AGUARDIENTE

A generic term for alcoholic beverages that contain between 29% and 60% alcohol by volume. The word is a compound of the Romance languages' words for "water" (agua in Spanish) and "fiery" (ardiente in Spanish) similarly to the English term "firewater". Both aguardiente and brandy—from the Dutch expression for "burnt (i.e., distilled) wine"—originated as terms for distilled spirits using whatever ingredients were available locally.

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