SC - Re: liqueurs

[Ian Gourdon]

> > 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