SC - history of brandy

[Ian Gourdon]

Ld. Ras and Seumas wrote:
> > I would say cognac or Napoleon would be ideal but use any brandy that you
> > feel comfortable with and which produces in your opinion a good finished
> > products. I have tasted cordials made with the least expensive types of
> > brandies and with the most expensive types. Both seemed tasty. ;-)
> 
> A similar discussion a while back on the Hist-Brewing list pointed out
> that 'aqua vitae' tends to be the _local_ distilled spirit during
> historic times and later became geographic specific. There was no
> citeable source provided for this, but seems reasonable (uisge, aqua
> vitae, vodka all relate to 'water').

The history of brandy seems to go back to the early Middle
Ages, at least according to this excerpt from a discussion
on another list: Brandy vs Aqua Vitae  (7-98) 
     "Brandy was a result of the taxation of wine over the
mountains in France around that time. (aprox 7th cen). It
was easier to distill the wine and send it out, since taxes
were on the volume of fluids and the smaller amount was
easier to move.  The customers liked the drink too, so it
sold. Aqua Vitae as a term came in much later than the
actual product that was described, as I have mentioned
before.  It was the equivalent of a technical term, as there
was no term in Latin to describe the stuff, and the speakers
of Latin did not like using the local names for the stuff...
Hence the date difference."  Arundel (OL in b&v)
<baden at oclc.org>
                              *** 
" ... I got curious, and looked up "brandy" in OED.... 
Interesting  stuff. The original term (dating from the 7th
century) is brandwine. The formation is thus:  brandwine >
brandewine > brandy-wine > brandee > brandy. 
   Our familiar form was in use as early as 1657, with the
fuller form of brandwine retained for official use through
the end of the 17th century.  Therefore, "aqua-vitae" is the
older form (dating from the 5-7 centuries), and is
originally an alchemical term, only taking on its beverage
connotation shortly thereafter. "  Gwydion  

So, the OED suggests a much older appearance for Brandy than
some other commentary. Often a good place to check.
- -- 
Ian Gourdon of Glen Awe, OP
Known as a forester of the Greenwood, Midrealm
 http://web.raex.com/~agincort