Ale and porter, the heavier malted liquors which are so much used in England and the United States, cannot boast such ancient lineage as beer, but still there is reason to believe that it was a beverage like ale on which the Anglo Saxons and the Danes loved to become drunken, and, fully as early as the reign of Henry II, the monks of England had become famous for their wondrous brews. In fact, it was due to the investigations of some of these fathers of the monasteries that the superior quality of the waters of Burton-on-Trent for brewing pur poses was discovered, a discovery that has made the ales and porters of England world cele brated.
Wine, whose history is as old as that of civil ization, is the most aristocratic of drinks. As cribed to the gods by the ancients—to Dionysus by the Greeks, Bacchus by the Romans and Osiris by the Egyptians — there can be no ques tion but that the use of the juice of the grape as a beverage was one of the first discoveries of civilized man. It is true that the very ancient Romans did not know it at the time when even the Israelites had learned the secret of its pro duction, but, later, wine-making in Rome be came such a general enterprise that Emperor Domitian ordered half of the vineyards de stroyed that the more necessary wheat might be raised in the place of the grape.
According to the best authorities Asia was the country in which the vine first grew with out the aid of man, while Armenia and eastern Pontus were the lands in which the cultivation of the grape was first undertaken. From there the love of wine spread rapidly through all the lands of ancient civilization. Among the best known Asiatic wines was that of Chalybon, near Damascus, the beverages with which the tables of the Persian kings were constantly supplied, while the most famous Greek wines came from such places as Chios and Lesbos.
In ancient India and in Egypt priests were forbidden to drink, while the Jewish priests were only forbidden on days of religious services. In fact, the Hebrews were by no means as strict about the use of the wine cup as were some other nations and the fact that vine-culture was one of their favorite occupations is proved by history, both biblical and profane. Traditions state that it was the Phcemcians, the earliest of vine-growers, who carried the secret of wine making to Spain, Italy and France. They also established large vineyards on the islands of Chios, Mitylene and Tenedos.
As early as 550 B.C. the process of blending selected wines was known to the Carthaginians, while the ancient practice of adding turpentine to the wine for the purpose of preserving it was probably an invention of Italy. France, Spain, and Portugal are now the chief centres of vine culture although the grape-growers in many parts of the United States, and particularly in the far Western States, have recently raised the making of wine to the dignity of a greater American industry. Champagne, however, one of the most popular of wines, is a beverage of extremely modern invention when compared to other makes. Invented by Dom Perignon of Hautvillers about the beginning of the 18th century its use has become more and more ?eneral until it is now consumed by wine-lovers in all parts of the world. If wine is the most
aristocratic, whisky may be designated as the most democratic of drinks. Thoroughly cos mopolitan in character, in various countries it is distilled from various substances, but always, whether it is made from barley, corn, wheat, rye, or even from potatoes, it bears the same name and usually enjoys the same proportion of popularity. The word ((whisky) is a name that was bestowed upon this beverage by the Celts of Ireland and Scotland who began to make it about the middle of the 17th century. The word itself is a corruption of the Gaelic Wisges (water), and closely interpreted means ((strong water.)' In the beginning this drink was used almost exclusively as medicine but as soon as it had become introduced as a beverage it be came a favorite drink throughout Great Britain, and while the word ((whisky) once referred only to the Scotch and Irish drinks of that name, the rye and Bourbon whiskies of American manu facture are now consumed almost as generally as those made from rec,ipes that have been handed down from the days of the ancient Celts.
Almost as strong as whisky, brandy, the ibrande-vin) or burnt wine, is a drink which is often used, both for medicinal purposes and as a beverage. Its name, as is indicated, was de rived from the method of its manufacture, a formula for liquor malcing that has been fol lowed for many generations and in many parts of the world. In Morocco the Jews use the refuse of the grape as well as such fruits as raisins, figs, dates and pears in its distillation, and they have become strongly attached to their strange drinIc because they believe that their freedom from that terrible disease, elephan tiasis, always so common among the Moham medans in that cotmtry, is due to the fact that they partake so freely of this unique spirit MoHere, in his travels, discovered a tribe on the Barbary coast which made excellent brandy from honey; in Persia it is the lees of the wealcer sorts of wines that are distilled, and al most every country has its particular method of making this beverage. None of them, however, can compare in quality to the cognac of France, that rich distillation from wines which alone properly bears the name of %randy?' Gin is another distilled liquor. It is made from rye, grain and malted barley, flavored with juniper-berries and sometimes with turpentine. It is also known as Hollands, and as Holland gin, these names being a relic of the days when the beverage was called Holland-Geneva, the word (gin)) being a corruption of the word ((Geneva.° Although originally made in Holland it was soon intioduced into England where it immediately became one of the most popular of drinks. Easily manufactured and always strong it could be sold so cheaply that it was finally found necessary to adopt strict legislative meas ures restricting its sale and consumption. Hogarth's horrible picture, (Gin Lane,' which was one of the influences in bringing about the much needed reform, is said to have been but slightly an exaggeration of the actual condi tions which existed in all the large English cities during the reign of gin.