Drake is said to have been'high in the Queen s favour', and received valuable grants from her, including gold and silver from the Spanish Armada and a monopoly for manufacturing aqua vitae.
22.
The art of distillation spread to Ireland and Scotland no later than the 15th century, as did the common European practice of distilling " aqua vitae " or spirit alcohol primarily for medicinal purposes.
23.
Another possible connection of " vodka " with " water " is the name of the medieval alcoholic beverage " aqua vitae " ( Irish / Scottish Gaelic " uisce beatha " / uisge-beatha .)
24.
The word " whiskey " is an Anglicisation of " uisce beatha " or " uisge beatha ", a phrase from the Goidelic branch of languages ( Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx ) meaning " water of life " ( see aqua vitae ).
25.
The oldest known written record of whiskey comes from Ireland in 1405 in the Irish Annals of Clonmacnoise, where it was written that the head of a clan died after " taking a surfeit of aqua vitae " at Christmas, and its first known mention in Scotland dates from 1494.
26.
The first distillate was called " brant�wka ", the second was " szum�wka ", and the third was " okowita " ( from " aqua vitae " ), which generally contained 70 80 % ABV . Then the beverage was watered down, yielding a simple vodka ( 30 35 % ABV ), or a stronger one if the watering was done using an alembic.
