Water of Life

Water of life- a term used to indentify the spirits distilled from wine. (My definition)

This process goes back several thousand years BCE, although it probably was not widely practiced in the ancient Mediterranean cultures. Greeks and Romans were well aware of the process, but aside from occasional mentions in scholarly or philosophical texts, there apppears to have been no wide spread use of the technique to create potable spirits.

Fast forward a few centuries to the Arab dominated world of the 700, 800, and 900 hundreds. Arabs had absorbed much of classical learning. The "center of the universe" was the now Spanish city of Cordoba; Arab universities and libraries would often house more books and treatises, under a single roof, than entire western European countries; in the fields of mathematics, science, and literature, the Arabs were the western world leaders. Although some may cringe at the very words, Arab civilization invented algebra, modern numbers and number theory, and trigonometry.

In the field of ditillation Arab scholars reigned supreme. Using distillation to produce flavoring oils and perfumes, the science found its way into the realm of spiritous beverages. After Charles Martel defeated the Arab armies in Tours in the late 800 hundreds, wider dissemination of distilling followed. Eventually the process was carried to most, if not all, western European countries. Distilled spirits were thought to be cure alls for bodily and mental illnesses, based on Galen's theory of medicine postulated in the realm of Marcus Aurelius. Hence, the distilled spirits became know as waters of life.

Today, most countries that produce wine also produce spirits derived or distilled from wine. The great wine brandies of France, Armagnac and Cognac, come from wines made from grapes grown especially for distillation. The same holds true in Spain, where the largest use of wine grapes is for later distillation into brandies. Italy produces marc and grappa. Brandies are produced in Germany. Brandies are made in the USA.

How these distilled spirits are handled is purely a local option and is often controlled by strict laws and regulations on proof for distillation, how many times a product is distilled, aging requirements, bottling proof, and so on.

Later posts will look at types of distilled spirits as a corallary to my wine postngs. The two drinks are so closely related that they belong together.