Michelle Styles:

The first chapter of His Stand In Bride is up now on Eharlequin. A new chapter goes up every week until 3 January. You can acces the whole thing from here.

The blurb reads:

Tyne Valley, 1813


When her sister eloped with someone other than her betrothed, Lady Anne Dunstan knew two things. One, that she completely supported her sister's making her own choice about who she would marry. And two, that Anne—the responsible one—would have to clean up the mess
What she didn't know was how her sister's intended, Jason Martell, would take the news. Or how Anne would respond to the force of his presence, his rugged good looks, his less-than-gentlemanly advances.
Or to his proposal of marriage.

Anyway, I really enjoyed writing it and I am anxious to see how people like it...There is going to be a thread on eharlequin for discussing the story and I will be happy to answer any questions.

One of the delights of living in England is discovering how much survives from the Regency period (and in some cases before). I first came across Floris after reading an article about the men's clothing shop Hackett. Floris is a perfumery on Jermyn Street and has occupied no 89 for about 250 years at least. It remains family run and the current head, John Bodenham is an 8th generation descendant of the founder Juan Famenias Floris. Floris was founded in 1730 and the shop has a small museum full of scent bottles and combs that I go and look at every time I am in London. The shop is lovely -- all glass and mirrors with wonderful scents. The Spanish mahogany cases were acquired in 1851 from the Great Exhibition. However, I was never that sure when a particular scent was created. I simply knew that I liked them. Stephanotis is beautiful and I fell in love with Malmaison earlier this year. Their Lily of the Valley is heavenly. And my dd adores Edwardian Bouquet. And to the wearer of particular scent, that is all that matters.
But when were the scents developed? And can I use them in my books? What were people in the Regency period actually wearing.
Recently the Floris catalogue has been giving details about its scents and when they were developed.
Lily of the Valley was developed about 250 years ago. So say around 1758 -- making it a Georgian scent. Its top notes are green and lemon with heart notes of jasmine, lily of the valley,rose and tuberose. The base note is musk. Another Georgian scent Floris does is Limes and that was developed in the late 1700s to combat the awful smells and heat of the London summer.
Stephanotis was developed in 1796 by the son of the founder -- James Floris. It combines the scents of the traditional bridal bouquet and was made because James Floris noticed how many brides were getting in and around St James. So what the Regency society bride might have worn. And it is truly lovely -- top note orange blossom, heart notes of carnation, coriander, lily of the valley, stenphanotis, jasmine with base notes of musk, powdery notes and sandalwood. In the flower language that was popular at the time, stephanotis means good luck. Another Regency fragrance is the Night Jasmine scent that was inspired by the jasmine scent that John Floris created in 1806. The floral design imprinted on their soaps dates from the early 19th century.
Malmaison is late 19th century btw and is based on the Malmaison carnation, one of the more fashionable flowers of the late Victorian period. Apparently Oscar Wilde used to wear Malmaison carnations. The Malmaison scent is far heavier than the Stephanotis or Lily of the Valley. Top notes of cinnamon, cloves and lemon with heart notes of malmaison carnation, rose ,ylang and base notes of cedarwood, musk, patchoui, and vanilla. The Floris catalogue lists Malmaison under its classic fragrances -- suitable for either men or women.
My dd's favourite Edwardian Bouquet dates from 1901 and was a celebration of the new era. It is a lovely floral scent.
Anyway, it goes to show that a good scent can stand the test of time. And with its wide range of scents (Ian Fleming had James Bond wear no 89 for example) , there is a good reason why Floris is thriving today. But I thought I would toss out a few of the more historic scents in case people were interested. Floris does ship worldwide, but a visit to its shop in Jermyn Street should be a must for any one interested in the Georgian or Regency periods.

It is a slight mystery. The Irish and the Scots had their whisk(e)y.The Scandinavians have aqua vitae. The French have among other things -- brandy, so why is there no native English spirit? Certainly with the abundance of West country cider or even the alcoholic perry, the English should have been able to make something that very closely resembled Calvados -- the Norman apple brandy.
The reason that makes the most sense is gin and William III. Gin is a Dutch invention and the English discovered it during the 30 years war in the low countries. It gave them a certain amount of Dutch courage.
When William III took the English throne after the Glorious Revolution in 1688, he decided to encourage the drinking of gin. Then in the 1720s there was an abundance of grain and the government of the day allowed them freedom of distillation -- the result was Gin Lane and all the harrowing results from Hogarth's pictures happened. The failure of the grain crop in 1759 resulted in a government rethink.
Because gin was a lower class drink, there are more cant slang words for gin during the Regency than any other drink. It is later in the century that gin begins to be drunk with quinine tonic and goes up market to become gin and tonic. G&T was of course drunk originally merely for medical purposes...
Anyway, it is one explanation and makes a certain amount of sense.
One interesting fact I uncovered was that the alcohol smuggling in the North East during the Georgian period mostly centred around Dutch gin. And this leads very neatly into looking at smuggling -- that oh-so English pastime that still captures the imagination. Anyone else like Dr Syn and the Scarecrow?
My wip continues. Yesterday, I had to bite the bullet and move chapters about, but it does read better and makes far more sense. And it is far better to do this BEFORE, because my editors being my editors would surely tell me to do it AFTER. My editors are like that. They tend to home in on those parts of the wip that I have gone -- well maybe... and thankfully they do, because it does end up stronger...

Tokay or Tokaj was the premier wine of the Hapsburg Empire. There was nothing in the world to match it for its sweetness. And it was a wine used to woo monarchs -- from Vienna, Prague and Warsaw to St Petersburg, Paris and London. A legendary luxury.
It is the after dinner drink that Prince Esterhazy would have offered during the Regency. His wife, Princess Esterhazy was one of the Patroness of Almack's and the couple were very involved in the ton.
A variation of the name (but the same wine) is also mentioned at the start of Phillip Pullman's Northern Lights (The Golden Compass). It is the wine that has been poisoned. Thankfully with Hungarian wines once again available in the West, it is possible to find Tokay wine again. However, it is not as cheap as it was in the early 1990s when I first discovered, but it remains a fantastic after dinner wine. It is still possible (just) to get the Tokaj Essence -- it is sold as Aszu Essenczia.
The Essence is made basically in the same fashion that Pliny describes making Falerian wine. So it is quite possible/probable that the fable wine of the Roman Republic tasted like Tokay. There are reasons why the Romans cut their wine with water.
Honey rich with a hint of almonds as far as I can recall. Definitely moreish.
There are many myths surrounding Tokay Essence. The most potent is that the elixir could restore almost any failing power. There are stories of aged men springing from their bed after having a drop or two. And of course, the inevitable stories about men falling into their beds and siring hordes of children.
Anyway, it belongs to great pudding wines of the world.

Because Liz Fenwick enjoyed the other entries, and my daughter reminded me that I had promised to do champagne, plus I am enjoying researching something unconnected with my current wip, this blog is on champagne. My current wip's reasearch is more on coal mining and railways which is exciting in its own way.
In the 18th century, Moet and other champagne pioneers wooed the kings and princes of Europe. Champagne became the drink of choice. catherine the Great drank it with young officers, Louis XVI rank it beofre the guillotine and Napoleon adored it. It was also ruinously expensive and unreliable. Hazardous to store and notoriously difficult. The corks were held on by string and one never knew until the string was cut if one would be showered in froth or be greeted by a dark murky liquid.
Then as now, to drink an excellent bottle of champagne with bubbles in full froth is to be hooked for life. Vingtage champage from one of the great champagne houses is a treat. The bubbles are different -- they come up in waves and the taste sublime.
The person who was most responsible for changing champagne from a very expensive drink for the very wealthy indeed to one that is synoumous with celebrations was one Nicole-Barbe Clicquot-Ponsardin aka The Widow. When her husband died in 1805, leaving her at age 27 with a baby daughter and a small champagne house, the Widow set about transforming an industry. She did not target the British who remained loyal to their fortified wines until about mid century but the Russians. During the Russian occupation of the region, the officers often exacted tribute in the form of champagne. But the Widow willing gave her stores and was know to say that Today they drink, tomorrow they pay.
When the Russians departed France in 1814, even though French export was still forbidden, the Widow loaded a ship with her top salesman -- Mr Brohne and all her remaining stores of champagne ( the wonderful 1811 vintage -- year of Halley's comet) and sent it to Koenigberg.It arrived on 3 July and the French ban had just been lifted. The one ship had the only champagne for 500 miles, and the Russians wanted to celbrate their victory and were willing to pay for the priviledge.
The champagne the Widow and others were making was far sweeter than today. Before shipping, she removed the sediment and replaced it with wine, sugar and brandy. think Asti Spumante rather than today's vintage champagne. Today's brut (or dry) champagne came about in 1848, when the London wine merchant Brunes tasted Perrier-Jouet BEFORE the sugar/brandy syrup was added. The British has always preferred (and continue to prefer a drier champagne to the French)
At this stage, it is mainly served as a dessert wine. The coupe glass was not moulded on Marie Antoinette's breast but was invented in 1840. It was when champagne was served iced cold -- like a sorbet. As a side note -- Marie Antoinette's breasts were used as a model for four detailed Severes porcelian bowls that adourned the Queen's Diary temple at le Petit Trianon. Only one remains. The best way to drink champagne is in a flute as then one gets the full effect of the bubbles.
It was the Widow's art of clearing champage of the sediment that was one of her great contributions to the champagne technology. Basically, the bottles were stored downward, and the sediment flew out first and then could be topped up -- thus less of the fizz was lost. It is in 1814 that the first modern bottles of champage were born. Up to 1821, the Widow kept her secret but hten she had to bring in others to help with her business. Industrial espionage undoubtably played a part.
One of the great problems was still the explosions. In 1828, 80% of the bottles burst. To go into a champgne cellar without a wire mask was to take your life in your hands! The Industrial revolution played its part in making better bottles but eventually they discovered how methode champenoise actually worked and were better able to regulate the fermintation in the bottle.
The first recorded use of champagne with horse racing in England is 1828 with the running of the Champagne Stakes.

One of the great things about doing a small bit of research is the new venues that it opens up. I doubt for a variety of reasons that I will be writing anything centred on the Regency wine trade any time soon, BUT I find it fascinating. Also wine, spirits etc are luxury items so one can sometimes find fascinating things out about the customers.
So who was around in the Regency period?
There is, of course, Berry Brothers with their famous weighing books. The practice of weighing customers started in 1765. There are references to earlier books but none have survived. The most famous incident is probably when someone purporting to be Brummell is weighed in 1822. Was he actually in London? It is the only record of his trip. But there again there is no reason to doubt that people would have known.
Berry Brothers remains a family firm.
Then there was Sheridan's wine merchant Chalie which was founded in about 1700. In approximately 1817, it became Chalie Richards when the second son of the Chief Baron of the Court of The Exchequer, William Parry Richards joined the firm. His brother, an eminent QC married one of the Chalie. Chalie Richards is now part of Justerini and Brooks.
A now near neighbour of Berry Brothers in St James is Justerini and Brooks. They began as Justerini in 1749 when Giacomo Justerini travelled to London because he was in love with a beautiful opera star. He had no money but papers from his uncle about distilling. He joined forces with George Johnson, a wealthy gentleman and Justerini & Johnson was born -- trading in the Pall Mall in a little shop on the south side of the Italian Opera house. They continued in that shop until sometimes in the 1950s.In 1760 Justerini went back to Italy but Johnson continued to run the business. In 1830 Alfred Brooks, a very wealthy young man invested in the business. And the business became Justerini and Brooks. I have been unable to discover IF Alfred Brooks is related to the man whose gentleman's gentleman started Brook's. Customers included Charles Dickens. Justerini and Brooks were the first London merchants to blend their own house whisky -- sometime in the 1850s. It is still sold today under the J&B label. The type they supplied to the London clubs was simply called J&B Club. The first Justerini & Johnson advertisement for whisky was in 1779, placed in the Morning Post, but I am uncertain of the types they carried during the Regency.
And this brings me rather neatly back to my original topic -- whisky.
I could go on about the Dartmouth wine merchants or the Bristol sherry shippers such as Harvey's and Averys. Or the Scottish shippers JC Thomson & Co Ltd of Lieth.
But space doesn't permit and I have a wip to write.

I will admit to being a sherry fan. I discovered proper sherry about 18 years ago when my dh join the Wine Society. The Wine Society (founded 1874) is one of those wonderful British institutions from the 19th century that provides interesting wines, mainly for people to lay down. They also do things like sherry and one of their tasting cases was one devoted to sherry.
Sherry can have a bad press and most people tend to think of the dessert sherries. They are very heavy and sweet. They were the ones that were popular in Britain during the Regency because they are most suitable for drinking after meals. It should be remembered that there was no aperitif. As Lord Byron called it -- that ghastly half hour before supper. Personally I prefer the drier sherries such as manzanilla as I like to drink my sherry before a meal, with tapas. Manzanilla tastes of sea breezes and should be drunk within in a day or so of the bottle being opened. But with fruit cake etc, a good oloroso or an amontillado is excellent.
The most famous of the dessert sherry is Bristol Milk. Bristol Cream is the proprietary brand of Harvey's and dates from the 19th century whereas the first reference to Bristol milk comes in 1634 when Prince Rupert besieges the city. Harvey's Bristol Cream came about, apparently because a lady remarked during the early 19th century when given two new sherries to try -- that if the first was Milk, the second must be the Cream.
Harvey's was founded in 1796 by William Perry and for many is linked with sherry -- although they did import other wines.
Sherry or Sack was much beloved of Shakespeare's Falstaff. It burst on the English scene in the early 1500s. It was because the Duke of Medina granted certain rights to English merchants and eventually the Brotherhood of St George was born. The church of St George served as their meeting place as well as their church. Sherry sack as well as the other sacks (Canary and Malaga) was always considered to be a sweet wine and probably has nothing to with the secco (dry) but with the Spanish word saccar or to draw out. The closest thing to sack as it was during the Tudor times is a very cheap sweet oloroso. Wine making in general has improved! Sack was very popular in the early 17th century, so popular that James I issued an decree that the sergeant of his cellar could issue no more than 12 gallons per day for use at court. By the end of the 17th century, the term sack was replaced by sherry.
The 18th century saw a fall in the popularity of sherry, only to be revived during the 19th century. The names of shippers and houses from the early 19th century reads like a who's who of sherry. Pedro Domecq was founded in 1730 by an Irishman called Patrick Murphy.Garvey's was founded in approximately 1780 by a Scotsman. Duff Gordon was founded by the British counsel of the period.
Although the Peninsula War was first considered to be a disaster -- thousands of gallons lost, and the real struggle between the French loving Haurie (the head at the time of the Domecq bodega) and the British. the years after the Peninsula War were some of the most prosperous for the wine. Haurie's nephew eventually took over the firm and also became part of Ruskin, Telford and Domecq. John James Ruskin was the father of John Ruskin, the artist.
Anyway, I have a ms to write and I shall leave the English shippers and merchants until tomorrow. They are an interesting lot and many of them from the Regency such as Justerini, and Berry Brothers still operate from St James, London.

I have started this, so I will continue on alcoholic drinks in the Regency period. It is feeding my need for research as my progress in my book continues apace.

One of the BIG alcoholic tipples during the early part of the 19th century was -- port.
Port is shipped from Oporto and the grapes are mainly grown in the Upper Douro. The grapes aregrown by quintas or farms The ratio of Portuguese wine to Spanish was three to one in 1815. Until the 1820's pages of the Royal household were issued with a bottle of port per day. It was significant moment when it was changed to sherry but it wasn't until the 1840s that sherry drew level with port and finally the consumption of sherry overtook port in 1859. (According to Hugh Johnson's Story of Wine). One explanation can be the variety of upheavals and civil wars that wracked Portugal in the 19th century beginning in 1820.
Port had huge associations with the three bottle per day men (IE rakes) and the Temperance movement particularly targeted the wine. It was a fiery glassful. And there were almost as many styles of port as ribbons in a haberdasher's shop according to the journalist Henry Vizetelly in 1877. The one that stood out head and shoulders above the rest was vintage port -- in particular the 1820. Vintage port did have a dose of brandy added to it btw. Customers often chose and blended their own port.
The shippers, indeed most of the Port traders were dominated by the British, in particular by The Factory House. The Factory House still maintains its over 200 years old tradition of Wednesday lunch where a tawny port is followed by a glass of vintage wine. A wager is placed on which vintage and shipper. The first reference to tawny port is by Charles Dickens in 1844. Tawny is lighter in colour than the deep ruby red one traditionally associates with vintage port.
Cockburn's was founded in 1815 and W&J Graham in 1820, but the tradition of port goes back to the early 1700s.
Oh, and vintage port is one of the things butlers would have kept behind the locked cage in the wine cellar. It takes a long time to mature.

Because Jen Black made a comment about Irish whiskey v Scotch whisky, I did some basic research. Please note, the American Regencies that have bothered me ALL have made it clear that it was Scotch whisky the Regency rakes were drinking. IF they had said, Irish, I would have believed them and would have applauded their research.
The two biggest Irish whiskey distillers were licensed in the 1780's. This is the period that Highland distillaries were prohibitted from exporting and possibly contributed to their growth. John Jameson and sons in Dublin and Bushmill's in the North. John Jameson's motto -- Sine Metu -- Without fear is still printed on every bottle of Jamesons. In the Book of Lienster, there is a record of whiskey being drunk in the 12th century. The first license for Bushmill's was given in 1620 by James I.
Jameson's was the second biggest distiller in Ireland by 1820. However, both websites admit the real rise in the consumption of whiskey did not happen until 1858-1893 when the Phylloxera hit the grape vines of Europe, nearly wiping out wine and brandy production. In 1890, Irish whiskey accounted for 90% of the worldwide whisk(e)y market with Jameson providing 10% of that. They were severely hit by US prohibition.
Irish whiskey tastes slightly different to Scotch single malt. I am not sure when it got its colour, but suspect that it had to do with port or sherry casks.
Thus, if Regency rakes do drink whisk(e)y, it is probably best if it is Irish, and possibly served in a punch or a toddy. But really, it was not as popular fortified wine, or brandy or even rum or gin.