SC - aqua vitae info

[Stefan li Rous]

Brenna asked:

> 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?

Sometimes the exact constituents are difficult to say. Basically it is
distilled alcohol.
Sometimes from distilled wine.

There are a number of referances to it in this file in the BEVERAGES section
of my Florilegium:

bev-distilled-msg (32K)  3/27/98    Medieval distilled beverages. Distilling.

The following quote is from that file.

Stefan li Rous
stefan at texas.net

> 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).
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