HEATHER ALE. 



either; there was a third, known as usquebaugh haul, 

 of which two spoonfuls would stagger the most credit- 

 able toper. To an ordinary tippler a glass of this 

 spirit meant instant death. In those days whiskey 

 was made from potatoes and Heather, as well as from 

 barley. A great deal of it was manufactured at home, 

 it was hot, coarse and raw, and all who could afford 

 it, drank deeply. 



Heather ale was, no doubt, what Burns had ref- 

 erence to when he penned the famous transcript to 

 "The Author's Earnest Cry and Prayer:" 



Scotland, my auld respected mither ! 

 Though whyles ye moistify your leather 

 Till whare ye sit, on craps o' heather, 



Ye tine your dam ; 

 Freedom and whiskey gang thegither ! 



Tak' aff your dram. 



The beverage was sometimes called "heather crop," 

 the word crop meaning top, from which the drink was 

 made. 



Sir Walter Scott, in the "Monastery" (1820), has 

 the following passage : "Halbert Glendenning ex- 

 pressed himself unwilling to take any liquor stronger 

 than the Heather ale, which was at that time frequently 

 used at meals." 



Some modern writers testify to having drank 

 Heather ale within the past half century. Mr. Weld, 

 in his "Two Months in the Highlands" (page 83), 

 says : "Although the art of brewing the Pictish 

 Heather ale is lost, old grouse shooters have tasted a 



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