1651: a good year Irish whisky & rum? (2 recipes...)

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From John French’s book of Distillation, 1651:

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USQUE - BATH OR IRISH AQUA VITAE IS MADE THUS
Take a gallon of small aqua vitae and put it into a glass vessel. Put thereto a quart of canary sack, two pounds of raisins of the sun stoned, but not washed, two ounces of dates stoned, and the white skins thereof pulled out, two ounces of cinnamon grossly bruised, four good nutmegs bruised, an ounce of the best english licorice sliced and bruised. Stop the vessels very close and let them infuse in a cold place six or eight days. Then let the liquor run through a bag called Manica Hippocratis made of white cotton.
This liquor is commonly used in surfeits, being a good stomach water.


TREAKLE WATER IS MADE THUS
Take the juice of the green shells of walnuts four pounds, the juice of rue three pints, carduus, marigold, balm, of each two pints. The root of butter burr fresh, a pound and a half, burr, angelica, master wort fresh, of each half a pound. The leaves of scordium, four handfuls. Old andromachus treakle, mithridate, of each eight ounces, the best canarie, twelve pints, the sharpest vinegar, six pints. the juice of lemons, two pints.
Digest them two days in horse dung, the vessel being close stopped.
Then distill them in sand.

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From John French’s book of Distillation, 1651:

USQUE - BATH OR IRISH AQUA VITAE IS MADE THUS
Take a gallon of small aqua vitae and put it into a glass vessel. Put thereto a quart of canary sack, two pounds of raisins of the sun stoned, but not washed, two ounces of dates stoned, and the white skins thereof pulled out, two ounces of cinnamon grossly bruised, four good nutmegs bruised, an ounce of the best english licorice sliced and bruised. Stop the vessels very close and let them infuse in a cold place six or eight days. Then let the liquor run through a bag called Manica Hippocratis made of white cotton.
This liquor is commonly used in surfeits, being a good stomach water.

I've made several batches of this ver the years... It comes out like liquid fruit cake... Absolutely glorious stuff... One of my most popular liqueurs, and I'd love to see someone commercialise this recipe...

I usually use 50%alc from a reflux for the aqua vitae... Some tips/substitutes can also help with this one:

Never use powered spices - it's a PITA to filter and clear with whole spices, with powered spices it's painful...
Mace Blades gives a finer flavour than Nutmegs,
Cassia instead of cinnamon - less burn but it's often best to reduce the amount by half as it can overwealm the other ingredients
The licorice root is surprisingly subtle (omit if you cant find proper fresh/dried root) but greatly adds - enjoyed even by those who dont normally like liquorice
I'll usually age this over some toasted oak for awhile too...

Dried figs can sometimes be substituted for the dates and at least one Usquebath has that.