Title: bev-distilled-mag
Subject: Medieval distilled beverages. Distilling.
Author: Edited by Mark S. Harris
Last saved by: Mark S. Harris
Keywords: period, medieval, distilled, brandy, bourbon, beverage

bev-distilled-msg - 10/25/09

Medieval distilled beverages. Distilling.

NOTE: See also the files: cordials-msg, beverages-msg, Peach-Brandy-art, Kiwi-cordial-art. Apricot-Crdal-art, brewing-msg, mead-msg, beer-msg, wine-msg, p-bottles-msg.

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NOTICE -

This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I  have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

I  have done  a limited amount  of  editing. Messages having to do  with separate topics  were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the  message IDs  were removed to save space and remove clutter.

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Thank you,
    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous
                                          Stefan at florilegium.org
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From: jtn at nutter.cs.vt.edu (Terry Nutter)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Liquours Period?
Date: 29 Jun 93 03:57:37 GMT

Greetings, all, from Angharad ver' Rhuawn, who has spent more time with her
Hugh Platt lately in response from questions in this forum than she had in
quite a time.

We have two questions as to whether liquors are period.  The short answer is
yes: the second section of Hugh Platt's _Delightes for Ladies_ (London, 1609)
is titled "Secrets in Distillation"; it's first recipe is called "How to make
true spirit of wine."  Most of the rest, though, are how to make things like
rosewater, or heavily herbed and spiced things, not what one would think of
as either modern liquors or cordials.  Kenelm Digbie (1669), the largest single
locus I know of for near-period brewing information, contains (so far as I
know) no recipes that call for distillation, or for using its product (i.e. you
don't add spirit of wine).  The technique is known, at least right at the
end of period, but does not seem to be much used.

Cheers,
-- Angharad/Terry

From: jtn at nutter.cs.vt.edu (Terry Nutter)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Spices and Distillation (was Re: Surprise! Surprise!)
Date: 20 Jul 93 04:51:53 GMT

Greetings, all, from Angharad ver' Rhuawn.

In response to Ranvaig's query, Andy Trembley recently wrote,
>Distillation as "distillation of spirits" has been in discussion for the
>last few weeks as of yet with no real conclusion as to whether it was period
>(tho the 'nays' have more support due to the lack of reliable information to
>support the 'yeas'). 

I may be partly responsible for this impression, so I thought I should
clarify what I have found.

In the fifth collection in _Curye on Inglysch_, which Hieatt calls "Goud
Kokery", there is a 14th C recipe for distilling aqua vite from the lees of
strong wine, which seems to produce something that would appear to be a
heavily spiced (and probably rather weak, given the methods described)
brandy.  So some form of such distilling is unmistakably period.

What is unclear is whether anyone ever used the result as a beverage,
i.e. drank it straight, either to quench thirst, to enjoy the flavor,
or to get drunk.  The closest I have to an indication of such a use is 
that it is used sparingly as an ingredient in some recipes for making
spiced wines or ales (amazingly enough, these recipes tend to indicate
amounts).

This seems to be true through the early 17th C, at least according to 
what I have found.  Hugh Platt has a recipe for distilling "true spirits
of wine", which again produces a stronger alcohol than brewing provides.
But again, there is no indication that it was drunk; and all the other
recipes in his section on distilling are for things like rosewater, or
for things you apply externally.

I have not seen it myself, but understand that there is sound evidence
that some distilled beverages of enhanced alcoholic content were used
as medicinals (I'd love some non-urban-legend real-life references here,
BTW), and it is very likely true.  Surely some of the alchemists thought
they might be useful that way.  But there's a huge gap, even today, between
Cognac and Robitussin.  The first is a beverage.  The second isn't.  The
question is whether distilled alcohols in Europe in period were only
ingredients or medicinals, or whether they were also sometimes beverages.

I hope this is a bit clearer.

Cheers,
-- Angharad/Terry

From: boyko at skyfox
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: RE: Spices and Distillation (was Re: Surprise! Surprise!)
Date: 21 JUL 93 01:31:35 GMT
Organization: University of Saskatchewan

    greetings unto the rialto from laghamon vavasour
angharad makes reference to searchingfor documentation of distilled
spirits as medicinals.
    when writing an essay on 16th century science a couple years ago,
I ran across a citation from M. Boas _The Scientific Renaissance_. On
page 161, she makes reference to a certain Michael von Shrick who wrote
a book on distilling liquors in 1478 and suggested the use of such
liquors as brandy for medicinal purposes. It is a slender leg to stand on,
but it might be worth using as leverage

From: DDFr at Best.com (David Friedman)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: How to make Rum *VERY INTERESTING*
Date: Sat, 23 Nov 1996 10:09:38 -0800
Organization: School of Law, Santa Clara University

Anyone interested in a period answer to the question might want to look at
the description of how to make arrack in the (16th century, Moghul) _Ain i
Akbari_. Arrack, like rum, is a distilled liquor made from sugar cane. I
don't believe they are the same thing, but I expect the process is at least
similar.

David/(Cariadoc doesn't even approve of undistilled liquors, unless they
are made from dates and fermented no more than three days)

From: DDFr at Best.com (David Friedman)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Liqueurs in History
Date: Fri, 21 Feb 1997 22:27:23 -0800
Organization: School of Law, Santa Clara University

I believe the following is roughly correct, but I haven't checked any sources.

In most of Europe, distilling alcohol for the purpose of drinking is a
late period practice, with the main example being brandy (distilled wine),
c. 1400-1500. Whiskey was apparently distilled much earlier, but in fringe
areas, so to speak (i.e. Ireland and Scotland). So I don't think you get
liquers until near the end of our period, and brandy is the most likely
liquid for them to be based on.

Of course, distillation was known much earlier, but from an (al)chemical,
not culinary, standpoint.

Perhaps someone with more precise information can add to or correct my
memory on this.

David/Cariadoc

From: hrjones at uclink.berkeley.edu (Heather Rose Jones)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Liqueurs in History
Date: 22 Feb 1997 21:39:14 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley

David Friedman (DDFr at Best.com) wrote:
: I believe the following is roughly correct, but I haven't checked any sources.

: In most of Europe, distilling alcohol for the purpose of drinking is a
: late period practice, with the main example being brandy (distilled wine),
: c. 1400-1500. Whiskey was apparently distilled much earlier, but in fringe
: areas, so to speak (i.e. Ireland and Scotland).

Regarding this last, I have yet to see _any_ solid evidence for the
distillation of whiskey (by any spelling) any time prior to the general
spread of brandy-type distillation. You get some vague statements in
"history of whiskey" books put out by distillaries, but nothing I've ever
seen that could be backed up or pinned down. (I think it's not
insignificant that the Irish phrase from which the word "whiskey" derives
is a direct translation of "aqua vitae".)

Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn

From: Mark Schuldenfrei <schuldy at abel.MATH.HARVARD.EDU>
Date: Thu, 8 May 1997 14:48:19 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: SC - cognac

>  Ok, as if Stefan hasn't asked enough questions, What is cognac?

This is just a too easy question.

co.gnac \'ko-n-.yak, 'ka:n-, 'ko.n-\ n [F, fr. Cognac, France] cap  1: a
   brandy from the departments of Charente and Charente-maritime distilled
   from white wine 2: a French brandy

  I know it is a distilled alcoholic beverage of some type. But what is it made
  of? Is it period? What makes a good bottle of cognac? Are there period
  food recipes that use it?

A similar distilled beverage is armagnac, also from France.  It is period, I
do believe.  (But have no citations to hand.)

What makes it a good bottle?  Aging, ingredients....

Hmmm.  Like most strong beverages, cognac has a certain bite.  It also has a
natural smokey kind of complexity, not like the peaty flavor of scotch, but
sharper in the nose.  It also has a vanilla sort of texture.  A light brown
color, a very warm and inviting smell.  In large gulps, it can be very
sharp, and it must be sipped slowly, so that the wonderful fumes can wash
into your nose as you savor it.  It takes me a good 45 minutes to drink an
ounce.  Or longer.

I know of no recipes that call for it, but I have some empty glasses
into which it conforms smartly.  (:-)

	Tibor

From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Date: Thu, 08 May 1997 16:55:10 -0400
Subject: Re: SC - cognac

Mark Schuldenfrei wrote:

> Hmmm.  Like most strong beverages, cognac has a certain bite.  It also has a
> natural smokey kind of complexity, not like the peaty flavor of scotch, but
> sharper in the nose.  It also has a vanilla sort of texture.  A light brown
> color, a very warm and inviting smell.  In large gulps, it can be veyr
> sharp, and it must be sipped slowly, so that the wonderful fumes can wash
> into your nose as you savor it.  It takes me a good 45 minutes to drink an
> ounce.  Or longer.

Just a drop to add: some vintages (a year's "crop" of wine from a given
vineyard) are better than others. Some make better brandy than others.
Part of the way to remove some of the more unpleasant impurities is by
aging under fairly stable, controlled conditions. Generally this
involves storage for up to several years in a cask (usually oak), under
fairly constant temperature and humidity (usually in cellars).

I like marc myself, another variety. It's a little more barbaric in
nature, rather like the Italian grappa.

> I know of no recipes that call for it, but I have some empty glasses
> into which it conforms smartly.  (:-)

Yeah, me too! One of the reasons you're unlikely to find references to
such brandy in period recipes is that it would have been regarded as for
medicinal use, at least officially. The Irish author Malachy McCormick
speaks of his grandmother's justification for the occasional nip of
whisky:
	"Sure, an' I drinks it like a physic!" 

>         Tibor
Adamantius' 2 sesterces

From: gfrose at cotton.vislab.olemiss.edu (Terry Nutter)
Date: Thu, 8 May 1997 16:08:15 -0500
Subject: Re: SC - cognac

Hi, Katerine here.  Tibor commented that he didn't know of recipes that
call for brandy, and Adamantius added that one reason for that is that it
would have been regarded as medicinal.

Actually, there are spiced wine recipes that call for aqua vite, and 
recipes for flaming dishes using eau ardent; both are almost certainly
brandies (i.e. spirits of wine made from grape-based wines), and cognac
would be a reasonable modern brandy to use. Before anyone asks: no, I 
don't know what the difference between aqua vite (as specified in English
recipes going back to the 14th C, not the modern stuff) and eau ardent
was. They may have been the same.  A reasonable alternative hypothesis
is that aqua vite is any distilled wine, and eau ardent is specifically
a distilled wine that has a high enough alcohol content to flame
adequately (in modern US terms, about 70 proof).

Cheers,
- --Katerine/Terry

From: gfrose at cotton.vislab.olemiss.edu (Terry Nutter)
Date: Fri, 9 May 1997 13:55:24 -0500
Subject: Re:  Re(2): SC - cognac

Hi, Katerine here.  Derdriu responds to Tibor responding to me:

>> I agree that brandy is an appropriate thing to use for either aqua vite or
>> eau ardent (and have a sneaking suspicion that eau is clearer than aqua...
>> but I don't know why I think that).  But I wouldn't use the (more expensive)
>> and regionally specific cognac in a recipe, unless perhaps the source of the
>> recipe was in or near Cognac, France.
>
>Could the difference be language based?  I wonder if eau ardent was available
>in France more readily than it might have been other places.  
>> 
>> 	Tibor
>
>Just wondering.

Both appear in English sources.  Eau ardent probably appears in French ones
too, but I can't think of any offhand.  People tend to forget that the common
language of English cuisine through the 13th century appears to have been 
pretty firmly established as Anglo-Norman, and that medieval miscellanies
(in which a number of culinary recipes appear) were fairly well bilingual
between Middle English and Latin, and sometimes in earlier cases trilingual
between English, Latin, and Anglo-Norman.

The evolution (and accellerated corruption) of Anglo-Norman dish names through
the 14th and 15th centuries pretty clearly indicates that the scribes copying
them no longer understood Anglo-Norman.  The references I can think of offhand
to eau ardent are early 15th century (in Arundel 334).  I strongly suspect
that by then, to those who wrote about it, it was just a name.

- -- Katerine/Terry

Date: Fri, 06 Jun 1997 19:37:02 -0400
From: Ian Gourdon of Glen Awe <agincort at imperium.net>
To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Cordial Research

G'day all,
I'm trying to research Cordial ingredients; the easy references are few,
Digby is out of period, etc, but I'll share what I found. Any more out
there?  

For the whole page of my limited research, check out what I've found so
far...
http:www.imperium.net/~agincort/Cordial-R.html
Ian Gourdon

SUGAR: 
The sugarcane plant, indigenous to southern Asia, was first used for the production of sugar between the 7th and 4th century B.C. in northern India. Cane cultivation eventually spread westward to the Near East and was introduced to the Mediterranean region by the Arabs, giving rise to a cane sugar industry that flourished there until the late 1500's. Columbus introduced sugarcane tothe New World on his second voyage in 1493, when it was first planted on theisland of Hispaniola. During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish, English,and French established sugar production in their Caribbean island colonies. The French colony of St. Domingue (present-day Haiti) was, by the late 18thcentury, one of the most important sugar producers in the Caribbean at a time when world demand for sugar was rising rapidly. Shipments of raw sugar from St.Domingue such as those recorded on the displayed bills of lading were destined for the European market by way of refineries in France. -1996 Louisiana State University Libraries 

AQUA VITAE: 
Originally Whisky was very different to the refined spitits we have today. It had almost a soupy consistency with a strong smoky flavour from the peat used in the fires to dry the malt. Early stories go back to the sixth century AD, but the earliest documented record of distilling in Scotland occurs in 1494, when an entry in the Exchequer Rolls listed "Eight bolls of malt to Friar John Cor wherewith to make aqua vitae" (water of life). 

This was sufficient to produce almost 1500 bottles. 

Arnold de Vila Nova, a 13th Century alchemist, wrote of aqua vitae and
its restorative properties and also of the medicinal properties of various flavored alcohols. Legal documents dating to 1411 mention the distillation of  wine into brandy in the Armagnac region of France. Das Buch zu Destilliern by Hieronymus Braunsweig was printed in 1519. This book, as its title explains, is a book on distillation.

From: "Sharon L. Harrett" <afn24101 at afn.org>
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 1997 14:56:46 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: SC - Liqueurs

On Tue, 10 Jun 1997, Michael F. Gunter wrote:

> I know a similar subject was on this list just a couple of weeks ago but I was
> wondering about the history of liqueurs.
> 
> I'm thinking of making up some rose and lilac liqueurs for gifts and as an A&S 
> entry. I don't think they are period but I was wondering if there were similar
> things and if anyone knows when liqueurs began.
> 
> Gunthar

M'Lord Gunthar,
	The history of liqueurs goes back to around the 12th C., beginning
with the discovery that distillation could separate two liquids. Wine was 
distilled to produce "aqua vitae", meaning water of life. This in turn began
to be used to produce medicinal liqueurs, some of which are mentioned in Sir
Hugh Plat's Secrets in Distillation, and others in Sir Kenelme Digbie's book
on Chirurgerie. Chartreuse Liqueur is probably the best known of those with
their roots in period. As far as the flowers go, I have many instances of
distilling "flower waters" for use in flavoring, cosmetics, and for washing
hands at table, but so far none for drinkables, although some of the
medicinal recipes do *include* various flowers. 

Ceridwen 

Date: Sat, 16 Aug 1997 09:28:30 +0000
From: "James Pratt" <cathal at mindspring.com>
To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Re: fortified wine?

> <<  Not being much of a drinker I don't know much about the
>  "periodness" of the whiskeys Scotch or other wise.  Could some one help
>  me?
>                                    Lady Katherine Malveren McGuire

	Popular tradition accords the introduction of distillation into 
Ireland at the hands of St. Patrick.  A common Gaelic usage was
"Uisgebeatha" (water of Life) which eventually became our word
"whiskey". 
	The earliest surviving legal reference to the matter can be found in 
the Exchequer Rolls of James IV of Scotland (1473-1513) which note 
that the King had his aqua vitae distilled from barley by a friar 
(_The Scots Cellar_ by F. Marian MacNeill, Edinburgh, MacDonald 
Printers, 1956).
	Henry VIII was the first monarch to officially require that the
product come only from licensed distilleries.   However it was not 
until 1661 that the first direct tax (4d. a gallon) was imposed.
(_An Encyclopedia of Drinks & Drinking_, by Frederick Martin,
Toronto, Coles Press, 1980)
	
Cathal Mac Edan na faeled,
Barony of the South Downs, Meridies

Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 15:06:20 -0600
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: SC - Brandy

>Philippa said:
>>Please remember that Brandy, of a sort, and thus
>>distilling has been around since Roman times.
>
>I thought Brandy was not known until the 13th century or
>later. What makes you think it was known in Roman times?
>
>What is Brandy distilled from? Is there a drink distilled
>from mead?
>
>Stefan li Rous

Brandy is distilled from wine, any wine.  What we normally call brandy
is distilled from grape wine.  Other fruit brandies are distilled from
fruit wine or fermented juices, peach brandy, black berry brandy,
kirchwasser, etc.

Distillation has long been used to seperate liquids and a simple
distillation will produce about a 40 proof alcohol.  The distillation
process was improved around 800 C.E. by Jabir ibn Hayyan.

The first modern brandy was distilled in approximately 1300 C.E. at the
Montpellier medical school by Arnaldus de Villa Nova, a French medical
professor.

Dates are courtesy of The Food Chronology and the MS Encyclopedia, which
have exactly the same text.

Bear

Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 20:15:06 -0400
From: renfrow at skylands.net (Cindy Renfrow)
Subject: Re: SC - Brandy

Philippa said:
>Please remember that Brandy, of a sort, and thus
>distilling has been around since Roman times.

I thought Brandy was not known until the 13th century or
later. What makes you think it was known in Roman times?

What is Brandy distilled from? Is there a drink distilled
from mead?

Stefan li Rous

Hello!  There is a lengthy passage in McGee's "On Food and Cooking" about
the history of distillation.  To summarize:  distillation of wine and other
liquids was mentioned by Aristotle.  Distillation of rice or barley liquor
was known in India in 800 B.C.  Distillation of wine for medicine
discovered in Italy around 1100 A.D.  15th century brandy in germany.  1100
to 1300 whisky in Scotland.

This recipe for 'spirit of honey' is for a distilled alcohol made from mead.

13.  SPIRIT OF HONEY - 1609
Put one part of Honey to 5 parts of water:  when the water boyleth,
dissolue your Honey therein, skimme it, and hauing sodden an houre or two,
put it into a woodden vessell, and when it is but bloudwarme, set it on
worke with yeast after the vsuall manner of Beere and Ale:  runne it, and
when it hath lyen some time, it wil yeeld his Spirit by distillation, as
Wine, Beere and Ale will doe.
(From Delightes for Ladies, by Sir Hugh Plat, 1609.)

Cindy Renfrow/Sincgiefu
renfrow at skylands.net
Author & Publisher of "Take a Thousand Eggs or More, A Collection of 15th
Century Recipes" and "A Sip Through Time, A Collection of Old Brewing
Recipes"
http://www.alcasoft.com/renfrow/

Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 11:06:44 -0600
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: SC - Brandy

Just for grins, I dug out Fernand Braudel's The Structures of Everyday
Life, Harper and Row, 1981.  It is a lovely volume by a superb French
historian heavily illustrated, noted and indexed.  Here's a paraphrase
of his information on brandy:

Stills were known before the 12th Century, therefore alcohol may have
been distilled before then.

It is possible that alcohol was discovered about 1100 at the Salerno
school of medicine.  (although not mentioned in Braudel, this school
seems to be where external condensation of distillates began.)

Distillation of wine was practiced by apothecaries as medicine.  Brandy
results from the first distillation, and spirit of wine from the second.

First distillation of brandy has been attributed to Raymond Lull (d.
1315), probably incorrectly, or to Arnaud de Villeneuve, an itinerant
doctor who taught at Montpellier and Paris and died in 1313 on a journey
from Sicily to Provence.

Charles the Bad was being treated in a brandy soaked sheet in 1387 and
became flambed from a zealous servant and a candle.

In 1496, Nuremberg forbid the free sale of alcohol on feast days.  A
quote from a Nuremberg doctor about 1493, "In view of the fact that
everyone at present has got into the habit of drinking aqua vitae it is
necessary to remember the quantity that one can permit oneself to drink
and learn to drink it according to one's capacities, if one wishes to
behave like a gentlemen.

1514, Louis XII grants the guild of vinegar-makers the privilege of
distilling brandy.

1537, Francis I divides the privilege between the vinegar-makers and the
victuallers leading to quarrels (apparently the business was very
profitable).

In 1506, Colmar (eastern France, free imperial city since 1226) placed
the distillers and distributers under the city control and tracked the
product in the fiscal and custom records.  It appears to have quickly
become a major industry.

An early distillery may have been operating at Gaillac early in the 16th
Century and exported brandy to Antwerp as early as 1512.

Acquavite appears in the Venetian customs records in 1596.  And in
Barcelona in the 17th Century.

Brandy appears to been a mainstay in northern Europe, Germany, the
Netherlands, and France (north of the Loire) long before reaching the
Mediterranean countries.

Bear

Date: Wednesday, January 21, 1998 19:20:42
From: kappler
To: distilling
Subject: [Dstlg] Puck's History of Distilling

Posted by "kappler" <kappler at edgenet.net>

900 BC   - Chinese credited with discovery of the process of distillation

800 BC   - rice and millet fermented into Tehoo, distilled to Sautchoo in China
         - rice, molasses and palm sap fermented into Toddy, distilled to Arrack 
              in  India
         - mare's milk fermented into Kumiss, distilled to Arika by Tatars
         - mare's milk fermented into Kefir, distilled to Skhou in Caucasus
         - rice fermented into Sake, distilled to Sochou in Nippon

100 AD   - first Roman writings referencing distilled beverages

500 AD   - Honey fermented to Mead, distilled to 'distilled mead' in Britain

700 AD   - Islamic universities apply distillation to medicine

900 AD   - Abucasis, an Arab surgeon in Spain uses distilled alcohol as a 
              solvent for drugs

1000 AD  - grapes fermented to wine, distilled to Brandy in Italy

1100 AD  - Oats and Barley fermented to Beer :->, distilled to Usqubaugh in 
              Ireland

1200 AD  - Grapes fermented to wine, distilled to Aqua Vini in Spain
         - Arnold de Vila Nova writes of therapeutic properties of aqua vitae 
              and various flavored alcohols

1300 AD  - Grapes fermented to wine, distilled to Cognac in France

1411 AD  - Legal papers mention distillation of Brandy in Armagnac region in 
              France

1494 AD  - Friar John Cor granted "8 bolls of malt" to make aqua vitae for King 
              James IV

1519 AD  - Hieronymus Braunsweig wrote Das Buch zu Destilliern, a book on 
              distillation

1553 AD  - 'eau-de-vie', a distillate of 'Syder' mentioned in the journal of a 
              Norman farmer

1644 AD  - Scotland's Parliament taxes whiskey

1700 AD  - Scot and Irish settlers introduce distilling to North America

In service, Puck

Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 08:44:44 -0500
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: Re Eau Ardent - Re: SC - Re:  Duel - Recipe Three

> > IIRC, spirits with enough proof to light begin appearing commonly in the
> > mid-15th Century.  However, the first European distillation of brandy occurs
> > about 1300 in France and the Arabs had capacity to distill alcohol as early
> > as 800.  I don't believe freezing gets the distillates high enough to burn.
> >
> > Bear
>
> Perhaps one's definition of "commonly" is the key here. I've seen a couple of
> other references to eau ardent, or aqua ardent, in period sources, and if I
> remember correctly, there is a recipe for aqua vitae somewhere in Curye On
> Inglysch, essentially a distillate of spiced wine. And I could be wrong, but
> the chastelets recipe occurs in the late 14th century, but then again even if
> brandy distillation occurs in France at a given date, I understood it to
> have
> been practiced earlier in places like Ireland. I wonder if I've been
> misinformed, or if you are reading from a French (and therefore
> Franco-centric, as I've yet to see a French source that wasn't) source?
>
> Adamantius

The 1300 date is certainly Franco-centric, probably apocryphal, and likely
close to correct.  It represents the experimental distillation of brandy at
the Montpellier medical school by Arnaldus de Villa Nova.  Also
apocryphally, the external condenser still, which can conserve volatile
liquids like alcohol is supposed to have been developed by the physician
Salernus (d. 1167).  So we are talking about 250 years of sketchy records,
which means that alcohol volatile enough to burn was probably distilled in
the 13th Century.

I've been working backward on the rules, regulations and commentary about
alcohol from a trade perspective and I haven't been checking the cookbooks,
which is why I said "commonly" available.  My sources are fairly limited and
mostly Central European, and if you can remember where you found the
references to Irish distillation, I would appreciate knowing.

Bear

Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 14:44:37 -0400
From: "Philippa Alderton" <phlip at bright.net>
Subject: Re: Re Eau Ardent - Re: SC - Re:  Duel - Recipe Three

Adamantius sez:

>and if I
>remember correctly, there is a recipe for aqua vitae somewhere in Curye On
>Inglysch, essentially a distillate of spiced wine.

You asked, love, and so it shall be given. I don't have a symbol for thorn
on my computer, and if I did, most of you might not be able to pick it up
as a thorn, so that's why I'll be putting all those th thingies in
parentheses:

From Curye on Inglysch, Heatt and Butler, published 1985, the section on
Goud Kokery, number 7.

7   Aqua vite: (th)at is to seie, water of liif. Fille (th)i viol ful of
lys of strong wiyn, & putte (th)ereto (th)ese poudris: poudir of canil, of
clowes, of gyngyuer, of notemugges, of galyngale, of quibibis, of greyn de
parys, of longe peper, of blake peper: alle (th)ese in powdir. Careaway,
cirmunteyn, comyn, fenel, smallage, persile, sauge, myntis, ruwe,
calamynte, origanum: and a half unce or moore or lasse, as (th)ee liki(th).
Pownd hym a litil, for it will be (th)e betir, & put hem to (th)ese
poudris.
(Th)anne sette (th)i glas on (th)e fier, sette on the houel, & kepe it wel
(th)at (th) hete come not o it; & sette (th)ervndir a viol, & kepe (th)
watir.

Phlip

Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 19:57:20 -0500
From: allilyn at juno.com (LYN M PARKINSON)
Subject: SC - Re: Duel - ew ardaunt

 ew ardaunt n. spirits, aqua ardaunt, q.v. IV 197.--The idea seems to be
to serve the 'castle' flambe', as is called for in one Ar recipe, no. 139
(a rich version of 'mawmenny'), which adds at the end, 'putte thereon a
litel aqua vite and quen hit is dresset in dysshes as hit is before sayde
thenne light hit with a wax candel and serue hit forthe brennynge'.

Master A says:
>> if I remember correctly, there is a recipe for aqua vitae somewhere in
Curye On Inglysch, essentially a distillate of spiced wine. <<

"aqua ardaunt/ardente n. spitits, brandy or aqua vite  V 4, 8*, AQUA VITE
V 7, distilled spirts.  See also ew ardaunt."   from the Index and
Commentary.

>From _Goud Kokery_, #7. Aqua vite: that is to seie, water of liif.
Fille thi viol ful of lyes of strong wiyn,
& putte therto these poudris: poudir of canel, of clowes, of gyngyuer, of
notemugges, of galyngale, of quibibis, of greyn de parys, of longe peper,
of blake peper: alle these in powdir.  Careawey, cirmunteyn, comyn,
fenel, smallage, persile, sauge, myntis, ruwe, calamynte, origanum: and a
half unce or moore or lasse, as thee likith.  Pownd hem a litil, for it
will be the betir, & put hem to these poudris,  Thanne sette thi glas on
the fier, sett on the houel, & kepe it wel that the hete come not o it; &
sette thervndir a viol, & kepe the watir.

I included the whole thing, because it has a lot more stuff in it than I
thought of as 'aqua vitae'.

Allison

Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 15:17:41 -0400
From: Jeff Botkins <jbotkins at ime.net>
Subject: Re: SC - Rectified Whiskey

draiocht at earthlink.net wrote:
> I have a strange question. WHAT is Rectified Whiskey???
> Does this mean like distilled or what? I am sooooo confused!
>
> Glo

IIRC, Recification  of whiskey is another term for Redistillation.
They would take the distilled alcohol, dilute it, filter it through
charcoal and then recify it (this was done to eliminate any remaining
impurities).

It used to be used to create a more "neutral" spirit whcih became a
solvent for use in the manufacture of cordials, liqueurs, and
tinctures...

Jeff

Date: Sat, 14 Nov 1998 09:57:00 -0500
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Re:Hemp Seed again

Brenna wrote:
> Forgive me...I am not really ignorant of drugs entirely, but I've heard the 
> term aqua vitae ("water of life" I believe) and I have no idea what it is.  
> Can anyone tell me?

Aqua vitae, or water of life, to cut to the chase, is water that will
burn, and so was supposed to have all kinds of vaguely magical and
specifically medicinal qualities. Translated into Gaelic it is called
uisgebaugh, pronounced something like whiskvah, and later bowdlerized by
English-speakers as whisky.

In period usage it is almost any distilled spirit, made from grapes,
grain, or other fermentables, with or without spices. The spices, BTW,
would be added _before_ distillation, so this stuff is not much like a
cordial (in answer to people's next question) ;  )

Adamantius

Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1998 07:48:00 -0500
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Al-Cohol

Stefan li Rous wrote:
>
> Corwyn said:
> >It is referred to by Moslem alchemists as Al-Cohol MiLady...
>
> This sounds like a urban legend. Referances or quotes, please.
> Dates? Or can someone tell me what that translates into in whatever
> language it is in?

According to my fair-to-middling desktop dictionary, the word is:

(ML < Ar. Al kohl), orig. powder of antimony, meaning changed in
European usage.

Considering that Arab alchemists are believed to have invented
distillation, too, this does seem fairly likely.

Adamantius
- --
Phil & Susan Troy

Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1998 06:55:23 -0600
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: SC - Al-Cohol

>From the quick ref:  Alcohol is an Arabic word derived from al kuhl, kuhl
being the powdered antimony used to darken ladies eyelids (kohl).  Arab
alchemists used it to describe fine powders some of which were prepared by
heating until outgassing then cooling.  It was generalized to mean a number
of substances including essences of distillation.

The first recorded use of the word alcohol is in 1543 and is used to
describe a heat derived powder.  "Alcohol of wine" appears in 1672.  Since
alcohol is an English word, a check of the OED should provide some of the
references required.

As for the Arabic distillation of spirits, look for references to Jabir ibn
Hayyan, who improved distillation techniques in the 9th Century.  I think
this was the simple retort with a simple external condenser.

The chilled condenser which is needed in producing high potency alcohol is a
European design from about the 13th Century.  Apocryphally, brandy was first
distilled about 1300 at the Montpellier medical school by medical professor
Arnoldus Villanovanus AKA Arnaldus de Villa Nova AKA Arnaud de Villeneuve.

Bear

Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1998 08:55:44 -0500
From: James Gilly / Alasdair mac Iain <alasdair.maciain at snet.net>
Subject: RE: SC - Al-Cohol

At 06:55 15-11-98 -0600, Bear wrote:
>"Alcohol of wine" appears in 1672.  Since
>alcohol is an English word, a check of the OED should provide some of the
>references required.

I just happen to have a copy right here.... 8)  [runs downstairs to grab
volume 1]

Alcohol   Also 6-8 alcool, alcho(h)ol, alcohole.  [a. med. L., *alcohol*
ad, Arab. *al-koh'l* 'collyrium,' the fine powder used to stain the
eyelids, f. *kahala*, Heb. *kakhal*, to stain, paint : see *Ezekiel* xxiii,
40.  It appeared in Eng., as in most of the mod. langs. in 16th c.  Cf, Fr.
*allcohol*, now *alcool*.]

     1.  *orig*. The fine metallic powder used in the East to stain the
eyelids, etc. : powdered ore of antimony, stibnite, or antimony trisulphide
known to the Greeks in this use as
[Greek alphabet not reproducible here]; also, sometimes, powdered galena or
lead ore.  *Obs*.
     [citations omitted, the earliest being from 1615]

     2.  Hence, by extension (in early *Chem*.): Any fine impalpable powder
produced by trituration, or especially by sublimation; as *alcohol martis*
reduced iron, *alcohol of sulphur* flower of brimstone, etc.  *Obs*.
     [citations omitted, the earliest being from 1543]

     3.  By extension to fluids of the idea of sublimation: An essence,
quintessence, or 'spirit,' obtained by distillation or 'rectification'; as
*alcohol of wine*, essence or spirit of wine.  *Obs*.
     [citations omitted, the earliest being from 1594]

     b.  *fig*. Quintessence, condensed spirit.
     [one citation from 1830]

     4.  (Short for *alcohol of wine*, this being the most familiar of
'rectified spirits.')  The pure or rectified spirit of wine, the spirituous
or intoxicating element in fermented liquors.  Also, *popularly*, any
liquor containing this spirit.  *Absolute* or *anhydrous alcohol*: alcohol
entirely free from water.
     [citations omitted, the earliest being from 1753]

     [definition 5, referring to organic chemistry, omitted]

Alasdair mac Iain

Laird Alasdair mac Iain of Elderslie
Dun an Leomhain Bhig
Canton of Dragon's Aerie [southeastern CT]
Barony Beyond the Mountain  [northern & southeastern CT]
East Kingdom

Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1998 10:14:03 EST
From: LrdRas at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - Al-Cohol

acrouss at gte.net writes:
<< I know we dont see the use of distilled beverages in EUROPEAN :) >>

Good point. The use of distilled products IF it did occur was, IIRC, mainly
limited to medicine. It was not until very late period that that it was used
as a recreational drug.

Benedictine, Chartreuse, gin, Jagermeister, uisgebaugh, Frangelico are just a
few examples of distilled and/or spirit compounds which can be traced to
medicinal origins. Some of these are marginally period.  Others like Bitters,
Campali, Dubonnet (a fortified wine), some of the brandies and even early corn
whiskeys, although clearly OOP have their origins as medicinals. Not
surprisingly most of these products were used to treat stomach and
intestinal problems.

The recreational drug of choice throughout most of history, up until the
second third of this century would have been the opium or hasheesh for those
that could afford them and beers/ales/wines for those who could not. It was
not until the late 1600's and into the 1700's that we see a rise in
consumption of distilled spirits as 'beverages'. This time also coincided
with the creation and use of cordials, such as Chambord, as beverages.

If you are looking to justify spirit use as a period recreation, I am sorry to
say that you will be hard pressed to find documentation for it. And, because
of the laws passed in the last 75 years, the period alternatives for
recreational drugs are simply not available to modern historical
recreationists because of assorted laws that have made those options
impractical or illegal unless you have contact with those in assorted
subcultures and have the ability to keep your mouth shut when confronted
with curious law enforcement personel.

Ras

Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 12:33:15 -0800
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: SC - Rum and Brown Sugar (was: Isles Anniv Feast)

Kinuko wrote:
>I thought rum and brown sugar were period ingredients.  Granted, they probably
>were not combined with butter, but I wanted it in there anyway. :)

Rum means spirits distilled from sugar products such as molasses.  It
apparently was not made until sugar became cheap, which means during the
17th c. when sugar plantations were established in the West Indies by
Europeans. Both Anne Wilson (_Food and Drink in Britain_) and the Oxford
English Dictionary have as their earliest mentions of rum mid-17th c.
references to the West Indies. So as far as I can tell, rum, though not all
distilled spirits, is out of our period.

Brown sugar these days means refined white sugar which has had a little of
the molasses mixed back in. In period, some of the sugar would have been
thorough refined, but there would also have been less refined, lower-grade
suagr with (particularly in the middle of a sugar loaf) a good deal of the
molasses left in; there is at least one 15th-c English recipe which uses
"black sugar". So some form of brown sugar does seem to be period.

Elizabeth/Betty Cook

Date: Thu, 22 Apr 1999 14:08:25 -0400
From: Jeff Gedney <JGedney at dictaphone.com>
Subject: SC - Fw: Re: Distilling

The Code of Federal Regulations clearly states that ALL spirits produced by distillation are considered to be owing taxes FROM THE MOMENT THEY COME INTO EXISTENCE.
There are no exceptions in the code.
As for buying tax stamps, 27CFR19 clearly spells out what constitutes a legal facility for the proiduction of spirits by distillation.
If your still, whose products you are buying tax stamps for, do not meet those specifications, you are inviolation of federal regulations, and subject to prosecution.
If you have a still, you are supposed, according to the regulations, to immediately allow the ATF to inspect and certify the facility AT ANY TIME they choose to visit.
Any attempt to hide, dismantle or change the still is a violation of the law.
Period. no exceptions.
Don't forget, that these regulations are the very same that got Al Capone.
They are real and may be vigorously enforced at any time.
Just because some local ATF office may look the other way, does not mean they will continue to do so, or that any other branch will look the other way, too.

Just because someone you know is not CAUGHT and PROSECUTED distilling alcoholic beverages, does not make it LEGAL

If you do not produce alcohol in your still, you are not subject to these laws, so essential oil stills, as long as they are not used with an alcoholic mash, are perfectly legal.

brandu

Date: Thu, 22 Apr 1999 04:30:49 -0400
From: Marilyn Traber <margali at 99main.com>
Subject: Re: SC - distilling

nope. it is still taking a ferment and rendering out the excess water to make a
stronger product.
margali

Daniel Phelps wrote:
> Since this thread has come up I have a question.  Not being a chemist I am
> not sure what it is called "Freeze Distillation?" mayhaps but I have been
> lead to believe that one can use repeated freezing and draining to
> concentrate alcohol from say fermented apple juice and thus make "Apple
> Jack".  And thus by pass the steam distillation process.   Is true?  Is
> legal?
>
> Daniel Raoul

fyi only ;-)
the easiest waay to freeze distill is to take a large metal bowl of the liquid,
pop it in the freezer. when it gets down to 32 deg fahrenheit, drop in a
handfull of icecubes. the excess water congeals on the ice cubes and after a
while [typically 15-20 minutes] you take the bowl out of the freezer, remove the
ice cubes, let the liquid rise to just above freezing and repeat. Keep in mind
that the average brew is from 15% alcohol and less, so you really need a lot of
swill to distill. Classic applejack is made by leaving a barrel of hard cider
out in the winter, so that when you tap it by drilling into the ice to get to
the alcoholic liquid core, you only have a gallon or so of jack. Lots of work
for little return.  Rectifying is much easier and faster,,,

Date: Sun, 4 Jul 1999 13:32:50 EDT
From: LrdRas at aol.com
Subject: SC - Vodka

agincort at raex.com writes:
<<  how early is the word Vodka? >>

vod*ka (noun)

[Russian, from voda water; akin to Old English waeter water]

First appeared circa 1803

Ras

Date: Sun, 4 Jul 1999 22:27:51 -0000
From: "=?iso-8859-1?Q?Nanna_R=F6gnvaldard=F3ttir?=" <nannar at isholf.is>
Subject: Re: SC - Vodka

Bjarni wrote:
>True, if all we're looking for the the English use of the word.  I don't
>have an historical Russian dictionary, but the earliest quote in OED (where
>Ras probably got his info) is from a traveler's account, reporting on
>extant Russian usage, that must predate the publication.  Any linguists out
>there?

Well, no, but the following is taken from a book on spirits and liqueurs by
wine writer Stuart Walton:

The word vodka is a Russian endearment meaning "little water" from their
word for water, voda. It doesn´t denote the flavourlessness of the spirit,
however, but derives from the widespread linguistic practice in Europe of
referring to all distillates originally as a form of water (as in the Latin
aqua vitae and French eau de vie).

Precisely because it is such a simple drink, it is almost impossible to
pinpoint the origins of vodka historically. A potent spirit distilled from
various grains ... has been made in Poland, Russia and the Baltic states of
Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia since the very early days of distillation in
Europe. But as to where a drink specificially recognizable as vodka first
arose is a matter for the Poles and the Russians to sort out between
themselves. (Most outsiders, it should be said, tend to come down on the
Polish side of the fence these days.)

The discovery of rectification techniques did not take place until the
beginning of the 19th century, and so these early distillates would have
tasted pretty unclean, to say the least.* Any herbs, seeds or berries that
were to hand would be steeped in the spirit to mask its rankness. So the
first vodkas were not the anonymous products preferred today, but the true
ancestors of the flavoured vodkas that are sometimes greeted as nothing more
than novelty items by modern drinkers.

*) I can vouch for that, having drunk my share of moonshine Icelandic vodka
in my tender youth.

The following is taken from the website of a White Russian vodka importer:

Vodka was created sometime in the twelfth century, probably in Russia,
possibly Poland, perhaps even Persia. Starting out as a crude, rye-based
spirit used for medical purposes, vodka was known in Russian as zhiznennia
voda.

In the 1540s the Russian tsar Ivan 'the Terrible' established his own
network of distilling taverns and ensured that the profits went straight
into the imperial treasury. He outlawed taverns that were outside his
control and put a ban on distilling by potential rivals. He kept his options
open, however! He was always in need of the support of the nobility, so he
allowed them to continue distilling Vodka.

Restrictions and threats of savage punishment didn't dampen the enthusiasm
of people for vodka-making. Secret distilling survived through the next
century. At the same time the tsar's taverns flourished and grew in number
to such an extent that, by the late seventeenth century, a visitor to Russia
remarked that they outnumbered bath-houses.

Successive rulers tightened their monopoly on Vodka distilling but continued
to curry favor with the nobility, gentry and government officials by
granting them distilling rights. Thus, in addition to its social role, Vodka
had considerable political and economic significance in Russia.

From the beginning of the seventeenth century it had become customary for
Vodka to be served at Russian imperial banquets. All formal meals began with
bread and Vodka. Vodka was also drunk ceremonially at religious festivals
and in church ritual, and to refuse to partake could be considered impious.

Nanna

Date: Sun, 04 Jul 1999 18:25:25 -0400
From: Mahanna <jmmahanna at mindspring.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Vodka

    Nanna writes "Vodka was created sometime in the twelfth century,
probably in Russia, possibly Poland, perhaps even Persia. Starting out
as a crude, rye-based spirit used for medical purposes, vodka was known 
in Russian as zhiznennia voda."

Well I know little and or nothing about its origins but Zizhnennia
voda literally translates to Life Water, and I found that vastly
interesting.
Morwenna

Date: Sun, 4 Jul 1999 20:40:27 EDT
From: Mordonna22 at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - Vodka

jmmahanna at mindspring.com writes:
<<
   Well I know little and or nothing about its origins but Zizhnennia
 voda literally translates to Life Water, and I found that vastly
 interesting. >>

Latin Aqua Vitae, and French Eau de Vie are also terms for Alcoholic spirits
that also mean "water of life."  I think you will find that MANY cultures
called their booze "the water of life."  I think the Scottish term Uisbaugh
from which we get the English word whiskey also means something pretty close
to the same thing.

Mordonna

Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 08:03:15 EDT
From: LrdRas at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - Russian embassy meal

stefan at texas.net writes:
<< I thought when you distilled grain you got
 something closer to bourbon or whiskey? Rather than the clear, practically
 tasteless modern vodka. >>

Bourbon has a very high percentage of corn in it as do other whiskeys.

The fermentation process of grain used in vodka production is very different
from that which is used for whiskey production. Vodka production involves the
use of wheat or rye mash whereas the latter are a mixed mash of corn and
other grains. The distillation is done several times until an almost pure
alcohol (95 proof/190 per cent) results. The finished distillate is then
filtered through charcoal (and sometimes other materials such as diamond
chips) several times (typically 3 to 5 times) until it is neutral flavored.
The final step is the addition of distilled water to reduce the alcohol down
to the most popular strengths such as 80 or 100 proof (40 and 50 per cent
alcohol respectively). At least one or two brands that we carry in the store
have been produced since the early 1600s CE.

Ras

Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 09:13:13 -0400
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Russian embassy meal

LrdRas at aol.com wrote:
> Bourbon has a very high percentage of corn in it as do other whiskeys.
>
> The fermentation process of grain used in vodka production is very different
> from that which is used for whiskey production. Vodka production involves the
> use of wheat or rye mash whereas the latter are a mixed mash of corn and
> other grains. The distillation is done several times until an almost pure
> alcohol (95 proof/190 per cent) results. The finished distillate is then
> filtered through charcoal (and sometimes other materials such as diamond
> chips) several times (typically 3 to 5 times) until it is neutral flavored.
> The final step is the addition of distilled water to reduce the alcohol down
> to the most popular strengths such as 80 or 100 proof (40 and 50 per cent
> alcohol respectively). At least one or two brands that we carry in the store
> have been produced since the early 1600s CE.
>
> Ras

Something to add to the above, in reference to bouirbon and other
American whiskeys (what is the grammatically correct plural of whiskey,
which would refer to American varieties, and whisky, to British ones?):

Corn (i.e. maize) is used in the production of bourbon and sourmash
whiskey, and, occasonally, in rye. It is not used, AFAIK, in the
production of any European whisky(plural of). As far as vodka goes,
while it can be, and has been, made from potatoes, most is now made from
grain and it wouldn't surprise me at all if some were made at least in
part from maize.

In addition to the charcoal filtering, as Ras correctly points out as a
difference between vodka and whiskey, there is the even more significant
aging process, often in charred (on the inner surface) barrels, normally
oak. The oak absorbs some volatile esters, as well as adding tannins and
other flavors and color of its own, as does the charcoal on the inner surface.

Except to a connoisseur, both potcheen and white lightning (unaged
whiskies) bear a pretty close resemblance to vodka, which generally is
not aged.

Adamantius

Date: Sat, 16 Oct 1999 11:08:12 EDT
From: LrdRas at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - Looking for Grappa info and recipe

Grappa is indeed a fermented grape product. After the juice has been pressed
from the grapes, the skins and stems left from pressing are allowed to
ferment. This mash is then distilled. The result of that distillation is
called grappa. It is a relatively harsh drink and is not aged in oak as wine
or other brandies are.

Ras

Date: Sat, 16 Oct 1999 22:22:17 -0400
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Looking for Grappa info and recipe

LrdRas at aol.com wrote:
> Grappa is indeed a fermented grape product. After the juice has been pressed
> from the grapes, the skins and stems left from pressing are allowed to
> ferment. This mash is then distilled. The result of that distillation is
> called grappa. It is a relatively harsh drink and is not aged in oak as wine
> or other brandies are.
>
> Ras

IIRC (and I may not be), this is the equivalent of the French marc.

Adamantius

Date: Sun, 17 Oct 1999 10:41:18 -0500
From: georg <thegeorg at servtech.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Looking for Grappa info and recipe

> > I got this inquiry a few days ago and after confirming that grappa was
> > indeed a distilled Italian wine, I checked my files but I must not have
> > saved the messages that were posted here about grappa in the past.
> >
> > Her original message was:
> > > Hello -
> > > I was wondering if you had a recipe for making grappa?  Thank you.
> >
> > And her clarification was:
> > > Many thanks for responding...Grappa is indeed an distilled Italian
> > > digestive, produced from the discarded skins of grapes used in
> > > winemaking.  I appreciate your help,
> > >   -Lorraine

It is my understanding that one should press grapes in the normal
fashion. The first press is used to make good wine. Then there is a
second press, and sometimes water is added to "rinse" the left over
bits. Sugar is also often added to this second run. Then it is allowed
to ferment as usual. This second run wine is not as tasty as the first,
so it is then distilled. IIRC, it gets freeze-distilled to concentrate
the flavors that were watered down.

For a modern recipe, one could dissolve 2 lbs of sugar in a half gallon
of water and pour this over a couple of pounds of crushed grapes, add
water to a full gallon, and allow to ferment (pitching yeast if you
don't like it wild). Rack off the fruit in a few days, and make wine as
usual. When it has fallen clear, you can pop the gallon in your freezer
and in two days pour out the liquid. Note: in the US, this freezer step
is considered illegal by the BATF.

- -georg

Date: Sun, 17 Oct 1999 12:24:09 EDT
From: LrdRas at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - Looking for Grappa info and recipe

thegeorg at servtech.com writes:
<< Then there is a
 second press, and sometimes water is added to "rinse" the left over
 bits. Sugar is also often added to this second run. Then it is allowed
 to ferment as usual. >>

Not according to the business rep for the product. Grappa is specifically
made from the skins and leftovers from pressing. It is allowed to ferment and
then distilled.  Second pressing juice is sometimes used to produce brandies
or cheap table wine but, according to my sources never used to produce real
Grappa. The minimal amount of alcohol produced by the pressing leftovers
accounts for it's relatively high price.

Ras

Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 19:00:15 -0500From: "Mark.S Harris" <rsve60 at email.sps.mot.com>Subject: SC - Period distilling infoI ran across an interesting chapter on period distillation of wine. If theauthor's hypothesises are correct, then the distillation of wine can betraced back to classical times and not just the 12C AD.This chapter is "Water of Life: its Beginnings and Early History" on page142 in "Liquid Nourishment" of the Food and Society series, edited byC. Anne Wilson. This chapter is also by C. Anne Wilson. Edinburgh UniversityPress, 1993. ISBN 0 7486 0424 3.She details how the distilled wines date from the Gnostic Christians whoused itin a religious ceremony, a baptisim of fire. This distilled wine havinga percentage of alcohol of 35 percent could be doused on a converts headand ignited without burning the convert. From them it was spread throughEurope by the Cathars. When the Cathars were killed off by the Catholicchurch the recipes fell into the hands of the monks. The church and theMonastary leaders denounced the creation of alcohol and tried to stamp itout. However, after realizing that if the spirits were distilled usingthe better methods of distilling it would be too flammable to be used in theheretical baptisim of the head and allowed to be made.While she makes some hypothesises that seem a bit of a jump, her theoriesdo explain some things in my opinion. I would encourage those studyingperiod distilling to take a look at this article.Lord Stefan li Rousstefan at texas.net

Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 20:26:45 -0600
From: Jenn/Yana <jdmiller2 at students.wisc.edu>
Subject: Re: SC - new books arrived

>One of the books I received was the Domostroi.  My memory is not at its best
>right now, but IIRC we had a discussion on vodka recently and determined
>that it prolly wasn't period.  Nay nay moosebreath!  Domostroi discusses
>distillation of vodka as well as mead, although not in the depth I would
>like.  As Domostroi is period, and as the lack of depth implies that any
>good Russian wife would already know the mechanics of making vodka, I'm
>inclined to believe it traces back well into period, though I cannot YET
>prove it with any certainty.
>
>reading on, Puck

In the Pouncy translation, she does indeed refer to distilled spirits
(which she translates as "vodka"), but the Russian term which is originally
used is very vague (it simply means "spirits").  The actual Russian word in
the original is <vinnyi>.  I talked with my comrades on the Slavic
Discussion list about this not too long ago and here is what one had to say.

><vinnyi>, as you suspect, cannot refer to vodka, at least not in period. From
>another secondary source (with a good survey of primary sources, etc) I
>remember the comment that vodka, and other distilled spirits, did not make
>their appearance in Russia before the XVII century, and when it did,
>distillation and sale were strictly regulated by the crown (hear: state
>monopoly).
>Predslava

The secondary source that Predslava mentions above is Bread and Salt by
R.E.F. Smith. According to Smith, some believe that vodka was introduced as
early as the 14th century, but that probably vodka did not appear until the
16th century and that the distillation process was probably introduced by
the West.  The Domostroi mention of distilled spirits may even be a later
addition, for all we know.  If vodka-making and distribution was
controlled by the state, why would the conservatively-minded author of the
Domostroi say that a woman should know how to do such unlawful things?

Yana (Ilyana Barsova)  jdmiller2 at students.wisc.edu
         http://www.sit.wisc.edu/~jdmiller2

Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 01:15:19 -0500
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - new books arrived

Jenn/Yana wrote:
> >One of the books I received was the Domostroi.  My memory is not at its best
> >right now, but IIRC we had a discussion on vodka recently and determined
> >that it prolly wasn't period.  Nay nay moosebreath!  Domostroi discusses
> >distillation of vodka as well as mead, although not in the depth I would
> >like.  As Domostroi is period, and as the lack of depth implies that any
> >good Russian wife would already know the mechanics of making vodka, I'm
> >inclined to believe it traces back well into period, though I cannot YET
> >prove it with any certainty.
> >
> >reading on, Puck
>
> In the Pouncy translation, she does indeed refer to distilled spirits
> (which she translates as "vodka"), but the Russian term which is originally
> used is very vague (it simply means "spirits").  The actual Russian word in
> the original is <vinnyi>.

If I remember correctly (A. cackles insanely at the inherent
unlikeliness of it all) the vodka spoken of in the Domestroi refers to a
mead distillate. The concept of vodka as we know it, presumably a grain
and/or potato product, is probably newer. I assume vinnyi basically
means "booze", although pretty clearly a reference to wine and similar products.

> I talked with my comrades on the Slavic
> Discussion list about this not too long ago and here is what one had to say.
>
> ><vinnyi>, as you suspect, cannot refer to vodka, at least not in period. From
> >another secondary source (with a good survey of primary sources, etc) I
> >remember the comment that vodka, and other distilled spirits, did not make
> >their appearance in Russia before the XVII century, and when it did,
> >distillation and sale were strictly regulated by the crown (hear: state
> >monopoly).
> >Predslava
>
> The secondary source that Predslava mentions above is Bread and Salt by
> R.E.F. Smith. According to Smith, some believe that vodka was introduced as
> early as the 14th century, but that probably vodka did not appear until the
> 16th century and that the distillation process was probably introduced by
> the West.  The Domostroi mention of distilled spirits may even be a later
> addition, for all we know.  If vodka-making and distribution was
> controlled by the state, why would the conservatively-minded author of the
> Domostroi say that a woman should know how to do such unlawful things?

Particularly when so much of the rest of the text is devoted to the care
of her soul?

Adamantius

Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2000 17:37:05 -0800 (PST)
From: Terri Spencer <taracook at yahoo.com>
Subject: SC - Origanum

And before Ras asks, here's the recipe:

From Gervase Markham's 1615 _The English Housewife_:

To make Doctor Stevens' water
To make that sovereign water which was first invented by Doctor
Stevens, in the same form as he delivered the receipt to the Archbishop
of Canterbury, a little before the death of the said doctor: take a
gallon of good Gascon wine, then take ginger, galingale, cinnamon,
nutmegs, grains, cloves bruised, fennel seeds, caraway seeds, origanum,
of every of them a like quantity, that is to say a dram; then take
sage, wild marjoram, pennyroyal, mints, red roses, thyme, pellitory,
rosemary, wild thyme, camomile, lavender, of each of them a handful,
then bray the spices small, and bruise the herbs and put all into the
wine, and let it stand so twelve hours, only stir it divers times; then
distil it by a limbeck, and keep the first water by itself, for that is
the best, then keep the second water for that is good, and for the last
neglect it not, for it is very wholesome though the worst of the three.
 Now for the virtue of this water it is this, it comforteth the spirits
and vital parts, and helpeth all inward diseases that cometh of cold,
it is good against the shaking of the palsy, and cureth the contraction
of sinews, and helpeth the conception of women that be barren; it
killeth the worms in the body, it cureth the cold cough, it helpeth the
toothache, it comforteth the stomach and cureth the old dropsy, it
helpeth the stone in the bladder and in the reins, it helpeth a
stinking breath; and whosoever uses this water moderately and not too
often, preserveth him in good liking, and will make him seem young in
old age.  

Who could resist such a miracle potion?

Tara

Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2000 10:37:59 -0500
From: "Jeff Gedney" <JGedney at dictaphone.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Distilling (Was Origanum)

> > but I wouldn't put it past the
> >  government to change it's mind in the 20 some odd years since that memory.
> 
> As to home distilling, they did... during the Reagan years. The Carter 
> administration opened up home distilling for alternative fuel.
 
> The two hundred gallons you're thinking of are mead, beer or wine, as in 
> fermented beverages. While the BATF won't go out of their way to find you if 
> you ARE distilling, it's usually not advisable. For reference ... the one 
> case I know of where they did intervene it was an individual who was 
> distilling and selling at events. They made a polite visit and essentially 
> said "We know you're doing it, at the moment we can't figure out HOW you're 
> doing it ... but if you keep doing it we will." He took the hint.

Correct in several particulars.
The still plans available from the Govt are of two varieties:
Water purification and Fuel production

Water may be distilled at will. 
Fuesl alcohol may be distilled under special circumstances BUT the product 
must be rigourously accounted for, and "denatured" with an approved chemical 
to render it unfit for drinking.
No "Home Distillilation" of potable alcohol of any sort is permitted in the USA.
Period. 
Not even "Freeze separation".
However, the Recipe in Digby _MIGHT_ be repoducable by mixing the herbes in 
BRANDY filtering that off.

here is a notion that I just thought of:
Illegal Distillation is roughly defined as _intensifying_ the alcoholic content of a beverage without license or with taxes owing.
It is unknown to me if it is illegal to re-distill a beverage which has already 
been distilled, and all Taxes paid.  Perhaps that should be asked of the BATF?. 
If the spiced brandy is then distilled, the result might be legal and a close 
approximation of the recipe
 
> I think there is a brewing list for this btw.... so I apologize for anybody's 
> bandwidth being wasted.

There is a list which is basically designed around the premise of legally finding a way to replicate or duplicate period distilled beverages.
   sca-dist2 at onelist.com

brandu

Date: Tue, 29 Feb 2000 10:41:40 -0600
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Islamic alchohol?

At 9:06 AM -0500 2/29/00, Jeff Gedney wrote:
>The noble Cariadoc hath writ:
>  > So far as recipes are concerned, the nearest thing I know of is the
>  > description of how to make arrack (distilled liquor from sugar cane)
>  > in the _Ain I Akbari_.
>Hmmmm,
>From the juice of the sugar cane...
>This would be an Arabian "rum", then? What is the date of this recipe
>I would be very interested. This would be good to bring onto the
>SCA-Distilling list
>Have you put the recipe in the Miscellany?

Mughal, not Arabic. The date is Akbar's reign, I think late in the 
16th century.

I haven't gone back and checked, but I don't think the passage says 
anything implying that Muslims were making or drinking it--there were 
lots of Hindus, and some Christians and Jews, in Mughal India.

I haven't put it in the Miscellany. For one thing, I haven't tried doing it.

David Friedman

Date: Mon, 06 Mar 2000 18:32:38 -0500
From: Ian Gourdon <agincort at raex.com>
Subject: SC - Re: aqua vitae

Jeff Gedney wrote:
> For spices I'd use a good unflavored 100 proof vodka.
> While many period "aquavitae" recipes are wine based, that is not
> necessarily the defining characteristic. The term "Aquavitae" appears
> to have been applied to any ardent distilled alchohol.
> There are plenty of examples of Grain-based Aquavitae's in late period.

While the quality of the sources is variable, the good
documention seems to be on the side of Brandy, with mention
of it going back to the Charlemaine era, while Scotch in
some form gets mentioned later on. While aqua vitae passes
for all, the vodka gets the short end of the stick, having
no mention by that name until the early 19th Century,
acording to any sources I've found. Not that it wasn't
there, but that no one seems to specify that name for either
grain distillation, or god-help-us, potatoes (certainly post
period in that form); which suggests that users of Vodka for
any documentably reasonable attempt at a period - like
cordial are using simple imagination for docs. Quotable
comments suggest Brandy. My cordial experimention suggests
that your taste buds are going to like Brandy, too. I've
judged cordials quite a few times at A&S faires in the
Midrealm, and it always bites me a little when some body
documents Brandy, then goes ahead, with a sort of Voila!,
and uses Vodka. Why? 

FWIW: a few quotes from
http://web.raex.com/~agincort/Cordial-R.html:
 "Brandy is distilled from wine, any wine.  What we normally
call brandy is distilled from grape wine.  Other fruit
brandies are distilled from fruit wine or fermented juices,
peach brandy, black berry brandy, kirchwasser, etc.
Distillation has long been used to separate liquids and a
simple distillation will produce about a 40 proof alcohol.
The distillation process was improved around 800 C.E. by
Jabir ibn Hayyan. The first modern brandy was distilled in
approximately 1300 C.E. at the Montpellier medical school by
Arnaldus de Villa Nova, a French medical professor. 
Dates are courtesy of The Food Chronology and the MS
Encyclopedia, which have exactly the same text."  - Bear 

 "... in Curye on Inglysch, which Hieatt calls 'Goud
Kokery', there is a 14th century recipe for distilling aqua
vite from strong wine, which seems to produce something that
would fairly obviously be a brandy." 

"Distilled beverages may date as far back as 800 BC in China
with a distillate of Sake. In Europe, distillation was known
by at least the eleventh or twelfth century." 
- -Simon, Wines of the World. p351. 

"The Norman English found distillation from grain firmly
established in the form of a drink called uisge beatha
(whisky) when they invaded Ireland in the twelfth century."
- -Ray, The Complete Bool of Spirits and Liqueurs. p 11. 

"The Romans found apples in abundance as they made their
conquests through Gaul, and as early as the nineth century
had laws regulating the production of cider. The first
written mention of an eau-de-vie made of 'Syder', however,
was not until 1553 when it was mentioned in the journal of a
Norman farmer. Arnold de Vila Nova, a 13th Century
alchemist, wrote of aqua vitae and its 
restorative properties, also of the medicinal properties of
various flavored alcohols. Legal documents dating to 1411
mention the distillation of wine into brandy in the Armagnac
region of France." 
- -Hannum, Brandies and Liqueurs of the World. p 5. 

"Das Buch zu Destilliern by Hieronymus Braunsweig was
printed in 1519. This book, as its title explains, is a book
on distillation. In addition to the text, there are pictures
inthe book which show the operations, including one of a
still with 4 alembics (retorts)." 
- - "Alcohol," and "Alcoholic Beverages," Encyclopaedia
Brittanica. 

"Vodka 
<<  how early is the word Vodka? >> 
vod*ka (noun) 
[Russian, from voda water; akin to Old English waeter water] 
First appeared circa 1803" - Ras 
- -- 
Ian Gourdon of Glen Awe, OP
Known as a forester of the Greenwood, Midrealm

Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2000 18:42:06 -0800 (PST)From: Terri Spencer <taracook at yahoo.com>Subject: SC - Re: Aqua VitaeAnahita al-shazhiyya wrote:>Also, there's a liquor called aquavit (sp) from Sweden. Is this >suitable or is it anise or otherwise flavored or just a sort-of-vodka >by another name?Hmm - sounds like it's already got a pretty strong flavor: "Aquavit (1890)[Swedish and Danish akvavit, Norwegian akevitt, from Medieval Latinaqua vitae, "water of life", also spelled aquavite, or akvavit, alsocalled snaps in Denmark.]A Scandinavian flavoured, distilled liquor, ranging in alcohol contentfrom about 42 to 45 percent by volume, clear to pale yellow in colour,distilled from a fermented potato or grain mash, flavored with carawayseeds or cumin seed, others that may be used are lemon or orange peel,cardamom, aniseed, and fennel. Liquor was imported to Norway from Europe starting in the 1500s. Thename aquavit is not of Nordic origin, but it has aquired a specialplace in the Norwegian as well as the other Scandinavian languages.Today, aquavit is known as the Norwegian liquor and holds a specialplace among liquor lovers all over the world."From: http://www.cyberclip.com/Katrine/NorwayInfo/Mat/Yet another undocumented reference to distilled spirits in Europebefore 1600.  And another below that I found along the way.  "In the Middle East the Persians Geber (8th cent.) and Rhazes (10thcent.) developed the art of distillation and used it to concentratealcohol which was then taken as an anaesthetic. In the late 10thcentury in Spain the Arab surgeon Abulcasis described using distilledalcohol as a solvent for drugs.From the 12th to the 14th centuries alchemists in Europe beganexperimenting with the distillation of many items, but medicines werestill mostly given as infusions or decoctions of single herbs. Arabicwritings and universities in Spain began to influence Christian schoolsof medicine in Italy and France. Two contemporary 13th century Spanishalchemists, Arnold of Villanova and Raymond Lully, introduced winespirits, which they called aqua vitae (water of life), as a solventinto European medicine. This later became known as brandy, shortenedfrom the Dutch term for "burnt wine." In the 14th century during theBlack Death brandy began to be used as a medicine by itself. It wasthought of as a polycrest, a remedy of many virtues. By the nextcentury brandy had also become popular as a recreational beverage." With so many of these tidbits out there, you'd think we could finddefinitive documentary evidence that alcohol was used in our period formedicinal and entertainment purposes.  Sigh...Tara

Date: Mon, 06 Mar 2000 13:28:32 -0500
From: "Jeff Gedney" <JGedney at dictaphone.com>
Subject: Re: SC - question after recipe

Previously mentioned on this list, in the Islamic Alcohol thread
was aquavitae made from rice. Source was "the Voyages and 
Works of of John Davis, Navigator (1604)". In context the useage 
of the term implied that Aquavitae meant "distilled ardent alcoholic 
beverage", and was applied as a classification, and not an indication 
of a specific recipe.

Aquavitae means "water of life", and more or less is used to mean 
"essence". The same term "water of life" is applied to the grain 
based distilled beverage of Scotland and Ireland. 

I shall find other examples of this usage. and post them here. I have 
already marked several passages in Hakluyt's "Voyages" (1602, I believe)
for scanning, a couple of which include this usage.  I hope to do this 
scanning this week, if I am feeling better.

A couple right off my head:
  
Excerpt from the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland:
"Eight bolls of malt to Friar John Cor wherewith to make aqua vitae"
(That is enough malt to make 300 gallons od product. this is clearly intended for beverage purposes)

Scottish laws in the 1500's, which address whiskey as a beverage, refer 
consistnetly to the substance as Aqua vitae.
For example: 
1555, an act forbidding the export of "certain victuals during famine"
makes the following exception:
'It sal be leifful to the inhabitants of the burrowis of Air, Irvin, Glasgow, 
Dumbertane and uthers our Soverane Ladys leigis dwell and at the 
west setis to have bakin breid, browin aill and aqua vite to the Ilis to 
bertour with uther merchandice' 
("It shall be lawful to the inhabitants of the boroughs of Air, Irvin, Glasgow, 
Dunbertane and others (where) our Soveriegn Lady leiges dwell and at 
the west sites(?) to have the baking of bread, brown ale and aquavitae 
to the Isles to barter with other merchandise")

Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2000 05:26:51 EST
From: CorwynWdwd at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - Re: aqua vitae

I often use vodka. My reasoning is simple, and it isn't that it's cheeper. 
Understand the limits of print and know that I'm not trying to be snippy or 
anything but....

I use vodka because the recipes I've seen most often describe a freshly 
distilled spirit, not one that has been aged in wood or colored with 
whatever. What came out of the cooling worms in those still houses was white 
liquor. Since I come from a long line of people engaged in that sort of 
business I can promise you that much. I would be GLAD to use a spirit 
distilled from wine if someone could point out to me one that I could use 
that wasn't aged and colored to begin with.

Please excuse the boldness of my statement, but put me on to a grape spirit 
that is white and I'll drop vodka like a hot potato (except for haroka).

Corwyn

Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2000 05:42:28 EST
From: LadyPDC at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - Re: aqua vitae

Just a question for those who are objecting to the use of vodka:

Several vodka's available on today's market (not the least expensive) are and 
always have been made from grain not potatoes.  Most notably the Ketel One 
Brand which has always (since 1638 when they began production and for 3 
generations of brewmasters prior according to their history) been made from 
wheat.  If this was documented in the entry and noted that this was the brand 
of vodka used, would you still have the same objections to the use of vodka 
in cordials?

I would also note that 3 generations prior to 1638 would seem to put grain 
vodka at least within late period but acknowledge that I could be mistaken in 
this assumption.

Constance de LaRose

Date: Mon, 06 Mar 2000 19:28:43 -0800
From: "James F. Johnson" <seumas at mind.net>
Subject: Re: SC - Rum?

Mordonna22 at aol.com wrote: 
> Since rum is made from sugar cane, and sugar was in production all through
> period, (even if expensive in some times and places), is there any hint that
> rum was made in period times?

Rum is made specifically from molasses, and other sugar products, and
specifically not until sugar production became cheap from sugar
plantations in the West Indies. Not until the 17th century. So rum is
not in period, but there is arrack, a late period Moghul distillate made
from sugar cane.

Seumas

Date: Mon, 06 Mar 2000 23:24:50 -0500
From: Ian Gourdon <agincort at raex.com>
Subject: SC - Re: cordials in history

> With so many of these tidbits out there, you'd think we could find
> definitive documentary evidence that alcohol was used in our period for
> medicinal and entertainment purposes.  Sigh...
> Tara

Those documents are out there, if rarely studied: a fellow
Gwyntarian Tunners Guild member has done some research in
that area, and taught a class on it last Pennsic. Contact
Foreester Nigel FitzMaurice (Bruce Gordon) at
obsidian at raex.com for specifics in the manuscript. 
A few excerpts:
"a number of recipes are transcribed from various common
books dating from the late 14th century.
... all taken from four different manuscripts (Harleian
2378, the Johnstone Manuscript, Sloane 521, and Sloane
2584). Each of these works are privately produced
formularies describing a wide variety of medicinal
preparations, presenting several hundred leaves each both in
Latin and Middle English. ... They were selected as clear
examples of medicines on their way to becoming liquers."
(various cautions follow, on translating Middle English, and
the changes in plant names, etc)
from #5: Harl. 2378 p.278 
trans after original (which I don't have the ME font for):"A
precious water to clear a mans sight and destroy the pain in
a mans eye. - Take red rose, wood-sage (which some call
capillus vereris), fennel, ivy, vervain, eyebright, endive,
and betony; of each equal amounts, so that you have in all 6
handfulls; and let them rest in wine a day and a night. The
second day still them in a distillator; the first water that
you produce shall be the color of gold, the next of silver,
the 3rd of balm; this precious water may serve to ladies
instead of balm." 
further: "Another point which we shall see repeated in all
these recipes is that, for the most part, the part of the
plant to be used is not specified, and we are left to guess
whether the root, the stalk, the seeds, or the flowers are
meant."
A more obvious one might be:
#9. Johnstone Ms. P. 258. (probably 1400-1450, as it is the
last entry) 
Trans: "For to make aqua vite. - Take sage, and fennel-rotes
and persley-rotes and rosemaryne and tyme and lavender, each
in equal amounts. Wash them and dry them, and then grind
them a little in a mortar and add a little salt. Then put it
in the body of the distillator and pour in wine (red or
white), then place it in a pot of ashes over the furnace and
make a gentle enough fire underneath that when the
distillator begins to drip, look that it drips no faster
than you can say "one-two-three" between the drops. And so
distill it all together, then take the water that is
distilled, and distill again if you like, and take a little
spoonful every day while fasting."

I heartily urge you to consult with Nigel, as he has some
research on this topic I haven't seen produced anywhere
else. Maybe he'll teach the class for this at Pennsic.
- -- 
Ian Gourdon of Glen Awe, OP
Known as a forester of the Greenwood, Midrealm

Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2000 21:09:39 -0600
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Rum?

At 9:18 PM -0500 3/6/00, Mordonna22 at aol.com wrote:
>Since rum is made from sugar cane, and sugar was in production all through
>period, (even if expensive in some times and places), is there any hint that
>rum was made in period times?

The Ain i Akbari, which is 16th c. Mughal, has instructions for 
making a distilled liquor (called "Arrack")  from sugar cane. The 
method is one I first encountered in _How to Stay Alive in the Woods_ 
or some similar survival/wild food style book.

David Friedman
ddfr at best.com
http://www.best.com/~ddfr/

Date: Tue, 07 Mar 2000 00:10:34 -0500
From: Ian Gourdon <agincort at raex.com>
Subject: SC - history of brandy

Ld. Ras and Seumas wrote:
> > I would say cognac or Napoleon would be ideal but use any brandy that you
> > feel comfortable with and which produces in your opinion a good finished
> > products. I have tasted cordials made with the least expensive types of
> > brandies and with the most expensive types. Both seemed tasty. ;-)
> 
> A similar discussion a while back on the Hist-Brewing list pointed out
> that 'aqua vitae' tends to be the _local_ distilled spirit during
> historic times and later became geographic specific. There was no
> citeable source provided for this, but seems reasonable (uisge, aqua
> vitae, vodka all relate to 'water').

The history of brandy seems to go back to the early Middle
Ages, at least according to this excerpt from a discussion
on another list: Brandy vs Aqua Vitae  (7-98) 
     "Brandy was a result of the taxation of wine over the
mountains in France around that time. (aprox 7th cen). It
was easier to distill the wine and send it out, since taxes
were on the volume of fluids and the smaller amount was
easier to move.  The customers liked the drink too, so it
sold. Aqua Vitae as a term came in much later than the
actual product that was described, as I have mentioned
before.  It was the equivalent of a technical term, as there
was no term in Latin to describe the stuff, and the speakers
of Latin did not like using the local names for the stuff...
Hence the date difference."  Arundel (OL in b&v)
<baden at oclc.org>
                              *** 
" ... I got curious, and looked up "brandy" in OED.... 
Interesting  stuff. The original term (dating from the 7th
century) is brandwine. The formation is thus:  brandwine >
brandewine > brandy-wine > brandee > brandy. 
   Our familiar form was in use as early as 1657, with the
fuller form of brandwine retained for official use through
the end of the 17th century.  Therefore, "aqua-vitae" is the
older form (dating from the 5-7 centuries), and is
originally an alchemical term, only taking on its beverage
connotation shortly thereafter. "  Gwydion  

So, the OED suggests a much older appearance for Brandy than
some other commentary. Often a good place to check.
- -- 
Ian Gourdon of Glen Awe, OP
Known as a forester of the Greenwood, Midrealm

Date: Tue, 07 Mar 2000 23:11:47 +0100
From: Thomas Gloning <gloning at Mailer.Uni-Marburg.DE>
Subject: SC - A tarte to provoke courage // aqua vitae

Re: aqua vitae. There is an important article by Gundolf Keil on "Der
deutsche Branntweintraktat des Mittelalters. Texte und Untersuchungen
[The German brandy treatise of the Middle Ages. Texts and
investigations]. In: Centaurus. International Journal of the History of
Science and Medicine 7 (1960) 53-100.

He says, that the medical use of brandy was made "allgemein bekannt"
('commonly known', in Germany, I think) by a latin treatise of Taddeo
Alderotti around 1280. During the following centuries this treatise was
further used in Germany, it was shortened, expanded or modified in many
ways. According to Keil, in the 14th and 15th century there were also
German brandy texts that went back to other sources. In any case: there
were many brandy treatises, of which some are edited in the article of
Keil.

Usually they mention medical uses ("Er ist auch gut f¸r all wetagen der
zen", 'it is good for all sicknesses/ troubles of the teeth'). But there
are others. One passage, e.g., says that he who drinks brandy with two
parts of wine in the morning with an empty stomach "chan sein wort
dezster paz gereden, wo sein im not geschicht" '[who drinks brandy with
wine in the morning etc.] can put his words much better/can talk more
eloquently, in case he needs it'.

I append some references that contain or lead to Latin and German source
texts on brandy. There are other books on distillation and on the
medical uses of distilled products, but as far as I can see, the texts
of Gabriel Lebenstein, Michael Schrick and Hieronymus Brunschwig were
only about "gebrannte wasser", 'distilled herb waters', not about
brandy.

Best,
Thomas
- --Alderotti, Taddeo: Hg. von Karl Sudhoff und E.O. von Lippmann. In:
Archiv f¸r Geschichte der Medizin 7 (1914) 379-389.
- --Kaiser, Rud.: Deutsche und lateinische Texte des 14. und 15.
Jahrhunderts ¸ber die Heilwirkungen des Weingeistes. Diss. (med.)
Leipzig 1925.
- --Keil, G.: Der deutsche Branntweintraktat des Mittelalters. Texte und
Quellenuntersuchungen. In: Centaurus 7 (1960) 53-100.
- --Rau, E.J.: ƒrztliche Gutachten und Polizeivorschriften ¸ber den
Branntwein im Mittelalter. Diss. Leipzig 1914.
- --Schˆppler, H.: Ein Lob des Branntweins aus dem 16. Jahrhundert. In:
Mitteilungen zur Geschichte der Medizin und der Naturwissenschaften 13
(1914) 443-444.

DISTILLATION of "gebrannte W‰sser"
- --Brunschwig, H.: Ars destillandi, Oder DiestellierKunst (...) Vor
vielen Jahren/ von jhme dem Autore selbst in Truck verf‰rtiget (...) Nun
aber (...) auffs new vbersehen (...) vnd mit besserm Teutsch begabt.
Frankfurt a.M. 1610. Nachdruck Gr¸nwald bei M¸nchen o.J. [First ed.
1500]
- --Eis, G./ Vermeer, H.J.: Gabriel Lebensteins B¸chlein "Von den
gebrannten W‰ssern". Stuttgart 1965.
- --Schrick, M.: Von allen geprenten wassern/ in welcher Ma? man die
n¸tzen vnd gebrauchen sol/ zu gesundheyt vnd fristung der gebrechen der
menschen. N¸rnberg (Gutknecht) 1523. Nachdruck Schw‰bisch Gm¸nd 1960.
[first ed. around 1477]

Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2000 17:58:45 -0700 (PDT)
From: Terri Spencer <taracook at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Liqueurs

I don't think the term liqueur is period - at least not with the modern
meaning (sweet flavored distilled alcohol).  It seems to have meant any
liquid - water, juice, wine, liquor etc.  Cordials were medicines that
were good for the heart.   

But the product is certainly period.  Distilled waters were described
in 9th c Arabic medical texts.  They were known in Europe by the 12th
c, but were strictly medical until the technique of distillation was
published - in 1500 I think.  I haven't seen those early medical
treatises (secondary source disclaimer) but they also contained recipes
for ypocras, claret & other spiced beverages - all medicines, of
course.

Many of these waters contained multiple herbs and spices and strong
flavors like musk or anise or lots of sugar. (Like Benedictine (1509?)
with 27 herbs/spices). These are the kind of recipes you'd find in
Plat, Markham or Martha Washington's Book of Cookery.  There are also
some simple waters such as cinnamon water in all three sources.  

Martha Washington is the only source I've found with a recipe for
"Cinnamon Water without Distilling" that soaks the cinnamon in brandy
and adds sugar.  This source contains some post period recipes (and the
edition I have doesn't distinguish which are which) so I don't know if
this is a period method.  There are references in Markham to simple
waters purchased from the apothecary - in ever-popular flavors like
cinnamon and mint - but no recipes.  Those herbs were effective as
issue de table cordials to close and soothe the tummy - the origin of
after-dinner liqueurs (ob food content).

I don't remember a recipe for an alcoholic rosewater - but I'll look
thru my books this weekend.  

Temair

Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 22:21:22 -0400
From: Ian Gourdon <agincort at raex.com>
Subject: SC - Re: liqueurs

> > The ever questioning Gunthar again. I'm assisting a lady in finding
> > documentation on liqueurs, especially my rose petal liqueur. Now a
> > couple of things I do know is that they were considered more medicine
> > than drink and that they should properly be made with brandy. 
> 
> The idea that only brandy is an appropriate carrier for liqueurs comes
> from the idea that only wine was distilled. Since beer was distilled, and
> used in waters, at least, that idea is blown out of the water. I asked
> once on SC-distilling about what the modern approximation would be for the
> distilled beer or ale (Ras, you'll remember this, yes?) and didn't get
> very far. Triple and quadruple distillings-- which remove more and more of
> the original flavor-- were known and used, so I waver between whisky
> (which is flavored already, so there's a problem) and vodka for a
> replacement for the distillate of grain-based fermentation. - Jenne Heise

I'd guess that beer may not have been distilled, as such.
Distillation from grain doesn't necessarily imply it, docs
wise. There were wine and ale based medicinals, I remember,
in the medicinals I've seen quoted. Master Arundel
recommends this source:
"The Distiller of London, with the clavis to unlock the
deepest secrets of that mysterious art with many additions
of the most excellent cordial waters, which have been pen'd
by our most able doctors and physitians, ancient and modern,
foreign and domestick ..." 
PLACE: London : 
PUBLISHER: Printed for Tho. Huntington and Wil. Nealand, and
are to be 
sold at their shop ..., 
YEAR: 1652 
PUB TYPE: Book 
FORMAT: [22], 167 p. 
SERIES: Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 131:19. 
NOTES: Reproduction of original in British Library. 
Microfilm. Ann Arbor, Mich. : University Microfilms, 1964. 1
microfilm reel ; 35 mm.
(Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 131:19)
 
    Aqua vitae is the usual word of note; much debate has
happened over the proper core ingredient. Just my opinion,
but, documentation gives brandy the edge, I'd say. If you're
trying to impress A&S judges, you'll probably get a lot
farther with aqua vitae-brandy: "Arnold de Vila Nova, a 13th
Century alchemist, wrote of aqua vitae and its restorative
properties, also of the medicinal properties of various
flavored alcohols. Legal documents dating to 1411 mention
the distillation of wine into brandy in the Armagnac region
of France. -Hannum, Brandies and Liqueurs of the World. p
5." 
    Actual documentaion of the distillation process might
require a visit to: "Das Buch zu Destilliern" by Hieronymus
Braunsweig, which was printed in 1519. This book, as its
title explains, is a book on distillation. In addition to
the text, there are pictures inthe book which show the
operations, including one of a still with 4 alembics
(retorts). - "Alcohol," and "Alcoholic Beverages,"
Encyclopaedia Brittanica. 
    Inference may allow use of almost any modern distilled
source. Small cases may be made for a number of them, poor
to no case for a few of them. 
    Whiskey/scotch is mentioned a number of times in
historical sources, notably: "The earliest documented record
of distilling in Scotland occurs as long ago as 1494, when
an entry in the Exchequer Rolls listed "Eight bolls of malt
to Friar John Cor wherewith to make aqua vitae" (water of
life). This was sufficient to produce almost 1500 bottles.
Thus, it is clear that distilling was already a well
established practice. -Edited from and ©: "The Original
Scotch". Michael Brander [Hutchinson, 1974...)
    Vodka is quite inferable, but very lightly documented.
Someone mentioned Russian Gov't records a while back. Period
vodka would almost certainly have been grain based,
certainly not potatoes, and possibly not from a grain overly
similar to modern wheat.
    Rum is probably not a good inference for cordials, even
though they are making it in volume during the 16th cen.
1509 sees a rum factory in the new world, but no comments
about using it for cordials.
    Gin is probably right out.
    The fact that we are macerating in distillate to make
liqueurs instead of a more common Medieval practice:
distilling after macerating in wine or something else, is
another problem entirely.  
- -- 
Ian Gourdon of Glen Awe, OP
Known as a forester of the Greenwood, Midrealm
 http://web.raex.com/~agincort

Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2000 09:23:27 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jenne Heise <jenne at tulgey.browser.net>
Subject: Re: SC - Re: liqueurs

> I'd guess that beer may not have been distilled, as such.
> Distillation from grain doesn't necessarily imply it, docs
> wise. There were wine and ale based medicinals.
[snippage]
>     Aqua vitae is the usual word of note; much debate has
> happened over the proper core ingredient. Just my opinion,
> but, documentation gives brandy the edge, I'd say. If you're
> trying to impress A&S judges, you'll probably get a lot
> farther with aqua vitae-brandy: 
[snippage]

Sorry, please take a look at Markham and at French's Art of Distillation.
If impressing A&S judges means that you have to go by the current A&S
myths, rather than looking at the sources which say ale (grain based,
sorry I guess beer is hopped, which we don't want), as well as wine, then
well, I guess they can just go hang....

Aqua vitae is distilled liquor. Period. Looking at distillation books of
the period, that's quite clear. They don't seem to be making a distinction
between brandy and ale based aqua vitae.

>     Whiskey/scotch is mentioned a number of times in
> historical sources, notably: "The earliest documented record
> of distilling in Scotland occurs as long ago as 1494, when
> an entry in the Exchequer Rolls listed "Eight bolls of malt
> to Friar John Cor wherewith to make aqua vitae" (water of
> life). This was sufficient to produce almost 1500 bottles.

Aqua vitae, however, would not have been processed the way modern
scotch/whiskey is. Usique (Irish whisky) was popularly supposed to have a
bunch of other stuff in it-- by english writers who told how to make it.
In other words, itself was treated as a cordial, not a base for cordials.

>     Vodka is quite inferable, but very lightly documented.
> Someone mentioned Russian Gov't records a while back. Period
> vodka would almost certainly have been grain based,
> certainly not potatoes, and possibly not from a grain overly
> similar to modern wheat.

*sigh* Actually, for the 16th century Vodka is documented. (_Bread and
Salt_ talks about government controlled vodka shops.) However, it appears
that it was originally made with parsnips, from other secondary sources
I've read.

However, parsnip-based vodka is very hard to find. What you find is
grain-based vodka (which may or may not be period _as vodka_.)
On the other hand, modern vodka is a multiple distillate of a grain-based
ferment, to which other flavorings have NOT been added. Which in my
opinion makes it similar to the higher grades of aqua vitae. Scotch &
Whisky, being flavored, I've shied away from using.

>     Gin is probably right out.

Gin's a cordial in and of itself, being flavored with juniper.

>     The fact that we are macerating in distillate to make
> liqueurs instead of a more common Medieval practice:
> distilling after macerating in wine or something else, is
> another problem entirely.  

Yes, though French's gives a few examples of macerating in distillate. On
the other hand, none of the French's or Markham's recipes were sweetened.

Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, mka Jennifer Heise	      jenne at tulgey.browser.net

Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2000 11:14:20 -0400
From: "Jeff Gedney" <JGedney at dictaphone.com>
Subject: SC - Re: liqueurs and distillation

Just a few notes from my own researches...

In early uisge making, "Beere" was a more likely a term to be used 
for the to be distilled liquid than the currently favored term "wash".

Aqua vitae was a general term for "ardent spirit", and was used for 
a huge variety of distilled ardent spiritous beverages.

Some notes from the Works of John Davis, an Elizabethan navigator 
and explorer describe the presence in some far Eastern kingdoms of 
marketplace distillers who made Aquavitae from Rice, and also the juice 
of sugar cane. (apparently these beverages were favored in some 
of the Islamic kingdoms of the East Indies, because they were not 
made of the "fruit of the vine", which was considered something of a 
loophole in the Law.

Some "High end" vodkas are Grain and spice based, and one or two 
are actually made from fruit(!) 

IMHO, Vodka is more like period aquavitae because the Aquavitae 
is rarely described as being aged in barrels, to add color and flavor... 
(which is what is done to brandy before it ever sees the light of day.)

So period Aquavitaes must have generally been been clear and 
subtly flavored with the spices and flavorings that were present 
BEFORE distillation. This is exactly how some "high end" 
Vodkas are produced. I posted several Vodkas which fit this 
description to the SCA-Distilling list when this topic was running over 
there.

Very few vodkas are actually wholly made of potatoes. a great many 
are entirely grain based.

brandu

Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2000 14:21:21 -0500
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: SC - Liqueurs

> Well, it is intentionally placed in special casks in order to pick up
> specific flavors. I have no evidence that aqua vitae was 
> treated to such a flavoring process.
> 
> Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, mka Jennifer Heise	      

Cask aging is more to take the raw edge off the alcohol than to add flavor.
The flavor is generally dependent on the preparation of the mash.  The use
of wooden casks, whether plain, charcoaled, or previously used for wine, is
meant to mellow the flavor.

And if you think whiskey needs to be casked to be whiskey, just try some
triple run 140-proof White Mule straight from the Mason Jar.  If you do, the
idea of aging whiskey in a cask becomes self-explanatory.

Bear

Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2000 17:09:28 -0400
From: "Jeff Gedney" <JGedney at dictaphone.com>
Subject: Re: RE: SC - Liqueurs

> And if you think whiskey needs to be casked to be whiskey, just try some
> triple run 140-proof White Mule straight from the Mason Jar.  If you do, the
> idea of aging whiskey in a cask becomes self-explanatory.

Never said Whiskey needs to be cask aged (Whiskey is derived from 
the Gaelic for Aquavitae, after all), just that it is most commonly done so.
The Aquavitae in Digbie or Markham is a lot farther away from Macallans 
and from Courvoisier, than they are from a flavored vodka.
 
The point I am making is that most (nearly all) commercial whiskeys and 
brandys are aged and other flavors introduced after distilling ( either as 
an artifact of aging in a cask, or by direct inclusion of other ingredients), 
whereas vodkas are generally not aged and remain "white". 
Most period recipes for Aquavitaes do not call for mellowing or aging, 
but depend primarily on recipe for flavor. By the description of the 
processes in the period texts I have seen, the Aquavitae is considered 
done when it is "drawn" out of the still. 

So when a recipe calls for Aquavitae, unless otherwise stated in the 
recipe, my inclination is to use an appropriately made vodka, 
IF I am going for a "period taste". 

If I am just making myself happy, I'll use what I like.

Vodkas much like Aquavitae:
Definitely aquavitae-like:
Finlandia "21"
Krolewska 
Soomska
Horobynova
Kremlyovskaya 
Petrov 
Special mention:
Clear Creek Eau de Vies 

probably aquavitae-like:
Grey Goose Vodka   -French vodka(?)
Gree goose Vodka l'Orange  -French vodka(?)

Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2000 20:22:11 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jenne Heise <jenne at tulgey.browser.net>
Subject: SC - Aqua vitae recipes from The Art of Distilation (fwd)

Found this in my sent mail from last year. Might be useful to someone.
- ---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 23 Jun 1999 16:46:10 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jenne Heise <jenne at tulgey.browser.net>
To: SCA-dist2 at onelist.com
Subject: Aqua vitae recipes from The Art of Distilation

Two very simple recipes for aqua vitae/spirits of wine:

	How to make Aqua vitae, and Spirts of Wine out of Wine
Take of whatever wine you please, put it into a copper still, two parts of
three being empty, distill it with a worm untill no more spirit come off,
then this spirit will serve for the making of any spirits out of
vegetables; but if thou wouldst have it stronger distill it again, and
half will remain behind as an insipid flegm; and if thou wouldst have it
yet stronger, distill it again, for every distillation wil leave behind
one moity of flegm or thereabouts; so shalt thou have a most pure and
strong spirit of wine.

	How to make aqua vitae out of beer
Take of stale strong-beer or rather the grounds there of, put it into a
copper still with a worm, distill it gently (or otherwise it will make the
head of the Still fly up) and there will come forth a weak spirit, which
is called low wine; of which when thou hast a good quantity thou mayest
distill it again of it self, and there will come forth a good Aqua vitae.
And if thou distillest it two or three times more, thou shalt have as
strong a spirit as out of wine, and indeed betwixt which and the spirit of
wine, thou shalt percieve none or very little difference. 

Jadwiga Zajaczkowa mka Jennifer Heise	

Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2000 13:09:07 CEST
From: "Christina van Tets" <cjvt at hotmail.com>
Subject: SC - liqueurs and jenever (longish)

I've been looking in 'Jenever:  Ode aan een volksdrank', by Cees Kingmans 
(Bever, 's Gravenhage, 1991):

The first chapter deals with distillation in general, so I won't bore you 
with that, apart from the titles of some books from about 1500:

Hieronymus Brunschweig:  'Das Buch der Rechten Kunst zu Distilleren'.   This 
was printed shortly afterwards by (guess who?  sorry) Thomas vander Noot in 
Brussels under the title 'Die Distellacien ende Vertuyten der Wateren'.

Meister Philippus Hermanni wrote a MS in 1551 in Antwerp for his colleagues' 
use (he was an apothecary), entitled Een Constich Distelleerboek, which 
according to Kingmans deals with the concept of distilling from 'most plant 
material'.  He apparently goes into some detail about appropriate equipment 
and the like.

Nice quote from him:
'Als ghi nu wilt gaen maecken den ghebranden wyn, soo en sult ghi niet doen 
ghelyck vele bedrieghers doen, die daertoe neemen veelderhande dinghen daer 
si den wyn mede verderven ghelyck als wyndroesem oft gist van bier ende 
dierghelycken onreinichheit...

If you want to make burnt wine, so you shall not do what many swindlers do, 
who take many things into it to corrupt the wine, such as wine dregs or 
yeast from beer and similar impurities...'

This appears to be because initially they distinguished the two by calling 
the stuff made from grapes 'ghebrande wyn' and the stuff made from grains 
'ghebrande coren wyn'.

Other interesting points from Kingmans:

Short burble about Paracelsus, a Swiss (1493-1541) who 'found a medicinal 
application through adding certain herbs to distilled drink'.
[Abelard would seem to predate him by a bit, though.  CJvT]

Korenwijn (also corenwyn) appears to be the oldest name of the distilled 
grain liquors in the Low Countries.  According to the glossary, it is 
considered in _current_ usage to be jenever or maltwine which has been 
distilled up to four times with a mixture of herbs and then left to cellar 
for a time.

Kingmans isn't even going to guess when corenwyn came in.  However, he says 
that towards the end of the 16th C it seemed that production might end after 
several failed harvests, and the States-General banned the making of alcohol 
from wheat, rye, barley, male and buckwheat.  In 1606 this was repealed and 
jenever and juniper berries were mentioned for the first time in an official 
document, a State Ordinance.

Lucas Bols began a liqueur distillery in Amsterdam in 1575;  Amsterdam was 
at that time an important harbour town which saw the through-traffic of 
sugar, spices and herbs.  [There follows a speculation about using sugar 
water from the washing down sweet-makers' trays to distil.  No support here 
for this.]  Bols is now a multinational, apparently.

Oh, and a priest in Leiden was defrocked in 1582 for distilling - not a 
suitable occupation for a 'servant of the Word'.  Apparently in the priest's 
defence he claimed that he only used the best Rhine, French or Spanish wine 
for his nefarious purposes, but also recommended the use of grains and other 
fruits of the earth.

Then the history starts geting OOP, so I'll stop there.

Cairistiona

Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2000 10:14:58 -0400
From: "Jeff Gedney" <JGedney at dictaphone.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Liqueurs

> I'm kinda henky about using the high-proof 'grain alcohol' specifically
> because it does have _all_ tastes removed, and because of its high
> proof, which is achieved by multiple distillations under modern
> conditions. I'm not sure (despite French's statements to the contrary)
> that that tasteless condition could be achieved.

well the directions for most Aquavitaes do call for multiple distillations, 
each a stronger product. but no, it was very unlikely that they could 
get to the kind of strengths that PGA ( pure Grain Alcohol) can get to.

It was probably more like a "high octane" vodka, something between 
100 and 140 proof, when it was finished. 

Tastelessness seems not to generally have been the goal (or the 
ingredients and spicing would not have been so important), but rather I 
think French was describing what would be the effect of excessive 
distillation runs, that the Purified essential alcohol in Wine distillation
was indistinguishable form that derived from Grain alcohol.

I understand that some French "Eau de Vie" also fit the Aquavitae 
mold.

Hmm I see a fabulous confluence of terms here 

Aqua Vitae  = Water of life
Aquavit = Water of life
Eau de Vie = Water of life
Uisge Beatha = Water of life
Vodka = water - Derived from "Little water" (endearment), Possibly 
                "Water of life" origin, run through the mill of slang. 

Brandu

Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2000 10:32:35 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jenne Heise <jenne at tulgey.browser.net>
Subject: RE: SC - Aqua vitae recipes from The Art of Distilation (fwd)

> Do you happen to have the date on the Art of Distillation?  I'm interested,
> because a historical reference suggested that period distillates would have
> been only around 40 proof, but these recipes suggest that multiple
> distillations put it up in the 170 to 190 proof range.

These were taken from the original printing:

French, John. The art of distillation. (The second edition, to which is
added, The London-distiller) Printed by E. Cotes for Thomas Williams,
London, 1653. 

However, there is are several online versions:

Art of Distillation, John French. 1651. Facsimile online via University of
Pennsylvania, Schoenberg Center for Text and
Image: http://www.library.upenn.edu/etext/collections/smith/french/ 
Text version online as part of an alchemy project:
http://www.levity.com/alchemy/jfren_ar.html 

Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, mka Jennifer Heise	      jenne at tulgey.browser.net

Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2000 18:45:42 -0700 (PDT)
From: Terri Spencer <taracook at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re:  SC - Liqueurs (long)

Balthazar of Blackmoor wrote:
> Do we have any period recipes, or 
> other suggestions that healthy people used them? 

Suggestions are about all I've been able to find.  This excerpt
includes most of the hints that I've pieced together.  

Temair 

Aqua Vitae was first made by alchemists, physicians, monks and
apothecaries...The professional secret started to spread as early as
the 14th century as the technique was disseminated...The Forme of
Curye, a collection of recipes from about 1390, includes a sotiltee
called Chastletes - pastry castles filled with farced meats and cremes.
The recipe stipulates that one "serve it forth with ew ardaunt", that
is flaming, by putting "thereon a litel aqua vite and quen hit is
dresset in dysshes light hit with a wax candel and serve it forthe
brennynge".  Maitre Chiquart, head cook to the Duke of Savoy, wrote of
fire-breathing animal entremets.  This was accomplished by soaking
cotton in aqua ardens, placing it in the mouth of the boar, piglet or
swan, and lighting it just before presenting it.  This contradicts the
common belief that early distillation was primitive and inefficient,
producing only low-proof waters, since the aqua ardans would have to be
at least 100 proof to produce the desired special effect    

A group of late fourteenth-century manuscripts collectively known as
Gode Kokery includes a recipe for aqua vite, with simple distillation
directions  "sette thi glas on the fier, sett on the houel, & kepe it
wel that the hete come not o it; & sette thervndir a viol, & kepe  the
watir". It comes from a medical collection which also includes recipes
for ypocras (spiced wine with sugar), clarrey (spiced wine with honey),
brakott (spiced ale with honey), mede and poynaunt, as well as clarreti
(spiced wine fortified with aqua ardaunt).  These were the drinks of
the day.  They encompassed good health (wine and spices being good for
you), conspicuous consumption (imported luxury goods) and good taste.  

Though there is no definitive written record of recreational use of
medicinal alcohols, there are hints.  Legal documents from 1411
indicate that brandy was distilled at that time in the Armagnac region
of France.  In 1494, the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland show that a friar
was granted 8 bolls of malt to produce uisge beatha (whiskey) for King
James IV - enough for 1500 bottles, surely more than would be needed
for medicinal purposes. 

In Germany, Hausbrand (homebrew) was sold by vintners and inn-keepers. 
Apothecaries maintained a stall in the marketplace, distributing
distilled brandies known as gebrannter wein, bernewein or brandwein to
their patrons, sick or not.  In 1493 a doctor wrote;  "In view of the
fact that everyone at present has got into the habit of drinking aqua
vitae it is necessary to remember the quantity that one can permit
oneself to drink and learn to drink it according to one's capacities,
if one wishes to behave like a gentlemen."  There were complaints in
some European towns of people visiting the apothecary in the morning
for a spirit and emerging more than a little tipsy.  By 1496, the town
of Nuremberg had blue laws outlawing the sale of alcohol on Sundays and
feast days; "As many persons in this town have appreciably abused
drinking aqauvit, the town council warns earnestly and with emphasis
that from now on, on Sundays and other official holidays, no spirit
shall be kept in the houses, booths, shops or market and even the
streets of this town for the purpose of sale or paid consumption".

Henry the VIII licensed, but didn't tax, distilleries. Laws were passed
in France in 1506 to license, track and control the production and
distribution of distilled products.  Louis XII granted the privilege of
distilling brandy to the guild of vinegar-makers in 1514.  They didn't
enjoy it long.  In 1537 Francis I divided the privilege between the
vinegar-makers and the victuallers, leading to quarrels over the
profits.  By 1575, the London Apothicary's Company held exclusive
license for distilled products for external use, but had lost their
right to the distillation of beverages.  Those were restricted to a
select few, and in 1638 these distillers filed a charter as a separate
company.  The growth of these guilds and the attempts to control and
track the production of aqua vitae reflect the generous profits
involved in a fast growing industry.  That growth along with complaints
and limits on distribution and consumption are evidence that it was
being used and abused as an intoxicant.  

By 1559 there were a number of professional distillers in London in
addition to those with home distillatories.  A Jewell House of Art and
Nature by Sir Hugh Plat mentions "the aqua vitae men" in his complaint
that the wine lees that should go to them are being used to adulterate
good wine.  A tavern in London called Le Aqua Vitae Howse was open by
1572.  One hundred years later, by 1673, a petition to the English
Parliament stated "Before brandy, which is now become common and sold
in every little ale-house...we drank good strong beer and ale...and
[it] did them no great prejudice; it hindereth not their work, neither
did it take away their senses, nor cost them much money, whereas the
prohibition of brandy would...prevent the destruction of His Majesty's
subjects many of whom have been killed by drinking thereof, it not
agreeing with their constitution

Sources
An Encyclopedia of Drinks & Drinking, Frederick Martin, Toronto, Coles
Press, 1980.

The Art of Cookery In the Middle Ages, Terence Scully, Boydell Press,
1995.

Curye on Inglysch, Edited by Constance Hieatt and Sharon Butler, Oxford
University Press, 1985.

Food and Feast in Tudor England, Alison Sim, St. Martin's Press, 1997.

Tastes of Paradise, A Social History of Spices, Stimulants, and
Intoxicants, Wolfgang Schivelbusch, Translated by David Jacobson,
Vintage Books, 1992.

The Scots Cellar, F. Marian MacNeill, Edinburgh, MacDonald Printers,
1956.

The Apothicary's Shop Opened, Volumes I & II, Hugh Petrie, Stuart
Press, 1998.

Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2000 16:57:18 -0400
From: Christine A Seelye-King <mermayde at juno.com>
Subject: SC - Bols

> Lucas Bols began a liqueur distillery in Amsterdam in 1575;  Amsterdam
was at that time an important harbour town which saw the through-traffic
of sugar, spices and herbs.  [There follows a speculation about using
sugar water from the washing down sweet-makers' trays to distil.  No
support here for this.]  Bols is now a multinational, apparently.
> Cairistiona

In one of my many small recipe booklets published by manufacturers, I
have the Bols Liqueurs & Brandies booklet.  The inside front cover reads
thusly:

"The Story of BOLS	
The year ws 1575.  Holland was on the brink of its "Golden Age", and out
on the mail road to Haarlem from Amsterdam a tiny building was being
constructed.  It was soon to be known as " 't Lootsje", -the "little
shed" of Lucas Bols.  it was here that the young master stiller was to
start his career as Holland's most renowned maker of liqueurs and
brandies.  Working with a crude kettle and using the very best grains,
seeds, fruits, and  herbs, Lucas coaxed subtle characteristics of scent
and taste and color.  "Do not mutilate nature," he would say.  "Guide her
to perfection."  Still today nature is being "guided" with the ageless
recipes originated by Lucas Bols over 400 years ago.  These processes
have been handed down in confidence from father to son with the results
that the delicate Old World beverages bearing the Bols name are among the
most famous in the world."  

On the back cover, the distributor information reads:
 Liqueurs and Brandies 30 - 78 Proof.  Produced and Bottled in the USA
under personal supervision of the Amsterdam Directors by Erven Lucas Bols
Distilling Company, Louisville, KY

Christianna

From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at health.state.ok.us>
To: "'ansteorra at ansteorra.org'" <ansteorra at ansteorra.org>
Subject: ANST - Scotch whiskey (was - Wrasslin' with Saracens)
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2000 13:09:34 -0500

> << Too bad we can't prove the boys at Bannockburn were fired up on scotch 
> whiskey. >>
> BUT THEY WERE-  Spirits were the standard issue for all Lowland fighters 
> kits.  Saw it in a document when at Edinburgh Castle about 6 years ago. All 
> had a little canteen to hang around their shoulder containing the water of 
> life (single blend whiskey)
> 
>   Baron Bors of Lothian
 
Let me switch over to serious history mode on the question of whiskey at
Bannockburn, because if the document you mention dates properly, it would be
an interesting addition to the history of distillation.  I certainly accept
the fact the Scots carried whiskey into battle, but I have serious
reservations that they did so at Bannockburn.

The date commonly given for Villanueve's brandy is 1299-1300.  There is very
little evidence that distilled spirits were widely known or used at this
time.  The use of flammable spirits (at least 100 proof) appears in recipes
at the end of the 14th Century and the evidence of increasingly common usage
appears in the 14th and 15th Century.

Bannockburn, where the Bruce engaged the English against over 3 to 1 odds
and routed them from Scotland, occurred June 24, 1314.  According to most
historians, aqua vitae, the Medieval white lightning, was relatively unknown
and peat-smoked barley single malt was somewhere in the future.  If the
document dates to the first half of the 14th Century, then the historic view
of whiskey changes drastically.

The idea that whiskey was "issued" leads me to believe that the document
probably dates no earlier than the mid-17th Century, after the unification
of England and Scotland when Scots regiments were raised to serve in the
Army.

Bear

Date: Sun, 23 Jul 2000 23:59:48 -0500
From: Stefan li Rous <stefan at texas.net>
Subject: SC - Tequilla is period!

I saw this mention in my local
paper today on Tequilla. Apparently the liquor is period, although not 
produced on a commercial basis until 1785.

"The liquor had its genesis in the 16th century, when a curious Spaniard
distilled fermented juice taken from the heart of the agave plants that
dot the region. Until then, the plants blue fronds were woven to create
rooftops, baskets, rope and paper, while its root, a fruit resembling
a gargantuan pineapple, was cooked as a delicacy with the taste of honey
water.

By 1795, Jose Maria Guadalupe Cuervo was given the first official
permit from the King of Spain to produce tequilla commercially."
- -- 
Lord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mark S. Harris             Austin, Texas           stefan at texas.net

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2000 07:49:09 +0100
From: "Melanie Wilson" <MelanieWilson@bigfoot.com>
To: <sca-arts@raven.cc.ukans.edu>
Subject: Re: Old world Fruit (liqueurs and desserts)

<<< "Aqua vitae" - the water of life, described a clear alcoholic liquid.
There
is a discussion going as to whether it was a clear brandy, early distilled
liquor or a combination. >>>

Aqua Vitae can still be bought in France, there are many types , as there
may well have been in history, basically it seems to go take anything you
can turn into Aqua Vitae & do so !! I've had a large variety of commercially
produced & home version in my travels & they vary a lot !

Mel

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2000 08:44:43 -0400
From: Wade Hutchison <whutchis@bucknell.edu>
To: sca-arts@raven.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Re: Old world Fruit (liqueurs and desserts)

Aqua Vitae is described in several period souces, including a 14th century
health MS, which is listed in Forme of Cury by Hieatt and Butler (section IV)
IIRC, it has you mixing cinnamon and cloves(?) into wine and then distilling
it to get the "Aqua Vitae."  Another term from period sources is "Aqua 
Ardente," or "strong water," which is also generally taken to be some form of brandy.

I believe that the closest modern equivalent of Aqua Ardente would be Grappa,
the Italian "fresh" brandy.  The brown color and much of the smooth flavor
of modern brandies comes from aging in oak casks.  I don't think that either
Aqua Vitae or Aqua Ardente was kept around long enough to age to the smooth
mellowness of a modern brandy.  I base this mostly on the fact that if you
let it age in oak, it doesn't look like water anymore, now does it?
         -----Gille MacDhnouill

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2000 09:21:26 EDT
From: <LrdRas@aol.com>
To: sca-arts@raven.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Re: Old world Fruit (liqueurs and desserts)

whutchis@bucknell.edu writes:
<< I believe that the closest modern equivalent of Aqua Ardente would be 
Grappa, the Italian "fresh" brandy.   >>

Grappa is produced by fermenting the skins and stems left after the grapes 
have been pressed. This mash is then distilled to produce 'Grappa.' 

OTOH, Christian Brothers produces a clear brandy which has never seen wood. 
Perhaps that would be a viable alternative for aqua vitae.

Ras

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2000 12:30:36 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jenne Heise <jenne@tulgey.browser.net>
To: sca-arts@raven.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Re: Old world Fruit (liqueurs and desserts)

> So it's not a tincture if you mix the herbs/spices in wine and then
> distill the mixture to a higher strength alcohol?  We need a good
> term for this then.  And, no, I've never seen one that included
> sweetening it with sugar or honey after the distillation, either.

The term is distilled waters.
Tinctures are made by steeping something in alcohol (specifically
distilled alcohol).
 
> There are at least two sources out there for a whole variety of
> medicinal 'waters,' but they are both out of reach for the moment.

John French's _Art of Distillation_ and Markham's _English Housewife_

Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, mka Jennifer Heise	      jenne@tulgey.browser.net

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2000 12:50:38 -0400
From: Ron Charlotte <ronch2@bellsouth.net>
To: sca-arts@raven.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Re: Old world Fruit (liqueurs and desserts)

At 09:17 PM 9/12/00 -0500, KHvS  wrote:
>In the book, "Take a Buttock of Beefe," by Verity Isitt, on page 174, is a
>recipe called "A Cordial Water of Sir Walter Raleigh.  It reads...
>
>"Take a Gallon of Strawberries, and put them into a pint of Aqua vitae, let them
>stand so four or five daies, strain them gently out, and sweeten the water as
>you please, with a fine Sugar, or else with perfume."
>
>Now, I am not sure what Aqua vitae is (and I am hoping someone else on the list
>will), but the modern redaction of this recipe (given on the next page) suggests
>using brandy.
>
>KHvS (who has done some cordials, but never for competition)

Here's the one, pre 17th century recipe that I have:
-----

Excerpted from _The Seconde parte of the Secretes of Maister Alexis of
Piemont --1563 (ISBN: 90-221-0839-2)

To make very good Aqua vitae.

	Take wyne that is not to olde, that is to saye of a yere or smmewhat more
or lesse, and let it be very good, hauyng a good odour: and distill it in a
vessell of glasse hauynge a longe necke about fyve foote long, wyth a very
small and slowe fyer, and take it up together whyles it commeth furthe
faste, that is to saye, whan one droppe tarieth not for another, and it
shalbe very good and pleasaunt, for there shalbe no thine els but only the
part of the Wyne verye subtile and fine, true it is that it shalbe not very
hote, nor burne so much as other Aqua vites do.

-----

The spelling and punctuation is straight out of the book, which is an
English translation of an original done about 10 years before in Italian,
so the recipe is really from about 1550 or earlier.

	al Thaalibi -- An Crosaire, Trimaris
      	Ron Charlotte -- Gainesville, FL

Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 16:22:29 -0500
From: "Daniel Phelps" <phelpsd at gate.net>
Subject: SC - Hollands 

Was written:
why not aqua vitae out of Holland by way of the "gentlemen?"

If gin is what is meant, "Gin as we know it today seems to have been first
made by Francis-cus de la Boe (1614-72)".  But by 1575 a type of gin
distilled from rye was sold by Bols of Amsterdam.

Regards aqua vitae Thaddeus of Florence (1223-1303)wrote a book about using
distillates titled "De Virtue Aquae Vitae" and in 1310 Arnaud in refering,
in his book Liber de Vinis, to aqua vine, adds the comment "but some name it
...aqua vitae"  These appear to have been distillates of wine.

The above information is from "The Penguin Book of Spirits and Liqueurs".

Daniel Raoul

Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 20:56:55 -0500
From: johnna holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] FREEZING WINE--Sources

Another paper on distillation is
Wilson, C. Anne. "Burnt Wine and Cordial Waters: The Early Days of Distilling"
Folk Life, 1975, pp. 54-65.

Also see Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking which ought to be on the reference shelf of almost all the readers of this list... it has a good sources list for further reading.

Johnna Holloway
Johnnae llyn Lewis

From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net>
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: Beer percentages OOP  WAS:Re: [Sca-cooks] MY DAY IN CLASS
Date: Wed, 29 Jan 2003 23:16:47 -0600

"Proof" as a measure of alcoholic strength is twice the percentage of
alcohol in the beverage.  Because it is used to measure distilled alcohol
rather than simple fermentation, proofing actually starts about 20% or 40
proof.  It derives from the test or "proof" of the quality of the alcoholic
beverage.  Whiskey that will let gunpowder burn is usually double or triple
run and the gunpowder test is "proof" of the higher quality.

Technically, you can get 199 proof alcohol, but opening the container to the
air hydrates the solution to about 190 proof (IIRC), which I believe is
Everclear's stated proof.  Twenty years ago I was using 199 proof methanol
to flash dry photographic negatives.

Bear

-----Original Message-----
>Proof was supposedly (as I remember being told) determined by whether upon
>burning a set amount of the liquid on some gunpowder, the powder would be dry
>enough to fire after the liquid was burned (GOD I hope that makes sense).
>That works out to something like 52 or 54 percent alcohol apparently. For
>some reason we here in North America settled on 50% as the number for
>"proof", therefore something is proof if it's 50% alcohol. Everclear is
>almost 200 proof, as it's almost pure alcohol. Keeping alcohol from taking on
>water is difficult because (A) there's so much of it on the planet and (B)
>the Alcohol molecule is sort of a ring that accepts the water molecule quite
>well thankyouverymuch...
>
>Corwyn

Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2004 10:59:42 -0400
From: "Jeff Gedney" <gedney1 at iconn.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] kumiss and aphrodisiacs
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

> It's like distillation being Massively and Hugely Illegal and No
> Matter How Scientific The Reason, No, You Still Can't Try To
> Duplicate Any Of Those Nifty Renaissance Distilled Elixers Because We 
> At The BATF Said So.

Now now, margaret, it is NOT illegal to distill...

It is just illegal to distill WITHOUT paying appropriate excise tax...

...and to facilitate the correct consideration of excise taxes you need 
to file regular paperwork and an appropriate license, which requires 
regular and surprise site inspection and records assessment, certain 
documentable facilities, secure storage, and inspected and approved 
production equipment, in a nonresidential setting, with all recipes 
filed in advance with the BATF, and all ingredients and work products 
accounted for and stored separately.

Failure to do all of these things is called Tax Evasion, and you can 
get royally hammered for it.

I, myself, have looked into getting the experimental products 
exemptions and at possibly licensing a still...

The experimental distilled spirits exemption in 27CFR19.65 does not 
really apply -- its is designed for fuels research --, and the method 
of getting the exemption (personal appeal to the ATF director) is 
difficult and uncertain.

I have the forty or so pages of application for a regular distilled 
beverage spirits plant, but the smallest classification there is I 
believe, 45 THOUSAND gallons a year production.
The ATF just does not believe and cannot actually conceive that ANYONE 
would go to the trouble of setting up a still except for commercial 
purposes, so either you are legal commercial plant or a moonshiner, 
and they are the only two ways they think of you.

... BTW, many of these ATF rules regarding taxes, facilities and 
paperwork will apply as well to your home brewing and vintning, _if_ 
you are unwise enough as to break the rules regarding the waiver of tax 
liability...

If you sell your product, or give in exchange for any value any wine or 
beer you home brew, or you produce too much, then the excise tax 
regulations are no longer waived (and it is just a waiver of Taxes), 
but then may apply taxes owing to everydrop you have ever produced, and 
that now also becomes tax evasion.

The BATF is a branch of the Treasury, and has authority to sumarrily 
seize all your property and jail your moonshining butt, and you can't 
do a thing about it until you are cleared in court.

They are not an agency one can flout with impunity.

I suggest that everyone out there who home brews or makes wine be 
thoroughly conversant with the regulations regarding the waiver of 
taxes, just as a matter of course.

wine exemption is 27CFR24.75
look here find part 75 and click on the appropriate file: 
http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/27cfr24_03.html

Beer exemption is 27CFR25.205
look here find part 205 and click on the appropriate file:
http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/27cfr25_03.html

Capt Elias
Been there, done that, pulled my hair out.

Date: Thu, 25 Nov 2004 18:06:40 -0500
From: Bill Fisher <liamfisher at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] beer, wine, whiskey, scotch in food
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

On Thu, 25 Nov 2004 12:21:37 -0600, Stefan li Rous
<stefanlirous at austin.rr.com> wrote:
> Cadoc commented:
> Do we have any evidence of [distilled beverages] being used in period this 
> way? Or in food at all?
>
> Stefan

From some reading on it Uisge Beatha, the predecessor to modern Irish
Whiskey and Scotch, was around for centuries, but lacked the character
it has today.  Also. from the level of skill it took to create it, it
seems to have been used medicinally.

(taken from http://www.celtic-whisky.com/histrya.htm )
In his "Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland" published in
1577, Raphael Holinshed describes as follows the incomparable virtues
of Uisge Beatha :

"Being moderately taken,
it slows the age,
it cuts phlegm,
it lightens the mind,
it quickens the spirit,
it cures the dropsy,
it heals the strangulation,
it pounces the stone,
its repels gravel,
it pulls away ventositie,
it keeps and preserves the head from whirling,
the eyes from dazzling,
the tongue from lisping,
the mouth from snuffling,
the teeth from chattering,
the throat from rattling,
the weasan from stiffing,
the stomach from womblying,
the heart from swelling,
the belly from wincing,
the guts from rumbling,
the hands from shivering,
the sinews from shrinking,
the veins from crumpling,
the bones from aching,
the marrow from soaking,
and truly it is a sovereign liquor
if it be orderly taken."

A remedy definitely miraculous and most indispensable !

Cadoc

Date: Wed, 8 Dec 2004 18:20:28 -0600
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Hard liquor in period recipes, was Adamantius
	pants?
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

> i seem to recall reading that the irish were distilling whiskey in the
> 12th century.
>
> cailte

IIRC, this is just historical misinformation origin put out by a distillery
PR flak.  Jabir ibn Hayyan produced an improved still around the beginning
of the 9th Century and alembics have been used for many years, but the first
practical distillation of alcohol appears about the beginning of the 14th
Century.  Credit is often given to Arnaldus de Villa Nova (AKA Arnaud de
Villenueve AKA Arnoldus Villanovanus) of the Monpellier medical school for
the first distillation of brandy.

Bear

Date: Wed, 8 Dec 2004 21:23:13 -0600
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Hard liquor in period recipes, was Adamantius
	pants?
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

I went rooting into the Cambridge World History of Food for information on
hard liquor in period.  The following comments and citations are based on
that resource.

Bear

The essential problem with distilling alcohol is to efficiently boil off the
alcohol and cool the vapors to collect the liquid distillate.  The alembic
allows too much of the vapor to cook off.  The distillation of alcoholic
beverages primarily occurs after the development of the worm cooler and the
pot still.

Culturally, the Romans and the Moslems would have avoided distilled  
spirits.

There are 4th Century Chinese references to "strong wine" from the "western
regions," but they are problematic and probably represent a form of
alcoholic concentration by freezing (refrigerator distillation).   
Needham,Joesph. 1984. Spagyrical discovery and invention, "Science and Civilization in China, Vol. 5, Part 4", London.

The 6th Century Irish date is probably tied to a Bushmill's Distillery piece
attributing the introduction of distillation to Ireland by St.Patrick.
Following Henry II's invasion of Ireland (1171 CE) Irish "wine" was taxed,
which might mean mead, ale or whiskey.  Old Bushmills claims its founding
from this date.

Archeological evidence of a worm cooler and alembic pots in Ulster dating
from the Late Middle Ages suggest that distillation was occurring.  The size
of the vessels suggests domestic rather that commercial production.
McDuire, E.B.  1993.  Irish Whiskey: A history of the spirit trade,
distilling and excise controls in Ireland New York.

Vodka production starts in the 16th Century.

Date: Fri, 05 Jan 2007 15:17:33 -0500
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Sugar Cane
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

New book on the topic--
And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails
It's probably early 17th century.
Johnnae

Stefan li Rous wrote:
> Yes, but as far as I can tell rum is post-period. Or does someone
> have contrary documentation?
> Stefan

Date: Sun, 22 Jun 2008 08:50:55 -0500
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Brewing...along similar lines...
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

<<< On a similar but different topic....can anyone give me an idea of whether or not Scotch is period, at least in its antecedents?  I have a scotch flower
cordial that has turned out much better than I thought it would and would
like to enter it in an upcoming competition.   While I know I cannot
document the cordial itself, it would be great if I could at least 
document the ingredients.

Kiri >>>

"To Friar John Cor, by order of the King, to make aqua vitae VIII bolls of 
malt." - Exchequer Rolls 1494-95, vol x, p. 487

Lord High Treasurer's Accounts: "Et per liberacionem factam fratri Johanni 
Cor per perceptum compotorum rotulatoris, ut asserit, de mandato domini 
regis ad faciendum aquavite infra hoc compotum viij bolle brasii" vol 1, p. 
176.

Courtesy of Wikipedi (and saving me the hassle of trying to find the 
reference), this is the first known record of distillation in Scotland. 
There is no record of whether or not the product met the modern legal 
definition of Scotch whisky.  Barley is the basic ingredient of Scotch, 
aquavita is liquor produced by distillation and Friar John Cor was in 
Scotland, so it can be inferred that some form of Scotch whisky was produced 
prior to 1600.

A boll is six bushels of grain.

Bear

Date: Sun, 22 Jun 2008 10:37:48 -0400
From: "Elaine Koogler" <kiridono at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Brewing...along similar lines...
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Thanks, Bear.  After sending out the message, I looked in Wikipedia and
found the same reference.  I also followed one of their footnote links to a
page, www.whisky.com, which had a longer history section.  There they noted
that in the 19th c. a still was invented that permitted the distillation of
grain-based alcohol, which produced a lighter, less intense whisky that was
then blended with the more potent malt whisky to produce what we now have as
blends.  For anyone who's interested, this is a wonderful page that gives a
more in-depth history.

As I said, I can't document the cordial itself...but I can at least document
the ingredients.  Guess that'll have to do!

Kiri

On Sun, Jun 22, 2008 at 9:50 AM, Terry Decker <t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net>
wrote:
<<< "To Friar John Cor, by order of the King, to make aqua vitae VIII bolls of
malt." - Exchequer Rolls 1494-95, vol x, p. 487 <snip>

Bear >>>

Date: Sun, 22 Jun 2008 11:29:41 -0500
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Brewing...along similar lines...
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

<<< There they noted that in the 19th c. a still was invented that permitted the distillation of grain-based alcohol, which produced a lighter, less intense whisky that was then blended with the more potent malt whisky to produce what we now have as blends. >>>

The column still which uses continuous fractional distillation rather than 
simple distillation.  A pot still produces 40-50% alcohol.  A column still 
produces over 90% alcohol.  The practical limit is between 95-96% alcohol. 
Above that, the alcohol becomes hygroscopic and requires special equipment 
to keep it from absorbing moisture from the air.  The still is also called a 
patent still, a continuous still or a coffey still (after the inventor).

It is an evolutionary design based on work done in the 18th Century.

<<< As I said, I can't document the cordial itself...but I can at least 
document the ingredients.  Guess that'll have to do!

Kiri >>>

If you can document the cordial process you used, then I would say you have 
a cordial "in the manner of".  Not an accurate historical recreation, but 
certainly a historical interpretation worth considering.

Bear 

Date: Sun, 22 Jun 2008 20:45:07 -0500
From: Stefan li Rous <StefanliRous at austin.rr.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Brewing...along similar lines...
To: SCA-Cooks maillist SCA-Cooks <SCA-Cooks at Ansteorra.org>

Kiri asked:
<<< On a similar but different topic....can anyone give me an idea of whether or
not Scotch is period, at least in its antecedents?  I have a scotch flower
cordial that has turned out much better than I thought it would and would
like to enter it in an upcoming competition.   While I know I cannot
document the cordial itself, it would be great if I could at least document
the ingredients. >>>

Perhaps this will help. Unfortunately, I didn't finish reading it so  
I don't remember how much of it covers the time span before 1600.  
Perhaps you can get from ILL.

"Scotch Whisky : A Liquid History"
MacLean, Charles
ISBN: 1-84403-401-1
Cassell Illustrated
288 pages

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           

Date: Fri, 28 Nov 2008 11:26:01 -0500
From: "Elaine Koogler" <kiridono@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Scottish cuisine (and now, blood dishes)
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks@lists.ansteorra.org>

According to some research I did for a competition a few months back, it
appears that single malt scotches were being made in Scotland in period
(first mention of it being in 1494, according to www.whisky.com.  It would
seem that these distillates were very strong, often to the point of being
dangerous. It wasn't until 1831, when a method was invented for distilling
spirits from grain was invented...and therefore brought about the blending
of scotch and grain whiskies by Usher in 1860.  The 1494 date is the first
printed mention...in an  Entry in Exchequer Rolls regarding Friar Cor making
aqua vitae by order of the King.  My source indicates that, as 1500 bottles
were delivered, this indicates that distillation was already an established
process.

My main source for this information is
http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/jhb/whisky/history.html
and what I found there is verified on several other web sites as well.

Kiri

On Fri, Nov 28, 2008 at 9:28 AM, Terry Decker <t.d.decker@att.net> wrote:
<<< As I recall, the last time the subject came up, I found a reference that
placed whiskey making in Scotland just within period.  But didn't find
anything to tell me how similar or dissimilar it was to modern Scotch
whiskey. >>>

Date: Fri, 28 Nov 2008 13:31:55 -0600
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker@att.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Scottish cuisine (and now, blood dishes)
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks@lists.ansteorra.org>

The stuff being made in the 15th Century was definitely unblended whiskey 
from malted barley, but there is no evidence for or against peat roasting 
the barley to give the smokey flavor common to modern single malts.  I 
suspect that peat may have been used to fire the malting kilns because it 
was readily available and that the modern injection of peat smoke into the 
kilns is to perpetuate the tradition.

Grains were distilled into alcohol well before 1831.  The 1831 date is 
questionable, but it was in the 1830's when Coffey introduced the continuous 
still, an improved version of Stein's columnar still.  What the continuous 
still did was to permit single malt to be infused with grain whiskey during 
secondary distillation, easily producing blended whiskey.  Grain whiskey and 
blended whiskey are two distinctly seperate things.

I'm not too happy with the source you're using.  It gives the impression 
that alcohol could be distilled as early as 800 BCE, but the alembics 
capable of such distillation only start appearing about 1000 CE.  The actual 
record of such distillation occurs between 300 to 400 years later.  I would 
also question the 1500 bottles, as they do not specify the size of those 
bottles.  According to MacLean, Fifteenth Century distillation used a more 
primitive barley and inefficient alembics or pot stills (which other 
research supports), so their yield would be less than today.  A boll is 
roughly 240 pounds, so eight bolls is roughly 870 kg, which is enough to 
modernly produce 350 liters of whiskey or about 466 bottles of 750 ml.  1500 
bottles implies they were roughly 1/2 pint.  My small stone crocks hold at 
least a quart (and no, I never had a chance to ask my Grandfather what he 
put in them).

MacLean, Charles, "Scotch Whiskey", 2005, seems to be a solid source for 
information about Scotch and its distillation.  Good footnotes.

Bear

<<< According to some research I did for a competition a few months back, it
appears that single malt scotches were being made in Scotland in period
(first mention of it being in 1494, according to www.whisky.com.  It would
seem that these distillates were very strong, often to the point of being
dangerous. It wasn't until 1831, when a method was invented for distilling
spirits from grain was invented...and therefore brought about the blending
of scotch and grain whiskies by Usher in 1860.  The 1494 date is the first
printed mention...in an  Entry in Exchequer Rolls regarding Friar Cor 
making
aqua vitae by order of the King.  My source indicates that, as 1500 
bottles
were delivered, this indicates that distillation was already an 
established
process.

My main source for this information is
http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/jhb/whisky/history.html
and what I found there is verified on several other web sites as well.

Kiri >>>

Date: Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:13:47 -0500
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae@mac.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Scottish cuisine (and now, blood dishes)
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks@lists.ansteorra.org>

And the source that is now available that ought to be looked at is:
C. Anne Wilson's Water of Life
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/lane/kal69/shop/pages/isbn463.htm

Johnnae

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Edited by Mark S. Harris	bev-distilled-msg	Page  of