1892 Drinks of the world

BRINKS,

146

upon pain of 6s. Sd, ; and that no wheaien malt go to any Irishman's country, upon pain of forfeiture of the same in value, except only bread, ale, or aqua vitcB. In a little book, Delightes for Ladies, etc., 1602, is the following recipe for Usquebath, or Irish Aqua VitcE :— " To every gallon of good Aqua Composita, put two ounces of chosen liquerice, bruised and cut into small peeces, but first clensed from all his filth, and two ounces of Annie seeds that are cleane and bruised. Let them macerate five or six daies in a wodden Vessel, stopping the same close, and then draw off as much as will runne cleere, dissolving in that cleare Aqua Vitae five or six spoonfuls of the best Malassoes you can get ; Spanish cute, if you can get it, is thought better than Malassoes ; then put this into another ; and after three or foure daies^ (the more the better), when the liquor hath fined itself, you may use the same ; some , add. Dates and Raisons of the Sun to this receipt : those groundes which remaine, you may redistill, and make more Aqua Composita of them, and of that Aqua Composita you may make more Usque- bath." The distillation of whiskey in Ireland, on a large is of comparatively modern date, the poteen having been manufactured in illicit stills, in inaccessible and unhandy places. Now, Roe's distillery turns out over two million gallons a year, and Jameson's more than a million and a half. The whiskey made by these firms, that of Sir John Power & Sons, and some others, is distilled from pure malt ; but there are many dis- vessell scale,