[Sca-cooks] period beverage making

[Harris Mark.S-rsve60]

Vicki/Angharad mentioned:
>>>>
I would love to make some of those period beverages, but I have no room
where I live now.  And if I made them and stored them in the basement where
it is cool, I cant be sure my neighbors wont hit on them!  When I move to a
house, I will, tho.  I am also interested in making mead.
<<<<

Well, beer and ales mostly take up space when you are doing the initial brewing. More if you are starting from grains, less if you use the extracts. But that is only for a short while and then things get stowed away, except for the jug/cask/5 gallon bottle which is fermenting.

Mead doesn't require all the initial stuff except the fermenting bottle. I've always used one gallon jugs that at one time had cider in them. Mead is a more long term project. I haven't done it in years because fermenting jugs can overflow and bottles can explode and most of my old house was covered in carpet. The new house has some areas of vinyl and tile which are more conducive to this.

However, making cordials really just requires the space on a counter to put a couple of bottles. Wine bottle size or smaller. And since there is no fermenting, because the distilling of alcoholic beverages at least in the US is illegal, you don't need space for this. In period spice often seem to have been added to the wine and then the whole thing was distilled. Today the spices are added to an already distilled beverage and then it is allowed to age.

For more details, including some articles written by folks on this list, see these files in the BEVERAGES section of the Florilegium:
absinthe-msg      (10K) 12/30/01    A cordial made with wormwood. 
Apricot-Crdal-art (12K)  6/30/00    "Apricot Cardamom Cordial" 
                                       by Constance de LaRose.
bev-distilled-msg (124K) 2/17/03    Medieval distilled beverages. Distilling.
cordials-msg     (106K)  5/16/01    Period cordials and liqueurs. SCA creations.
  (the file mentioned earlier)
Kiwi-cordial-art  (10K)  6/23/00    "Prickly Gooseberry, Mango, Cardamom, 
                                       Cordial" by Constance de LaRose.
Peach-Brandy-art  (12K) 10/25/01    "Peach Coriander Brandy" by Lady Constance 
                                       de LaRose.
Vodka-art          (5K)  9/15/02    "Vodka-The Little Water of Life" by Marijah.

If you are interested in non-alcoholic beverages, take a look at these files:
beverages-NA-msg  (80K)  9/ 2/99    Non-alcoholic beverages.
infusions-msg     (24K)  3/26/02    Period infusions. Herbal "teas". Barley tea.
jalabs-msg        (64K)  7/22/02    Drinks with a sugar or honey-syrup base such 
                                       as Sekanjabin (Persian Mint Drink).

Sekanjabin is a rather popular Persian mint drink introduced to the SCA by Master Cariadoc. Often called "period Gatorade". But there are many other varieties in this file. Some of which have yet to be made in recent times.

Stefan