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4. In the hand or hands. Experts get very cross about the use of spirit-lamps and such.

5. “. . . he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy.”

6. Dr. Johnson, immediately after the above. On another occasion he said, “He who drinks until he becomes a beast gets away from the pain of being a man,” which is hardly funny at all.

7. South Africa. Something like half the national spirit production and consumption is brandy. But cane, a pure spirit made from molasses, is catching up.

8. The odd man out is (c). Weinbrand is a type of German spirit made from wine, the equivalent of French grape brandy. The others are all made by distilling the debris of skins, stalks and pips left in the presses after making wine.

(a) is the French version, properly “eau de vie de marc.” The debris itself is the “marc,” or tread (from the verb marcher).

(b) Italian. The word means “clamp” or “vice.” Also the name of California spirits of this type.

(d) Portuguese. The word means “rope-wax.” Humorous deprecation, no doubt.

(e) Peruvian. Sometimes the debris is that of Muscatel wine. Pisco brandy dates back to the early seventeenth century.

9. Brown Crème de Cacao and cream. Well, it would obviously take away your appetite, if you had one.

10. A helicopter. A black fungus forms on the roofs, encouraged by the fumes coming up from below.

DISTILLATION

1. The COD defines “distil” as “turn to vapour by heat, condense by cold, and re-collect (liquid).” These are the three essential stages.

2. It vaporizes at a lower temperature than water, permitting the separation of the two in the still.

3. By fermentation, the product of which will have been the wine used to make brandy, the beery mixture that issues in whisky, etc.

4. It was discovered by Arabs, brought into Spain by Moors some time after ad 100 and thence diffused over Europe.

5. Two key words are derived from Arabic: “alcohol” (“al kuhl,” the essence) and “alembic” (“al inbik,” the still—“alambic” is modern French for “still”). But Moorish alcohol may quite well have been nothing but a distillation of flowers for scent, not drinking-alcohol. And of course Islam forbids the latter.

6. Distillation as such could well be Arab, though the Alexandrian Greeks of (say) the first century ad are more likely. Distillation for drink, probably north Italy after 1200.

7. The pot still. The parts are a kettle in which to boil the distilland (substance to be distilled), a condenser and a receptacle for the distillate, corresponding to the stages of a 1.

8. Impurities, consisting of trace alcohols and other substances, that impart flavour and also cause hangovers. The more interesting the drink, the more uncomfortable the sequel.

9. Water. There being no chemical reason why the spirit should be diluted, and a sound economic reason against bottling and transporting water, perhaps some dim puritanical motive is at work.

10. A rectified spirit is one repeatedly or continuously distilled to a high degree of purity.

MINOR SPIRITS

1. Caraway seed. Dill and coriander are sometimes used. Individual Danes flavour their akvavit with elder, cranberry and many other plants.

2. Ice-cold, neat, in small glasses holding no more than 1–1½ oz., down in one, with a lager chaser and accompanied by suitable food. Until recently there was a toasting ritual, especially in Sweden, but it seems that this no longer holds.

3. A Norwegian brand that, following a long tradition, has journeyed to the Antipodes and back in a ship’s hold, crossing the line or equator a couple of times in doing so. It is supposed to pick up something from the motion and the temperature-changes.

4. Arrak or rum from Java. Also aquavit and miscellaneous wines.

5. A neutral spirit made from grapes or sugar-beet and flavoured with a herbal infusion, anise (aniseed) preponderating in Pernod’s case, liquorice in Ricard’s.

6. The herbal infusion (see previous answer) is made in alcohol. The herbal substances are thus perfectly soluble in alcohol, but they are