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THE GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION
flowers, fermented sugar cane refuse, rice mash. Some cocktails indicate
it, and like tequila, if aged it has merit.
. Only for large bars; and
only decent brands are recommended.
BENEDICTINE . . . One of the most important liqueurs, and made for
centuries out of sugar, herbs, spirits, and divers secret elixirs by the
French Benedictine monks at Fecamp.... French copyists among the
laymen state that it is compounded by blending the essences of angelica
root, arnica blooms, lemon peels, thyme, cardamons, peppermint, cassia,
hyssop, and cloves, blended and aged with pure water, sweetening, and
the finest cologne spirits.... Everyone knows the squatty bottle with
the D.O.M. label, and the big seal of scarlet wax.... Not too good as
a mixing agent, as it lacks character, and loses its delicate flavours. . . .
Best for cordials with coffee or without. . . . Not often indicated for
cocktails, in spite of unjustified activity along this line by the manu–
facturers and importers, we've found it unremarkable except in pousse
cafes. It is too sweet for most cocktails, and isn't vigorous enough in
flavour to overcome the strong spirits and bitters.
THE SIX MAIN BITTERS . . . Angostura and orange bitters must
be
on every-bar shelf, be it ever so humble. Next in importance are Calisaya
-made on a quinine base and sometimes used in considerable quantity in
cocktails--or quinine bitters; New Orleans Peychaud, Boker's and Amer
Picon. . . . They are lots of fun to toy with, and in many things like
gin, sherry, vermouth, make a simple cocktail of great service, which
some people claim are the only really good ones anyway!
BRANDY, COGNAC, and
CHAMPAGNE FINE,
sometimes CALLED
"FINE"
... .
Brandy is simply distilled grape wine, aged in wood casks.
Cognac is brandy from the finest possible region for its excellent con–
~truction-the
Cognac region of France. No brandy not from Cognac
is permitted to use the word on labels....
Champagne fine is
merely
very
o~d,
very fine, and very excellent brandy.
Fine
is only used in one
~ocktail
to our knowledge, being entirely too precious and delightful in
itself to
be
outraged by admixture with less aristocratic spirits. · · ·
Napoleon brandy is probably the best-known
Fine.
It runs about thirty
do~lars
per fifth, and the finest is dated around 1832 or slightly later. Its
pnce advances with age and rarity of vintage. Brandy was discovered
through the keenness of a Dutch apothecary who, when seeing that the
Cognac grape region, through a huge bumper crop, was producing
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