It's easy to imagine the accidental discovery of beer and wine, maybe 10000 years ago. Grain ferments naturally. We might speculate this was the genesis of agriculture - the cavemen wanted a stable supply of barley.
But I was wondering about distilled liquor - it's a sophisticated, nonintuitive process. This must have appeared much later.
Anybody have any ideas when/where/how distillation was invented/discovered? What are the earliest records?
Half fill a glass with Goldwasser, and slowly add Absinthe. It forms two layers, green and clear. Or maybe it's the other way around. Can't remember - but it's good:-)
Interesting... doesn't the Koran have a few words on the use of spirits?
-- Rich
Just about everything was done first by China at some point. Iron and suspension bridges in 600AD etc...
Likewise, absolute ethanol (200 proof) was a no-no for drinking because of the use of benzene for the azeotropic removal of the 5% water present in the azeotropic distillate of ethanol. I've wondered whether absolute ethanol is still produced that way, or whether zeolites are now used to remove the water. If so, I doubt that the fact is being widely advertised, for obvious reasons.
"We never stagger We never fall We sober up on wood alcohol While our loyal friends go marching Back to the bars for more..."
(Sung to the tune of the Notre Dame fight song)
Mark (hic) Lipton
It was probably an apparatus for sublimation used by alchemists.
Cormac.
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