[96] Germ. Wermuth, absinthe or wormwood, plant of genus Artemisia—perhaps originally connected with warm, on account of the warmth it produces in the stomach. This bitter, though commonly quoted under liqueurs, should be classed with Quinine Wine, Angostura, Khoosh, etc., Juglandine, made in France from the walnut, Malakoff made in Silesia, the Shaddock and Quassia bitters of the West Indies, and the Schapps bitter of Switzerland.
[97] The dictionary explanations of these terms are commonly unsatisfactory. The experience of the bar-tender is more than the learning of the lexicographer. Cobbler, indeed, is well explained as compounded of wine, sugar, lemon, and sucked up through a straw; but of cocktail we only learn that it is a compounded drink much used in America. The etymologies given are generally satisfactory. Julep is from گلاب rose water. Mull from mulled, erroneously taken as a past participle. According to Wedgwood, mulled is a form of mould, and mulled ale is funeral ale, potatio funerosa. Nogg is from noggin, signifying a pot, and then the strong beer which it contains. Negus is commonly known to have been the invention of Col. Francis Negus in the reign of Anne. Punch is of course from the Hindustani پانچ, signifying 5, from its five original ingredients, to wit, aqua vitæ, rose water, sugar, arrack, and citron juice. A very unsatisfactory derivation of Sangaree is from the Spanish sangria, the incision of a vein. Shrub is clearly the Arabic شرب or syrup. Smash, explained curtly as “iced brandy and water.” (Slang) is probably from the smashing of the ice; while sling seems evidently to be from the German schlingen, to swallow.
[98] The verdict of François Guislier du Verger, the master-distiller in the art of chemistry at Paris, in his Traité des Liqueurs, in 1728, is altogether unfavourable to what he calls Le Ponge. “It is,” he says, “an English liqueur, and a man must be English to drink it; for I think it cannot be to the taste of any other nation in the world. It upsets the stomach, provokes the bile, and violently affects the head. How, indeed, can it be otherwise, seeing that it is composed of white wine, Eau de vie, citrons, a little sugar, and bread crumbs.” And then follows the observation: “If water were put instead of Eau de vie, with an equal quantity of wine, a citron, and four ounces of sugar, a liqueur suitable to every one would be the result, a liqueur which would do as much good as the other does harm.”
[99] Such at least is the signification of sangaree as far as American drinks are concerned. But Sang-gris is said by Bescherelle to be a mixture of tea in wine amongst the sailors of the North. Perhaps the name is taken from the colour. It recalls David Garrick’s “Why, the tea is as red as blood.” In the West Indies it is made of Madeira, water, lime juice, and sugar. Spices are sometimes added. Pinckard’s “West Indies,” i. 469.
[100] Shrub is called santa in Jamaica. It is made in the West Indies with rum, syrup, and orange-peel.
[101] The Slang Dictionary, however, defines Sling as a drink peculiar to Americans, generally composed of gin, soda-water, ice, and slices of lemon. At some houses (understand public) in London gin slings may be obtained. Francatelli has an exquisite note on Gin Sling, which he directs to be sucked through a straw. “I fear that very genteel persons will be exceedingly shocked at my words; but when I tell them that the very act of imbibition through a straw prevents the gluttonous absorption of large and baneful quantities of drink, they will, I make no doubt, accept the vulgar precept for the sake of its protection against sudden inebriety.”
[102] Aromatic tincture: Ginger, cinnamon, orange peel, each 1 oz.; valerian, ½ oz.; alcohol, 2 quarts. Macerate for fourteen days and filter through unsized paper.
[103] Those who wish to investigate the antiquity of beer may find ample matter to supply their desire in a work commonly attributed to Archdeacon Rolleston, entitled, “Οινος Κριθινος, a dissertation concerning the origin and antiquity of barley wine.” Oxford, 1750.
[104] Much has been written on the comparative merits of wine and beer. Perhaps as good a remark as any on this subject was made by a modern tradesman who, wishing to sell both, explained that, while strongly advocating the introduction of wine, he did not at all intend to depreciate the merits of our national beverage, beer. Where, he continued, plenty of out-door exercise is taken, and little intellectual effort is demanded, good beer is perhaps the most wholesome of all drinks; and therefore he advised the “labouring man,” who could not probably afford to buy wine, to drink beer, while others, who might be supposed able to afford wine, were warned that they could not drink beer with impunity.
[105] The world has little altered since the time of Martial (i. 19).