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3. You come across a satisfactorily old-looking bottle labelled Verdelho 1810. Would it have to be a fake? If not, could the wine possibly be drinkable?

4. Who accused who of selling his soul to the devil on Good Friday last for a cup of Madeira and a cold capon’s leg?

5. The best-known Italian fortified wine is Marsala. Can you say where it is made, and name either or both of the famous historical characters who took it up and popularized it?

6. If you frequent Italian restaurants at all, you have probably tasted Marsala without knowing it. How?

7. Name a third fortified wine beginning with M.

8. The great dessert wine from the Rhône, Muscat de Beaumes de Venise, is classified as a vin doux naturel. What does this mean?

9. It is common for wine-producing countries to make a sweet red wine comparable with port, in general style as a rule, not merit. A French effort comes from the extreme south of France by the Spanish border. What is it?

10. What is Yalumba Brandivino and where does it come from?

COCKTAILS AND MIXED DRINKS

The revival of interest in cocktails is very recent, so much so that that close observer, Cyril Ray, could write in 1977 of “the passing of the cocktail craze.” Some specialized bars in our large cities had kept them going ever since the 1920s, but the only one to survive throughout in anything approaching general circulation was the Dry Martini. And now, in trendy pubs, blackboards invite you to sample the Harvey Wallbanger, the Tequila Sunrise and other exotica our fathers never knew. For those many who like going or being taken to pubs but dislike the taste of drink, a cocktail may be just the thing.

1. Can you give the true, authentic origin of the word “cocktail”?

2. Defining a cocktail is something else again, and not easy.

Try for a form of words that admits all the examples you can think of—or most of them.

3. Cocktails became very popular in the 1920s, particularly in the US. Can you suggest a reason why this should have happened at that time?

4. The Manhattan is a type of cocktail usually but not always made with bourbon whiskey. Name the other ingredients. (There is more than one answer.)

5. A cocktail is preferably served in a cocktail glass, a mediumsized affair with a stem. The Old-Fashioned Cocktail (see Q Whiskies and Whiskeys, q 6), however, is properly served in an Old-Fashioned glass. Describe this, and give the practical reason for its particular shape.

6. A Collins is a popular mixed drink, especially in the US. It consists of gin (John Collins, sometimes Tom Collins), whisky or another spirit and what else?

7. What is:

(a) Buck’s Fizz

(b) Black Velvet?

And can you name and describe two other potations, (c) and (d), that also possess the feature shared by the first two?

8. It is no secret that Irish Coffee (see Q Whiskies and Whiskeys, q 2) is made with Irish whiskey. But similar drinks with other alcoholic bases may not be so easy to identify. State what the bases are in:

(a) Caribbean Coffee

(b) Italian Coffee

(c) Monks’ Coffee

(d) Prince Charles’s Coffee

(e) Roman Coffee.

9. Five traditional mixes. Give the chief ingredients of the following (you may skip the fruit-slices, etc.):

(a) the Gimlet

(b) the Sidecar

(c) the Screwdriver

(d) the Stinger

(e) the Singapore Sling.

10. And five trendy ones:

(a) the Freddie Fudpucker

(b) the Harvey Wallbanger

(c) the Blue Hawaiian

(d) the Piña Colada

(e) the Godfather.

INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS

The really important discoveries in the making of alcoholic drinks, such as the ability to induce and control fermentation, are lost in the mists of antiquity. That particular one was probably made several times over in different places, like the making of fire, another important step in human development. But as soon as technology began to enter into the manufacture of drinks, names and dates start appearing. The first five questions here contain the names of five people who invented or devised or