Liqueur
There is an idle question as to whether brandy is a liqueur or not. Is rum ? is gin? is whisky? We can make arbitrary distinctions whenever we like; but it seems absurd to say that there shall be no liqueur which is not sweetened. There is not much sweetness in whisky, but the French long ago took usquebagh and raised it to the rank of a liqueur with the wonderful name of Scubac. The oldest of the very sweet liqueurs is undoubtedly acqua d'oro; but long before it was produced by the Italians and brought into France by Catherine de Medici, the aqua vitæ was in use. There is an old receipt of 500 years ago that is, of the time of Chaucer-in which directions are given to prepare a fowl, to serve it in syrup, and then, as we now do plum-pudding at Christmas, to pour aqua vitæ over it and set fire to it. In the face of such facts it is singular to find Frenchmen repeating one after another that liqueurs were first invented by Frenchmen to comfort the old age of the Grand Monarch. Long before Louis XIV. was born, Sully in 1604 complained that the luxuries on which the French wasted most money were festivities and liqueurs. There were two liqueurs at that time in the greatest favour-Populo and Rossolis, the former made of musk, amber, anise and cinnamon; the latter of sundew, angelica, coriander, fennel, anise and lemon; and both, needless to say, warmed with alcohol and mellowed with syrup. The Great King was particularly Lobster fond of the Rossolis, and one of the makers gave it his name, whence arose the myth. Lorraine was then famous for its liqueurs, and is said to be the native place of Parfait Amour. This is more than doubtful. The Parfait Amour of Lorraine was in great request, but there is reason to think that it was originally Italian.
The religious orders were great distillers, and it is curious to see how they patronise, bless and manufacture liqueurs. It began in the mediæval search for the quintessence and the elixir of life; it has ended by the monks of La Grande Chartreuse insisting on a monopoly of their tipple and fighting for their trademark in the courts of law. There are only two liqueurs, however, in the present day which are the genuine manufacture of holy friars, namely Chartreuse, produced by the Carthusians of the great monastery near Grenoble, and Trappistine, distilled by the good fathers of the Grace of God in the Doubs. There is another liqueur, Bénédictine, which is said to come from the Abbey of Fécamp, and which is consecrated with the letters A. M. D. G. (Ad majorem Dei gloriam). It really comes from Fécamp, and from the Abbey; but the Abbey has now no more to do with monks than Woburn Abbey. It is the private factory of a layman who chooses to make use of the religious name.
Putting the purer spirits out of account, the best known liqueurs in the present day are Chartreuse, Curaçoa, Maraschino, Kirschenwasser, Acqua d'Oro, Parfait Amour, Noyau, Absinthe, Vermouth, Kümmel.