Host and Guest

by A. V. Kirwan

The eau de vie de Dantzic is simply brandy rectified, with the addition of aniseed and goldbeater’s leaf. This liqueur is not much used here, but it is in great request in Paris. The receipt for making it is as follows:—To one quart of spirits of wine, add twelve drops of oil of aniseed, six of oil of cinnamon, three of oil of roses, and eight of oil of citron; mix with it a quart of syrup, filter it, and, when bottling, mix with goldbeater’s leaf cut into little bits.

Maraschino is the produce of a wild cherry, common in the territory of Zara in Dalmatia. For a long succession of years the Dalmatians only made a species of cherry-wine of their fruit; but they afterwards extracted a brandy from them, and ultimately a liqueur, which was so perfect and popular, that before the first French Revolution the senate of Venice kept the sale of the precious beverage in its own hands. Some of the frontier French provinces of Alsace, Lorraine, and Dauphiné, endeavoured to extract from the same species of cherry a brandy called kirchwasser. With this they essayed, but in vain, to imitate the maraschino of Zara.

There are many ratafias, essences, waters, and syrups produced in France as liqueurs, such as ratafia d’angélique, de flore, de fleurs d’orange, de grenade, eau divine, cordiale du chasseur nuptiale, &c.; but it would be unjust not to mention the noyau, the anisette de Bordeaux, and the absinthe. The noyau is one of the most pleasing, but also one of the most pernicious liqueurs when taken to excess. It is chiefly made of the kernels of apricots and peaches, which contain a vast quantity of prussic acid. Orange-flower water and triturated vanille are also ingredients. A very small liqueur-glass of this cordial is a pleasing thing enough after fruit or coffee; but the portion taken should be small, nay, of the infiniment petits. There is a pink as well as a white noyau, but the latter is to be preferred.

Bordeaux is famous for its anisette; and this liqueur is not a bad carminative for gouty old men. The name of Marie Brissart, as a manufacturer of anisette, has attained a European reputation.

The absinthe is an excellent tonic and stomachic. It is an infusion of wormwood, and is an especially favourite liqueur with critics and reviewers, for its extreme bitterness is nearly akin to their own.

The English liqueurs are few. The cherry bounce of Hoffman and Son, of Bishopsgate Street Within, which used to sell at 8s. or 9s. the pint, was excellent, but the firm have made a fortune and retired. This beverage had an immense sale at Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta; but it is, if possible, still more popular up the Mofussil.

Rum ratafia, rum shrub, pine-apple rum, and brandy shrub, are all good things, but none of them are so excellent as Hoffman’s bounce.

It will be seen, from what I have stated, that all these liqueurs, with whatever fine names they may be decorated, have for their basis a mixture of brandy, sugar, and water, whose proportions vary according to the kind of liqueur which is to be prepared. Such aromatic accessories are added as are deemed most proper to flatter the taste and the smell; and the great talent of a liquouriste consists in the choice and admixture of these aromatics, and in the mingling together such fruits and flavours as fraternise most fully and cordially. The finest aroma in fruit and flower will not always suffice, however, to produce fine liqueurs. Some plants of exquisite natural odours produce in distillation indifferent liqueurs; others there are of not so odorous a smell, which form the happiest possible combinations. There are many, for instance, who do not like the aroma of the truffle, and the perfumer can make little of it, yet it furnishes a most agreeable ratafia. It must in candour be admitted that the French are our masters in the art of the liquouriste. They divide liqueurs into three classes,—ordinaires, fines, and surfines. The fine and superfine liqueurs are also known under the designation of crêmes and huiles. Oily liqueurs should be made thicker than creamy, and should pour out like olive oil. Such liqueurs as go under the names of crêmes are white, while the oily liqueurs should be of the colour of olive-oil. Our lively neighbours profit by every innocent artifice to give a greater vogue to their productions, and christen their cordials with the most taking—why should we not say with the most pocket-picking names? Thus we have the petit lait de Henri Quarte, l’eau des braves, l’huile de Vénus, le parfait amour, l’eau nuptiale, l’eau virginale, &c., the gouttes de Maltes of La Moine, and the liqueur impériale, and de Pomone of the same fabricant. Many of the liqueurs drunk both in England and France are exceedingly unwholesome; and should any one need a cordial or stimulant after dinner or with his coffee, I would in preference recommend a small glass of pure Cognac brandy; but this should be obtained from a trustworthy house, as the Cognac brandies are adulterated with Spanish or Bordeaux brandy of very inferior quality, with neutral-flavoured rum and rectified spirits. British brandy-bitters are used to fill up the flavour, but comparatively in small quantities, as it is exceedingly powerful. The adulterated brandy is usually composed of rectified spirits, cassia, carraways, chamomile-flowers, orange-peel, &c. Cherry-laurel water is also used to answer the same purpose as British brandy-bitters, and is, indeed, more frequently had recourse to, because the quantity of it applied does not prevent a trial of the strength of the brandy by the hydrometer. The qualities of laurel-water are poisonous and pernicious, and the extract of almond-cake, prepared by keeping a quantity of the cake for a long time in spirits of wine, is also a noxious ingredient. The almond-cake is used to impart to the adulterated brandy a taste resembling the kernel flavour which the genuine article possesses. The extract of capsicums and extract of grains of paradise, known in the trade by the name of the devil, are also frequently used. The extract of capsicums is made by putting a quantity of the small East India chilies into a bottle of spirits of wine, and keeping it closely stopped for a month. The same process is followed in reference to grains of paradise, and they are both used to impart an appearance of strength. They infuse into the spirit, a hot, pungent, fiery flavour, which no one of good taste—no one, indeed, whose organs of taste were not vitiated by a long indulgence in ardent spirits—would at all relish. Colouring of burnt sugar is also had recourse to, to deepen the colour of the brandy rendered too pale by the preceding mixtures, and it is further employed to answer the same end with rum. Saffron, mace, terra japonica, spirits of sweet nitre, and prunes, are used to improve the flavour of brandy, and new brandy is made to look like old by the addition of aqua ammoniæ.

On the German liqueurs I have not yet touched. The principal among these are the Pomeranzen, Wackholder, and the Kummel. The Pomeranzen is made by adding to a quart of spirits of wine ninety drops of oil of orange and a quart of the syrup.

The Wackholder is made by putting thirty drops of oil of juniper to a quart of spirits of wine, adding a quart of the syrup; and Kummel is prepared by adding to a quart of spirits of wine seventy drops of oil of carraways. After it has been shaken well, it should be filtered, and it will then be fit to bottle.