1892 Drinks of the world

DRINKS:

178

Kirsch, Kirschwasse7% or Kirschenwasser, or cherry water, is the genuine drink of the Black Forest. The head-quarters of this Hqueur, as Griesbach and Peters- thai in the Reuch valley, are rich in cherry trees of the Machaleb variety. H. VV. Wolff, in his Rambles, rises into an almost poetic description of its virtues. " It is," he says, referring to the Black Foresters, *' their general stimulant and comforter, their consoler in grief, their promoter of conviviality, their safety valve in trouble or excitement." After this, little can be added without the danger, or rather the certainty, of " that excellent stomachic, hydrocyanic acid." Of late the Black Foresters have rivalled the Servians in a spirit distilled from wild plums. Stollberg thinks Kirschenwasser in no way inferior to the spirit made from corn at Dantzic,^ and others hold it equal to the Dalmatian Maraschino. The liqueur is also made in Germany, France, and elsewhere. Pomeranzeny or Pomeranzen- JVasser, somewhat resembling our orangeade, is principally drunk in Northern Germany. Raspail was originally, as many other liqueurs, medicinal, and was so called from the name of its inventor. Mariani has made an Elixir a la coca du Pirou, This, like Raspail, is an agreeable tonic. Vermuth ^ is composed of white wine, angelica, absinthe, and other aromatic herbs. bathos. When genuine — for alas, it shares the com- mon fate of drinks, adulteration — it is said to be ardent and slightly poisonous. In other words, it contains

1 Stolber^s Travels, i., 146. 2 Germ. Wermuth, absinthe

of genus

wormwood,

plant

or