Throughout the ages alcohol has been made from and included some of the weirdest ingredients known to man. From the bison grass in Żubrówka to the worm found in Mezcal, it can range from the obscure to the downright disturbing. So why don’t we step through the threshold and explore the bazaar of the bizarre, the drinks which seem to belong in on an alchemists’ table rather than our modern cupboards.

We have been bottling animals and objects in our drinks for time immemorial, however certain drinks come across as more unsavoury than a simple invertebrates to demonstrate purity.Thus we come to our first item and the first of our medicinal elixirs. Snake Wine, originating in traditional chinese medicine, this object obscura is typically made with whole live venomous snakes whose venom is counteracted by the rice wine. Believed to increase male virility but also to treat headaches and rheumatism, this unlikely concoction can occasionally prove deadly when the snakes prove to be able to be more than a match for their sauce, as one unfortunate Chinese lady discovered earlier this year.

Second on our list of alcoholic cure alls is Chartreuse, a tonic hailing from france and brewed by Carthusian monks. its dark green colouration certainly makes its look like some ancient medicines, and ought to make all but the most reckless drinker think twice before imbibing. I cannot vouch for the medicinal qualities for which it was originally intended, however i can insure that drinking this 69% ‘Elixir Végétal’ is a sure fire way to cure oneself of their dignity as well as their marbles.

For around four millennia and across three continents, the art of alchemy has been practiced. From this age old tradition comes our final spirit, a drink considered by alchemists to encapsulate all the ‘cordial vertues’ of the rays of the sun. Unfortunately its quite hard to ferment solar rays into a consumable form, but alchemists were not without imagination. They looked up in the sky and thought how best they could harness the sun into a drink. The obvious answer: A small insectivorous bog plant… So in renaissance Turin they took the flowers from the Sundew plant along with some flakes of gold and together they created the Rosa Solis, sometimes also called Aureum Potabile (Drinkable Gold). This miracle elixir was prescribed to invigorate the heart or revitalise the spirits, and even as an aphrodisiac.

So to conclude from our foray in to the weird and wonderful waters of the world, it would seem that there is no animal plant or even inanimate metal that cannot be imbibed in some way or another. We’ve learnt that venomous reptiles and flesh eating marsh flowers both go equally well in a drink. Perhaps more importantly that there is no spiritual ailment or sexual frustration that cannot be remedied by a stiff drink.

- See more at: http://www.twistlondon.com/2013/12/the-alcoholic-apothecary/#sthash.z11uYTR0.dpuf

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Image brought to us by Paul S Bartholomew from theframedtable.com