SC - Re: aqua vitae

[lilinah@earthlink.net]

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
 http://web.raex.com/~agincort