Liquor Originally Used as Medicine
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Let's talk about types of alcohol who's original use was for medicinal purposes.
It's hard to believe that some of the alcoholic beverages that we know and enjoy today
once originated in the medicine cabinet.
Let's dig into some little know medicinal history about some of them!
1. Brandy
Brandy, a liquor produced by distilling wine, was used in the late part of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Its main use was as a cardiac stimulant because it seemed to increase the cardiac output and blood pressure of a patient. It was also used to fight infections ranging from the plague to pneumonia.
2. Gin
Gin’s origins range back to 70AD. When Greek physician Pedanius Dioscorides published its medicinal properties in his encyclopedia on herbal medicine called De materia Medica. He described the use of wine- soaked juniper berries (from which gin is derived from,) in curing chest ailments. The juniper is considered to be a super berry due to its high vitamin c and catechins which are known to aid in circulation and digestion.
3. Chartreuse
First made by Carthusian monks in France, Chartreuse is composed of distilled alcohol aged with 130 herbs, plants and flowers. In 1605 King Henry IV sent a representative to their monastery to deliver instructions set out in a manuscript for making the “Elixir of Long Life”. The specifics of that recipe remains a secret but it's said to require botanicals like cinnamon, mace, lemon balm, peppermint, thyme and angelica root.
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