SC - Al-Cohol

[LrdRas at aol.com]

In a message dated 11/15/98 9:42:34 AM Eastern Standard Time, 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. Iy 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
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