Illustration — a stand-in until there's a photo of the real thing.
Source loosely based on 1596 recipe "To make Rosemary water" and 1609 recipe "Spirits of wine tasting of what vegetable you please" — original
Ingredients
½ tsp. packed fresh rosemary leaves
½ tsp. packed fresh sage leaves
3 T. packed fresh lemon balm leaves
1-1/2 cups 80-proof brandy
simple syrup: 2 c. white granulated sugar to 1 c. water
Method
The fresh herbs were bruised with a mortar and pestle and then put in a glass jar and covered with brandy, then left for 1-1/2 weeks but stirred each day.
The solid material was strained out and squeezed through cheesecloth and the liquid then poured through unbleached coffee filters.
A simple sugar syrup was then added to the proportions of 1 cup of syrup to 2 cups of liquor.
Notes
Turned out sharp; best treated as a medicinal tonic rather than a drink.
Ingredients and method are reproduced here as a matter of record; the full write-up and the author's notes live on dragonbear.com.
