A chat about cherry brandy — Cherry gin — And cherry whisky — Sloe gin — Highland cordial — What King Charles II. swallowed — Poor Charles! — Ginger brandy — Orange-flower brandy — Employment of carraway seeds — The school treat — Use and abuse of aniseed — Do not drink quince whisky — Try orange brandy instead — A hell-broth — Cura?oa — Cassis — Chartreuse — The monks as benefactors — Some quaint tavern “refreshers” — Kirschenwasser — Noyeau — Parfait amour — Maraschino — A valuable ginger cordial.

Let us commence with that grand old British eye-opener,
Cherry Brandy.

There are more ways than one of making this. Here is an old recipe.

    Take six dozen pounds of cherries, half red and half black, and mash or squeeze them with your hands to pieces, and put to them three gallons of brandy, and let them stand steeping twenty-four hours. Then put the mash’d cherries and liquor a little at a time into a canvas bag, and press it as long as any juice will run; sweeten it to your taste, and put it into a vessel fit for it, and let it stand a {186} month, and bottle it out; put a lump of loaf-sugar into every bottle.

Another way, and a nicer; the idea of squeezing cherries to pieces with the human hands savouring of barbarism—and fingers.

    Take Black Geans or Black Morellos—but remember that the former are sweet, the latter acid and bitter, and there will be a great difference in the results. They must not be over-ripe. Take off the stalks, and if you choose prick them with a pin. Fill a bottle with them three-quarters, pour in brandy to the neck, and cork it up. It will be ready in a month.

It will be noticed that no mention of sugar is made in the above. The necessary quantity would naturally vary, according to the description of cherry employed.

Yet another—my way.

    This can either be made from Black Gean cherries, or Morellos, but the latter are better for the purpose. Every pound of cherries will require one quarter of a pound of white sugar and one pint of the best brandy. The cherries, with the sugar well-mixed with them, should be placed in wide-mouthed bottles, filled up with brandy; and if the fruit be previously pricked, the mixture will be ready in a month. But a better blend is procured if the cherries are untouched, and this principle holds good with all fruit treated in this way, and left corked for at least three months.

It should be borne in mind that these cordials are far better when home-made—provided always {187} the best materials be used. The cherry brandy, sloe gin, etc. etc., which is bought is not always made with ’65 cognac. Remember how many people have to make some sort of profit out of what can be purchased over the counter.

One more way.

    Put six pounds of black cherries, six pounds of Morellos, and two pounds of strawberries in a cask. Bruise them slightly with a stick, then add three pounds of sugar, twelve cloves, half an ounce of powdered cinnamon, and two grated nutmegs, with a quarter of the kernels of the cherry-stones, and a handful of mint and balm. Pour over these six quarts of brandy, and let the cask remain open for ten days. Then close it, and in two months it will be fit for use.

Cherry Gin

can be made in the same way as any of the above, merely substituting Old Tom for cognac. And if you want to make it extra good, use sugar-candy instead of the ordinary “best lump.”
Cherry Whisky

was introduced to the public at the Brewers’ Exhibition in the Royal Agri-cul-tural Hall, London, in 1898. I have not tasted it, but suppose that the method of making it is similar to any of the above recipes, sub-sti-tut-ing Glen-livet. But I fancy brandy or gin would always be preferable; for whisky does not blend well with fruit. {188}
Sloe Gin.

The difference between this cordial as made at home, and allowed to mature gradually, and the stuff retailed in taverns, is marked. ’Tis a “refresher” which has only become popular within the last few years; and consequently within a radius of twenty miles from London, the sloe-bushes are stripped of their fruit, before it is fit to pick, by the poorer classes, who can obtain sixpence per pound—or something like that price—for sloes in the market. But the sloe should not be picked for this purpose until it has experienced at least one night’s frost.

    Allow one pound of sugar to one pound of sloes. Half fill an ordinary quart bottle with sugared sloes, and fill up with gin. If the sloes have been previously pricked, the liqueur will be fit for use in a couple of months; but ’tis better not to prick them, but let the gin do its own work of extraction. In that case the bottle should not be uncorked within twelve months.

A great deal of the alleged sloe gin sold is light in colour, and has evidently been hurried in its preparation. A great deal more is quite innocent of sloe juice, and is merely inferior gin, diluted and coloured. The orthodox sloe gin should bear the hue of “fruity” port wine. See that you get it.
Highland Cordial.

Here is another recipe into which the wine of bonnie Scotland enters. At one time the {189} cordial was popular with the Scots, who now, however, prefer their whisky unadorned.

    Steep in one bottle of old Scotch whisky one pint of white currants, stripped of their stalks, the thin rind of a lemon, and one teaspoonful of essence of ginger. Let the mixture stand for forty-eight hours, and then strain through a hair sieve. Add one pound of loaf-sugar, which will take at least a day to thoroughly dissolve. Then bottle off and cork well. It will be ready for use in three months, but will keep longer.

A cordial which is but seldom asked for nowadays was known in the seventeenth century as
King Charles II.’s Surfeit-Water.

    Take a gallon of the best aqua-vit?, and a quart of brandy, and a quart of anniseed-water, a pint of poppy-water, and a pint of damask-rose-water; put these in a large glass jar, and put to it a pound of fine powdered sugar, a pound and a half of raisins stoned, a quarter of a pound of dates stoned and sliced, one ounce of cinnamon bruised, cloves one ounce, four nutmegs bruised, one stick of licorice scraped and sliced; let all these stand nine days close covered, stirring three or four times a day; then add to it three pounds of fresh poppies, or three handfuls of dried poppies, a sprig of angelica, two or three of balm; so let it stand a week longer, then strain it out and bottle it.

And then notify the undertaker, I should think. The Merry Monarch had his faults, but, surfeit or no surfeit, it is hard to believe that a king could bring himself to lap such a {190} “hell-broth” as the above. Pah! Let us take the taste out with
Ginger Brandy.

    Bruise slightly two pounds of black currants, and mix them with one ounce and a half of ground ginger. Pour over them one bottle and a half of best old brandy, and let the mixture stand for two days. Strain off the liquid, and add one pound of loaf-sugar which has been boiled to a syrup in a little water. Bottle and cork closely.

Orange-flower Brandy.

There is not much of this in the market, or the store-cupboard.

    Take a gallon of best brandy, and mix with it a pound of orange-flowers which have been boiled. Save the water, sweeten it, and bottle off the mixture.

Carraway Brandy.

    Steep an ounce of carraway seeds and six ounces of loaf-sugar in a quart of brandy. Let this stand nine days, then strain and bottle.

And the author of the above adds: “?’Tis a good cordial.” Three hundred years ago carraways invariably figured at the dessert-table in England. The seeds now appear either in cakes for school-treats, sugar-plums, or the favourite liqueur known as
Kümmel.

This is principally made in Russia, and is an excellent stomachic. Own brother to the {191} carraway seed is the anise seed, which appears in a liqueur, made chiefly at Bordeaux, and called
Anisette.

Personally, I prefer Kümmel, and the other is more of a drug than an enlivening potion. Cough remedies for the most part contain anise seed, which is also largely used at a “drag” hunt, hounds being especially keen on the scent.
Apricot Brandy.

This is not often met with away from its home in the United States.

    To every pound of fruit (which should not be quite ripe) add one pound of loaf-sugar. Put the apricots into a preserving-pan, with sufficient water to cover them. Let them boil up, and then simmer gently until tender. Remove the skins. Clarify and boil the sugar, then pour it over the fruit, and let it remain twenty-four hours. Then put the aprico............