spirits

"Drink when you are happy. Do not drink when you are miserable."
                                                                                 Omar Khayyám

Alcohol has accompanied man through the ages. People learned how to make it, defying the fact that history had to wait for Louis Pasteur to describe the method scientifically. In the 12th century, alchemists in Europe also finally managed to prepare a spirit initially made of wine, “spiritus vini”, also called “aqua vitae” (“water of life”). Although the ancient Egyptians as well as the Chinese had mastered this art much earlier, the craft had been reserved only for an initiated few.