Guess who first distilled spirits?

[Butch50]

Of all the cultures this is the last one I would have thought of to bring us distilled spirits.

Alcohol was fully purified for the first time by Muslim chemists in the 8th and 9th centuries. The development of the still with cooled collector—necessary for the efficient distillation of spirits without freezing—was an invention of Muslim alchemists during this time. In particular, Geber (Jabir Ibn Hayyan, 721–815) invented the alembic still; he observed that heated wine from this still released a flammable vapor, which he described as "of little use, but of great importance to science". Not much later Al-Razi (864–930) described the distillation of alcohol and its use in medicine. By that time, distilled spirits had become fairly popular beverages: the poet Abu Nuwas (d. 813) describes a wine that "has the colour of rain-water but is as hot inside the ribs as a burning firebrand". The terms "alembic" and "alcohol", and possibly the metaphors "spirit" and aqua vitæ ("life-water") for the distilled product, can be traced to Arabic alchemy.[1]

[Uncle Jesse]

Thus we get "al ambic" or alembic. Also Alcohol has the same roots.

Despite the anti-Muslim rhetoric of the current times, when Europe went into the Dark Ages and voluntarily forgot most of what it knew, the Arabic world kept not only distillation alive, but many other sciences including Algebra (there's that 'al' root again) which were brought back to the Western world at a later date, after the Dark Ages ended and Enlightenment made learning cool again.

[Butch50]

There is irony in the fact that distilled alcolhol was "invented" by about the only widespread culture in the history of the world that can't use it.

[Uncle Jesse]

Well I'm not sure that's true. I know plenty of Arabs who drink heartily. Having been raised Baptist I also know many westerners who won't touch a drop, quite a few in my immediate family.

[Butch50]

You are of course correct, I was generalizing.

[Uncle Jesse]

well don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want to have a still in Saudi Arabia like that guy the other day was suggesting!

my pal lived there for a while and said it's pretty harsh when people have punishment doled out to them. he said that they had areas where only westerners who worked for oil companies lived.

when my sister in law was married a photo was published in a newspaper over there and they moved her wedding dress collar up around her neck by painting it in.

[Uncle Jesse]

I don't like the word "lashes" when used in the same breath as alcohol!

Saudi Arabia completely bans the production, importation or consumption of alcohol and imposes strict penalties on those violating the ban, including weeks to months of imprisonment, and possible lashes, as does Kuwait. During the Gulf War in 1991, the Coalition banned its troops in Saudi Arabia from drinking alcohol in order to show respect for local beliefs.

[Butch50]

Don't get me wrong either, I was generalizing because that is about the only way to briefly speak of an entire culture - but of course there are boatloads of exceptions in all directions. At one time the Muslims were the leading edge in education and technology and knowledge expansion.

[new_moonshiner]

I was gonna guess , UJ, Tater, and Pint O and goose was told about it all ..lol ..just figured the Jim Jack and George was aka names ..

[theholymackerel]

I was almost a History major. That, and my family's history of distillation have made me interested in the ancient history of distillation.

The idea that distillation originated in the middle east somewhere around the 14'th century was generally believed up to the 20th century. Around the first two decades of the last century archalogical finds in China and India started a competition between the two as to which had the oldest distillation culture. Older and older copper stills were found. Then even older bronze stills popped up in both cultures. Then one day while a Brit archeologist in India watched a village lady hand dip water to pour on top of a ceramic thingie that sat in a pile of coals his guide explained she was makin' booze. All of a sudden alot of ancient ceramic discoveries made sense... they were clay stills.

By the 1970's distillation was thought to start in either China or India at least as early as a millenium BC.

About 10 years ago a complete 3-piece clay still was found in what is today Iran. It is believed to be over four thousand years old!

The Iranians aren't Arabs. They are decendants of the Persians who were caucasians originally from India.

While the oldest still found as of yet is from the middle east, many scholars believe older stills are yet to be found in either India or China. They point to the middle easts geographic, economic, and historic role as a cultural crossroads, and not as an innovative power to explain the ancient middle eastern stills.

[Butch50]

How does the clay/ceramic still work? It might be interesting to try and recreate one.

[Husker]

I thought the Egyptians distilled spirit 3k or more ago. However, it may have simply been freeze distillation methods, and not involved a still. But I do remember (dredging back in my memory), that they had some form of clay distillation vessel, but that might also have been the Persians I was thinking about with the clay still, and the Egyptians simply fortified wine/beer by freezing.

H.

[HookLine]

Let's face it, we humans just love alcohol.

In Indonesia, the biggest Muslim nation on earth, it is legal to drink, though a lot of people don't.

And we do owe a great debt to Muslims for keeping and expanding on knowledge of all kinds during Europe's dark age.

[theholymackerel]

Butch: The ancient ceramic still was usually three parts. On the bottom was a round boiler with a circular openin' on the top that would sit in coals. On top of that was a globular condencer with an openin' top and bottom, a tall lip on the inside bottom and a small openin' to recieve a bamboo cane that ran from the inside bottom lip out side away from the coals (this is where the product came out). On top of the condencer sat a lip with a tall lip on the top. Water was poured by hand over this lid and ran off through a bamboo pipe.

Husker: The ancient Egyptians did make beer, but there is no proof that they distilled the beer into whiskey. They did, however, use steam distillation to make perfumes in ancient times.

[Butch50]

Butch: The ancient ceramic still was usually three parts. On the bottom was a round boiler with a circular openin' on the top that would sit in coals. On top of that was a globular condencer with an openin' top and bottom, a tall lip on the inside bottom and a small openin' to recieve a bamboo cane that ran from the inside bottom lip out side away from the coals (this is where the product came out). On top of the condencer sat a lip with a tall lip on the top. Water was poured by hand over this lid and ran off through a bamboo pipe.

Do you have a reference to any photos or diagrams? This sounds really interesting, Thanks!

[theholymackerel]

Actually yesterday I did alot of diggin' around on the Net to try and find a pic and couldn't find one.

I'll keep it in mind and save and post a pic if I find one.

[Uncle Jesse]

I've had Arak straight from Bali made by one of their old men who was heralded for his work.

Not the best stuff I ever tasted, to be honest.

[Butch50]

Actually yesterday I did alot of diggin' around on the Net to try and find a pic and couldn't find one.

I'll keep it in mind and save and post a pic if I find one.

I appreciate it, I did some extensive searching too without any luck.

[Cruiser]

Uncle Jess, my sister recently bought me back a bottle of Arak from Sri-Lanka.

As soon as I opened it I recognised the smell - exactly the same as what's in my feints/tails bottle

Even worse, it tasted like tails. Worst commercial spirit I've ever come across - I couldn't drink it and gave it back to her. The Sri-Lankan made Gin is good though and they drink a lot of it.

Cruiser.

[Butch50]

I had to look Arak up - it sounds like a noise a pterydactyl would make.

But I found there is Arak and Arrack, which are different drinks, which one are you guys really talking about?

Thanks!

[Cruiser]

The Arak I tried was supposedly made from coconut flowers - believe it or not.

According to wiki it probably should be spelled Arrack but comes from the word Arak. They go on to say it is generally distilled to between 33% and 50% alcohol which would explain the rough taste and smell. I just thought they kept the good stuff for themselves and bottled the tails for foreigners.

The Indonesian stuff sounds better.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrack

Cruiser.

Edit: Actually you're right, wiki also describes a different drink called Arak which is from the Mediterranean. The one I tried was Arrack from Asia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arak_%28di ... everage%29

[Butch50]

I guess they don't make any cuts either.

[Butch50]

Here is some info on Arak that I found.

It has been researched that Aciji, Zalanji, Alichi and Haciji were all from the pronunciation translation of a borrowing word of "Arrack". As to the word of "Arrack", it is thought to be a synonym of perspiration in the origin of word. It was used to express tree juice, then was changed to expressing the naturally fermented alcoholic drink . The word "Arrack" could be used to indicate both un- distilled tree juice or naturally fermented alcoholic drink and the distilled liquor, it was commonly used in different countries during the ancient times, only spelt in a slightly different way, such as "Arac" in French, "Arrck" in German, "Rack or Rak" in Dutch and "Araca" in Portuguese. (Arrack and Distilled Liquor", ¡¶Splendid Alcoholic Beverage Culture of the World ¡·, published by Chengdu Press, 1993) . According to the foreign historical reference and documents of alcoholic beverages, the word "Arrack" and other similar names actually referred to the distilled liquor in general, As for the description of distilling process, many names have also been used in ancient and modern times, such as "Steamed Liquor, " "Burnt Liquor", "Separated Liquor" etc.