Last, though not least, the military have thus distinguished themselves by the National Guard, the 7th Regiment Punch, the 69th Regiment Punch, the 32nd Regiment or Victoria Punch, and the Light Guard Punch.
The sangaree, originally a West Indian drink, is as unsatisfactory in its explanation as in its etymology. It seems, indeed, to be little more than spirit and water, with sugar and nutmeg to taste. It very nearly approaches, if it is not identical with, toddy.[99]
Shrubs[100] are unsatisfactory, like sangarees. They seem to have no distinctive or differentiating feature. The most common kinds are Rum, Brandy, Cherry, and Currant.
Slings are very closely related to toddies. Their difference is, indeed, infinitesimal, so far as we are able to learn.[101]
Of the smash, even Jerry Thomas speaks slightingly. He says, “This beverage is simply a julep on a small plan.” It, however, can boast of three species—gin, brandy, and whiskey, and for all a small bar-glass must be used. It is usual, though not apparently essential, to lay two small pieces of orange on the top, and to ornament with the berries of the season.
Toddy is the Hindustani tári tádi, or juice of the palmyra and cocoa-nut. Tar is the Hindustani word for a palm. It is the name given by Europeans to the sweet liquors produced by puncturing the spathes or stems of certain palms. In the West Indies toddy is obtained from the trunk of the Attalea cohune, a native of the Isthmus of Panama. In South-Eastern Asia the palms from which it is collected are the gomuti, cocoa-nut, palmyra, date, and the kittul (Caryota urens). When newly drawn the liquor is clear, and in taste resembles malt. In a very short time it becomes turbid, whitish, and sub-acid, quickly running into the various stages of fermentation, and acquiring an intoxicating quality.
In our use of the word, toddy seems to mean nothing more than spirit and water sweetened, with the occasional addition of lemon peel. Whiskey toddy is the common and favourite species, though there are also apple, gin, and brandy toddies. Toddy differs from grog in being always made with boiling water, but this distinction is not universally maintained, nor, indeed, used by the best authors. Whiskey is probably the “vulgar” kind alluded to by Anstey in his Pleader’s Guide, Lect. 7.
“First count’s for that with divers jugs,