If you encounter any problems that you cannot solve, come to me in time. If I am not here, consult with William. I will be away for a while in a couple of days. I hope to see good news from you when I come back."

"Yes, young master. With your information, I dare not say that it can definitely compare to those big-name wineries, but it will definitely be much better than those small workshops' illicit liquors."

"Alright, then go and start preparing."