The Iberian Peninsula

comprises two primary countries: Spain and Portugal, both of which have centuries-long distillation industries. They have become especially important as spirit manufacturers only since the late nineteenth century as their traditional fortified wine manufacturers have evolved and as decreasing sales of fortified wines have led to a surplus of spirit.

The renowned alchemist and physician Arnaud de Villanova (then residing in Madrid) is often credited with pioneering the distillation of alcohol in Europe in the thirteenth century when he distilled grape spirit with various botanicals for medicinal purposes. Nonetheless, the Portuguese and Spanish historically preferred wines to spirits, for both cultural reasons and political ones. That said, Iberians have a long tradition of turning local wines, and the pomace resulting from their production, into brandy, much of it used for fortifying wine. Since the nineteenth century, Spain in particular has also shown an interest in imported rum (not too surprising given the long history of sugar production in its former Caribbean colonies) and, more recently, gin, both imported and domestic (in fact, the Balearic Islands, a former haven for the British Navy, have been producing the latter since the eighteenth century). Spain also has a narrow but deep history of top-notch cocktail bars run by star mixologists dating back to the late nineteenth century.

Spain’s most famous spirit is brandy de Jerez, made in the Jerez region of Andalusia. Although domestic sales are sagging, exports of brandy de Jerez are strong as it has developed a good reputation in foreign markets. The favored liqueur remains pacharán, a neutral spirit flavored with anise and sloe berries and sold at 25–35 percent ABV. The recipe for pacharán first appeared in print in 1441. There is both a general classification for Spanish pacharán and a separate protected designation of origin for pacharán navarro (1988). Other legally designated spirits and liqueurs in Spain include palo de Mallorca, brandy de Penedés, ratafia Catalana, cantueso Alacantino, licor café de Galicia, licor hierbas de Galicia, aguardente de hierbas de Galicia, aperitivo café de Alcoy, herbero de la Sierra de Mariola, Orujo de Galicia, aguardiente de sidra de Asturias, and two “honey rums” ronmiel and ronmiel de Canarias, and (as is common among Mediterranean countries) several anise-flavored spirits, anís Paloma Monforte del Cid, anís Espanol, hierbas Ibicencas, hierbas Mallorcas, cazalla, chinchón, Ojén, and rute.Portugal has historically been more abstemious than Spain when it comes to alcohol, and its history with distillation has been debated (see wines, fortified), but it is indisputable that after the Methuen Treaty of 1703, which gave Portuguese wines preferential trade status in Britain, large quantities of port were being made for that market by the addition of grape spirit to fermenting must. The island of Madeira had codified the use of grape spirit for the same purposes long before then, suggesting that in Portugal distilled spirits were originally and primarily employed as an adjunct for the island’s famous wine. Port and Madeira were also widely sought after in the British American colonies, largely supplanting the Canary and sack from the Spanish Atlantic islands that had been popular in the early Atlantic world of the fifteenth through seventeenth centuries.

Portugal’s well known spirits include anis Português, Évora anisada, licor de Singeverga, poncha da Madeira, medronho do Buçaco, medronho do Algarve, aguardente de pêra da Lousã (a pear distillate), and the ubiquitous cherry liqueur, ginjinha portuguesa, as well as no fewer than six different PDO (protected designation of origin) aguardentes and four such aguardente bagaceiras.

See also aguardiente, aguardente; Boadas, Miguel;, Chicote, Pedro “Perico”.

By: Doug Frost