Part 10

The first _Ratafia_ was called _Eau de Cerises_, or cherry water. The kernels should be added to the juice of the fruit with cinnamon and mace in small quantities. This renders the composition beneficent, strengthens the brain, and banishes the vapours.

The _Eau clairette de framboises_ is also composed of cherries, though a few strawberries are added to give the dominant flavour. It should, therefore, says the Master Distiller, be rather called _Eau clairette framboisée_.

_L’eau clairette de groseilles_ has a specific virtue against biliousness.

_L’eau clairette de grenade_ is the most agreeable of _Ratafias_, but has an astringent property.

_L’eau clairette de coings_ is still more estimable than the preceding, and imparts a new activity to the limbs.

_Eau clairette de Chamberri_ should be made of the ripest black grapes, a small quantity of spirit of wine, a little sugar, and other ingredients. In addition to giving an appetite, it rejoices the heart. The longer it is kept, as in the case with all _Ratafias_, the better.

The white _Ratafias_, or _Hypoteques_, should be mixed with cinnamon, mace, cloves, and coriander. Under these circumstances they render the blood balsamic. The best fruits for white _Ratafias_ are oranges, peaches, and apricots.

_Curaçoa_ derives its name from the group of small islands in the West Indies, situated near the north shore of Venezuela, in the Caribbean Sea. The liqueur is made in these islands by the Dutch. It is also made at Amsterdam from orange peel imported from the Curaçoas. The bitter orange used is the _Citrus bigaradia_.

It is commonly obtained by digesting orange peel in sweetened spirits, and flavouring with cinnamon, cloves, or mace. The spirits employed are usually reduced to nearly 56 under proof, and each gallon contains about 3½ pounds of sugar. _Curaçoa_ varies in colour. The darker is produced by powdered Brazil wood, mellowed by caramel.

_Parfait Amour_ is a liqueur composed of several ingredients, such as citron, clove, muscat, and others.

_Kirsch_, _Kirschwasser_, or _Kirschenwasser_, or cherry water, is the genuine drink of the Black Forest. The head-quarters of this liqueur, as Griesbach and Petersthal in the Reuch valley, are rich in cherry trees of the Machaleb variety. H. W. Wolff, in his _Rambles_, rises into an almost poetic description of its virtues. “It is,” he says, referring to the Black Foresters, “their general stimulant and comforter, their consoler in grief, their promoter of conviviality, their safety valve in trouble or excitement.” After this, little can be added without the danger, or rather the certainty, of _bathos_. When genuine—for alas, it shares the common fate of drinks, adulteration—it is said to be ardent and slightly poisonous. In other words, it contains “that excellent stomachic, hydrocyanic acid.” Of late the Black Foresters have rivalled the Servians in a spirit distilled from wild plums. Stolberg thinks _Kirschenwasser_ in no way inferior to the spirit made from corn at Dantzic,[95] and others hold it equal to the Dalmatian _Maraschino_. The liqueur is also made in Germany, France, and elsewhere.

_Pomeranzen_, or _Pomeranzen-Wasser_, somewhat resembling our orangeade, is principally drunk in Northern Germany.

_Raspail_ was originally, as many other liqueurs, medicinal, and was so called from the name of its inventor. Mariani has made an _Elixir à la coca du Pérou_. This, like _Raspail_, is an agreeable tonic.

_Vermuth_[96] is composed of white wine, angelica, absinthe, and other aromatic herbs.

Many sweet wines approach very nearly liqueurs. Of these are in Austria some sweet wines of Transylvania and Dalmatia. In Spain, the _Tinto d’Alicante_, and the white _Muscats_ of Malaga. In France, _Hermitage_, _Grenache_, _Colmar_, and the _Muscats_ of Rivesaltes and of Roquevaire. In Cyprus, _La Commanderie_. In Italy, the _Muscats_ of Vesuvius, Orvieto and Montefiascone, the holy wine of Castiglione, the white wines of Albano, and the aromatic wine of Chiavenna. In Greece, the _Malmseys_ of Santorin and the Ionian Isles. In Russia, the wines of _Koos_ and _Sudach_ in the Crimea; and in Mexico, those of _Passo del Nocte_, _Paras_, _San Luiz de la Paz_, and _Zelaya_.

In the _Widdowes Treasure_, London, 1595, are receipts for _Sirrop of Roses_ or _Violets_, and two receipts for _Rosa Solis_, and in the _Good Housewife’s Jewele_, London, 1596, are receipts for distilling of _Rosemary water_, _Imperiall water_, _Sinamon water_, and the _Water of Life_.

AMERICAN DRINKS.

Cobblers—Cocktails—Flips, etc.—Punch—Varieties—A Bar Tender—Anstey’s _Pleader’s Guide_—A Yard of Flannel—Bottled Velvet—Rumfustian, etc.

The great authority, probably the greatest authority, on this interesting subject is a gentleman who, with the true modesty of genius, allows himself to be known only by the pseudonym of _Jerry Thomas_. Formerly a bar-tender at the Metropolitan Hotel, New York, and the Planter’s House, St. Louis, he is said to have travelled over Europe and America in “search of all that is recondite in this branch of the spirit art.” His very name, says one of his admirers, is synonymous in the lexicon of mixed drinks with all that is rare and original.

Among the chief American drinks are, being alphabetically arranged, _cobblers_, _cocktails_, _cups_, _flips_, _juleps_, _mulls_, _nectars_, _neguses_, _noggs_, _punches_—of which there are at least three score—_sangarees_, _shrubs_, _slings_, _smashes_, and _toddies_.[97]

The _cobbler_ is an American invention, though now common in other countries. It requires small skill in its composition, but should be arranged to please the eye. Of this drink the straw is the leading characteristic.

The _cocktail_ is a comparatively modern discovery. In this drink _Bogart’s Bitters_ occupies invariably a prominent place. The _Crusta_ is an improvement on the _cocktail_, and is said to have been invented by Santina, a celebrated Spanish caterer. Its _differentia_ is a small quantity of lemon juice and a little lump of ice. The paring of a lemon must also line the glass, from which feature it probably derives its name.

_Flip_ has been immortalised by Dibdin as the favourite beverage of sailors, though it has been asserted that they seldom drink it; a somewhat hazardous statement, unless limited to the times in which there is none to be had. The essential feature in _a flip_ is repeated pouring between two vessels, supposed to produce smoothness in the drink. The Slang Dictionary holds _flip_ to be synonymous with _Flannel_, the old term for gin and beer drunk hot with nutmeg, sugar, etc., a play on the old name _lamb’s wool_. The anecdote of Goldsmith drinking _flannel_ in a night-house with George Parker, Ned Shuter, and the demure, grave-looking gentleman, is well known.

The _julep_ is especially popular in the Southern States, and is said to have been introduced into England by Captain Marryatt. That romance-writing seaman in his work on _America_, says: “I must descant a little upon the _mint julep_, as it is, with the thermometer at 100°, one of the most delightful and insinuating potations that ever was invented, and may be drunk with equal satisfaction when the thermometer is as low as 70°. There are many varieties, such as those composed of _Claret_, _Madeira_, etc., but the ingredients of the real _mint julep_ are as follows. I learned how to make them, and succeeded pretty well.” Then follows the receipt:—

“Put into a tumbler about a dozen sprigs of the tender shoots of mint, upon them put a spoonful of white sugar, and equal proportions of peach and common brandy so as to fill it up one-third, or perhaps a little less. Then take rasped or pounded ice and fill up the tumbler. Epicures rub the lips of the tumbler with a piece of fresh pine apple, and the tumbler itself is very often incrusted outside with stalactites of ice. As the ice melts, you drink.”

“I once,” says the marine author of this receipt, of which the reader has _ipsissima verba_, “I once overheard two ladies talking in the next room to me, and one of them said, ‘Well, if I have a weakness for any one thing, it is for a _mint julep_!’”

This weakness of the American lady was, in the opinion of the Metropolitan Hotel barman in New York, very amiable, and proved, not only her good taste, but her good sense.

In _mulls_, which may be made of any kind of wine, the essential feature is the boiling. Sugar and spice, of which the nursery song tells us little girls are manufactured, are also invariably used in _mulls_. We give a rhymed receipt for mulled wine, not for the sake of the poetry, which is indifferent, but for that of the cookery, which is not bad.

“First, my dear madam, you must take Nine eggs, which carefully you’ll break, Into a bowl you’ll drop the white, The yolks into another by it.”

Here the poet was evidently hard pressed for a rhyme.

“Let Betsy beat the whites with switch, Till they appear quite frothed and rich; Another hand the yolks must beat With sugar, which will make them sweet.”

An ordinary effect of sugar. Poet probably hard pressed as before.

“Three or four spoonfuls maybe’ll do, Though some perhaps would take but two. Into a skillet next you’ll pour A bottle of good wine, or more; Put half a pint of water, too, Or it may prove too strong for you.”

This is personal, nay more, it might to some good people be offensive, as indicating deficiency of cerebral power or endurance.

“And while the eggs by two are beating, The wine and water may be heating; But when it comes to boiling heat, The yolks and whites together beat With half a pint of water more, Mixing them well, then gently pour Into the skillet with the wine, And stir it briskly all the time.”

Poet again hard pressed.

“Then pour it off into a pitcher, Grate nutmeg in to make it richer, Then drink it hot, for he’s a fool Who lets such precious liquor cool.”

Of _nectar_ we have no information worth the reader’s acceptance. It appears to be applied indifferently to any dulcet drink.

_Negus_ may be made of any sweet wine, but is commonly composed of Port. “It is,” says Jerry Thomas, “a most refreshing and elegant beverage, particularly for those who do not take punch or grog after supper.”

_Egg-nogg_, of which other _noggs_ seem to be the lineal descendants, though a beverage of American origin, has “a popularity that is cosmopolitan. In the South of the United States it is almost indispensable at Christmas time, and at the North it is a favourite at all seasons.” In Scotland the beverage is called “_auld man’s milk_.” The presence of the egg constitutes the _differentia_ in this drink. Every well-ordered bar has a tin egg-nogg “_shaker_,” which is a great aid in mixing. The historian will be glad to learn that it was General Harrison’s favourite beverage, and the consumptive and debilitated person that it is full of nourishment.

_Punch_[98] is remarkable for its variety. It is considered necessary by the adept to rub the sugar on the rind of the citron or lemon, to extract properly what the experienced drinker calls “the ambrosial essence.” The extraction of the ambrosial essence, and the making the mixture sweet and strong, using tea instead of water, and thoroughly amalgamating all the compounds, so that the taste of neither the bitter, the sweet, the spirit, nor the element shall be perceptible one over the other, is the grand secret of making _punch_. And to this, as to other learning, there is no royal road. It must, alas! be laboriously acquired by practice. Many are the mysteries of its concoction. For instance, it is essential in making _hot punch_ that you put in the spirits before the water; in _cold punch_ the other way. The precise portions of spirit and water, or even of the acidity and sweetness, can have no general rule. To attempt offering one would only mislead. A certain inspiration must animate the artist. It has been asserted that no two persons make this drink alike. This remark is admirable, and might probably be applied not only to punch, but to every drink that has yet been composed.

It has been said that of _punches_ there are at least threescore. Here follow a few of the many varieties: _Brandy_, _Sherry_, _Gin_, _Whiskey_, _Port_, _Sauterne_, _Claret_, _Missisippi_, _Vanilla_, _Pine Apple_, _Orgeat_, _Curaçoa_, _Roman_, _Glasgow_, _Milk_, and _Regent’s_, brewed by George IV.; _St. Charles’_, _Louisiana_, _Sugar House_, _La Patria_, _Spread Eagle_, _Imperial_, _Rochester_, and _Rocky Mountain_; _Non-Such_, _Philadelphia_, _Fish-House_, _Canadian_, _Tip-Top_, _Bimbo_, _Nuremburgh_, _Ruby_, _Royal_, _Century Club_, _Duke of Norfolk_, _Uncle Toby_, and _Gothic_.

People have immortalised themselves by the invention of _punches_ to which a grateful country has attached their names. Of these famous ones are General Ford, for many years commanding engineer at Dover; Dr. Shelton Mackenzie, of Glasgow; D’Orsay; and M. Grassot, the eminent French comedian of the Palais Royal, who communicated his receipt to Mr. Howard Paul, the equally eminent entertainer, when performing in Paris.

Last, though not least, the military have thus distinguished themselves by the _National Guard_, the _7th Regiment_ Punch, the _69th Regiment_ Punch, the _32nd Regiment_ or _Victoria_ Punch, and the _Light Guard_ Punch.

The _sangaree_, originally a West Indian drink, is as unsatisfactory in its explanation as in its etymology. It seems, indeed, to be little more than spirit and water, with sugar and nutmeg to taste. It very nearly approaches, if it is not identical with, _toddy_.[99]

_Shrubs_[100] are unsatisfactory, like _sangarees_. They seem to have no distinctive or differentiating feature. The most common kinds are _Rum_, _Brandy_, _Cherry_, and _Currant_.

_Slings_ are very closely related to _toddies_. Their difference is, indeed, infinitesimal, so far as we are able to learn.[101]

Of the _smash_, even Jerry Thomas speaks slightingly. He says, “This beverage is simply a _julep_ on a small plan.” It, however, can boast of three species—_gin_, _brandy_, and _whiskey_, and for all a small bar-glass must be used. It is usual, though not apparently essential, to lay two small pieces of orange on the top, and to ornament with the berries of the season.

_Toddy_ is the Hindustani _tári tádi_, or juice of the palmyra and cocoa-nut. _Tar_ is the Hindustani word for a palm. It is the name given by Europeans to the sweet liquors produced by puncturing the spathes or stems of certain palms. In the West Indies _toddy_ is obtained from the trunk of the _Attalea cohune_, a native of the Isthmus of Panama. In South-Eastern Asia the palms from which it is collected are the _gomuti_, _cocoa-nut_, _palmyra_, _date_, and the _kittul_ (_Caryota urens_). When newly drawn the liquor is clear, and in taste resembles malt. In a very short time it becomes turbid, whitish, and sub-acid, quickly running into the various stages of fermentation, and acquiring an intoxicating quality.

In our use of the word, _toddy_ seems to mean nothing more than spirit and water sweetened, with the occasional addition of lemon peel. _Whiskey toddy_ is the common and favourite species, though there are also _apple_, _gin_, and _brandy toddies_. _Toddy_ differs from grog in being always made with boiling water, but this distinction is not universally maintained, nor, indeed, used by the best authors. _Whiskey_ is probably the “vulgar” kind alluded to by Anstey in his _Pleader’s Guide_, Lect. 7.

“First count’s for that with divers jugs, To wit, twelve pots, twelve cups, twelve mugs, Of certain vulgar drink called _toddy_, Said Gull did sluice said Gudgeon’s body.”

The names of American drinks form an amusing study. Passing over the well known sleepers, sifters, flosters, knickerbockers, ching-chings, Alabama fog-cutters and thunderbolt cocktails, the lightning smashes and eye-openers of Connecticut, the corpse revivers, the Mother Shiptons and the Maiden’s Prayers, we propose to give a list of some of the most remarkable titles, with receipts added, to satisfy the appetite of any who care to compound them.

_A Yard of Flannel._

_A yard of flannel_, otherwise called _egg flip_.—Boil a quart of ale in a tinned saucepan. Beat up yolks of four with the whites of two eggs. Add four tablespoonfuls of brown sugar and a _soupçon_ of nutmeg. Pour on this by degrees the hot ale, taking care to prevent mixture from curdling. Pour back and forward repeatedly, raising the hand as high as possible. This produces the frothing and smoothness essential to the goodness of the drink. It is called _a yard of flannel_ from its fleecy appearance.

_White Tiger’s Milk_

(à la Thomas Dunn English, Esq.).

Half a gill apple jack, ½ gill peach brandy, ½ teaspoonful aromatic tincture,[102] white of an egg well beaten. Sweeten with white sugar to taste. Pour the mixture into 1 quart of milk, stir well, and sprinkle with nutmeg. This receipt will make a quart of the compound.

_Bottled Velvet_

(à la Sir John Bayley).

A bottle of Moselle, ½ a pint of sherry, small quantity of lemon peel, 2 tablespoonfuls of sugar. Well mix, add a sprig of verbena, strain, and ice.

_Stone Fence._

One wine glass of whiskey (Bourbon), 2 small lumps of ice. Use large bar-glass, and fill up with sweet cider.

_Sleeper._

To a gill of old rum add 1 ounce of sugar, 2 yolks of eggs, and the juice of half a lemon. Boil ½ a pint of water with 6 cloves, 6 coriander seeds, and a bit of cinnamon. Whisk all together, and strain into a tumbler.

_Rumfustian._

Whisk yolks of a dozen eggs, and put into a quart of beer and a pint of gin. Put a bottle of sherry into a saucepan, with a stick of cinnamon, a grated nutmeg, a dozen lumps of sugar, and the thin rind of a lemon. When the wine boils, pour it on gin and beer, and drink hot.

_Bimbo Punch._

Steep in 1 quart cognac brandy 6 lemons, cut in thin slices, for six hours. Then remove lemon without squeezing. Dissolve 1 pound loaf sugar in 1 quart boiling water, and add this hot solution to the cognac. Let it cool.

_Bishop._

Stick an orange full of cloves, and roast it. When brown, cut it in quarters, and pour over it 1 quart of hot port. Add sugar to taste, and let mixture simmer for half an hour.

_Archbishop._

The same as _Bishop_, with substitution of best claret for port.

_Cardinal._

The same as _Archbishop_, with substitution of champagne for claret.

_Pope._

The same as _Cardinal_, with substitution of Burgundy for champagne.

_Locomotive._

Put 2 yolks of eggs into a goblet with 1 oz. of honey, a little essence of cloves, and a liqueur glass of Curaçoa; add 1 pint of high Burgundy made hot, whisk together, and serve hot in glasses.

_Pousse l’Amour._

Fill a small wineglass half full of maraschino, then put in yolk of 1 egg; in this pour vanilla cordial, and dash the surface with cognac.

_Blue Blazer_

(use two large silver-plated mugs with handles).

One wine glass Scotch whiskey, 1 ditto boiling water. Mix whiskey and water in one mug; ignite, and, while blazing, pour from one mug to the other. Sweeten to taste, and serve in a bar tumbler, with a piece of lemon peel. _Blue Blazer_ is really nothing more than ordinary whiskey and water.

_Black Stripe._

Into a small bar-glass pour 1 wine glass of Santa Cruz rum and 1 tablespoonful of molasses; cool with shaved ice, or fill up with boiling water, according to season. Grate nutmeg on top. This is ordinary rum and water.

The following appeared in _Moonshine_, and may fitly conclude our chapter on American drinks, for which the verdant English youth has paid to the cunning dispenser so many nimble ninepences:—

“Thou art thirsty, Amaryllis; say to what dost thou incline? Wilt thou toy with amber bubbles at the _Fons Burtonis_ brink? Shall I crown the crystal goblet with the flashing _Rhenish_ wine? Or it may be thou would’st wish for an _American long drink_? Shall I brew a _Flash of Lightning_ or a _Bourbon Whiskey-skin_? Or a _Saratoga Brace-up_? Sweetest, you have but to say. Nay, perhaps a _Bottle Cocktail_ would your kind approval win? Or a _Santa Cruz Rum Daisy_ will be something in your way? I can recommend a _Morning-Glory Cocktail_ to your taste And a _Corker_ or a _Nerver_ there are few who will despise; _Tom and Jerry_ offers pleasures it were folly rank to waste; In a _Nectar_ for the dog-days sweet Elysian rapture lies. Be not silent, Amaryllis, name your poison, whatsoe’er You’ve a mind for, be it _Thunder_, _Locomotive_, or _Egg Nogg_. I have all ingredients handy, and I reckon I’m all there When the question’s on the _tapis_ as to what shall be the grog.”

BEERS.

Definition—Different Modes of Manufacture—Antiquity—Osiris, the Inventor—Adam’s Ale—Egyptian—Scandinavian—Adulterations. AFRICA: Pitto, Ballo, Bouza. AMERICA: Persimon, Chica, Vinho de Batatas. BAVARIA: Schenk and Lager. BELGIUM: Lambic, Faro. BORNEO: Ava or Cava. CHINA: Samtchoo.

The dictionary definition, or rather description, of Beer is “an alcoholic liquor made from any farinaceous grain, but generally from barley.” This barley clause is, of course, not true in all countries, nor is beer always made from a farinaceous grain. For the rest, the description is all that could be desired. After the barley is malted and grained, its fermentable substance is extracted by hot water. To this extract or infusion hops, or some other plant of an agreeable bitterness, are added, and it is afterwards boiled for some time, both to concentrate it and to obtain all the useful matters from the hops. The liquor is subsequently allowed to ferment in vats. The time allowed for fermentation depends upon the quality and kind of beer. After it has become clear it is stored for drink.

This ordinary popular description of beer will be probably sufficient to satisfy the general reader. But we must add to it a second explanation of beer, which is applied to a fermented extract, not from any farinaceous grain, but from the roots and other parts of various plants, as ginger, spruce-sap, beet, molasses, and many more. The scientific inquirer may learn the mysteries of malting and brewing, which are very nearly distinct trades, in the many treatises on beer-making which have adorned the literature of this and other countries. In these he may read as much as he wills of the _steeping_ of the barley, its extension, its absorption of water, and the time occupied in this process; of the _couching_ and _sweating_, as it is called, a result of the partial germination of the grain; of the _flooring_, or spreading out like hay over a field; of the _kiln-drying_, or the introduction of the half-germinated grain into a kiln with a perforated floor, with the necessary and variable amount of heat beneath it. And if all this is not enough, he may continue to read at full length of _cornings_ or _cummings_, of _pale_ and _amber-coloured malt_, of _grinding the malt_, of _washing the malt thus ground_, of _boiling the worts with hops_, of _cooling the worts_, of _fermenting the worts_, and, finally, of _clearing and storing_.