1892 Drinks of the world

DRINKS.

147

tilleries that send out a spirit made from molasses, beet-root, potatoes, and other things, which cannot possibly be called whiskey, which has brought Irish whiskey somewhat into disrepute, to the great advan- tage of the Scotch distillers. Again, unmalted grain is used, which gives a practically tasteless spirit, which is almost entirely deficient in the grateful ethers, and is only so much raw alcohol and water, a very different article to that which occasioned the following verses : " Oh, Whiskey Punch, I love you much, for you're the very thing, To level all distinctions 'twixt a beggar and a king. You lift me up so aisy, and so softly let me down, That the devil a hair I care what I wear, a caubeen or a crown. " While you're a-coorsin' through my veins I feel mighty pleasant, That I cannot just exactly tell whether I'm a prince or peasant Maybe I'm one, maybe the other, but that gives me small trouble, By the Powers ! I believe. I'm both on 'em, for I think I'm seein' double." Scotch whiskey is the same as Irish, and should be similarly made from pure malted barley. No one knows when it was first made ; but, until the time of the Pretender, it was hardly known in the Lowlands, being a drink strictly of the Highlanders. There is a tradition of a certain St. Thorwald, whose name may be sought for in vain in the pages of Alban Butler, who had a cell in the side of a hill looking upon the Esk. He is said to have possessed a wonderful elixir, famous