Obs. Also 7 sing. low wine, 8 Sc. lowins. pl. The first spirit that comes off in the process of distillation. (Cf. FAINTS.)
1641. French, Distill., i. (1651), 26. There will come forth a weak Spirit, which is called low Wine.
1657. R. Ligon, Barbadoes (1673), 93. The first Spirit that comes off, is a small Liquor, which we call low-wines.
1701. Lond. Gaz., No. 2717/1. An Act for Granting to His Majesty several Duties upon Low-Wines or Spirits of the first Extraction.
1790. A. Wilson, Poems, 91. Whauks o’ gude ait-far’le cowins, Synt down wi’ whey, or whisky lowins.
1870. Broderip & Bingham’s Rep., I. 436. Terry v. Huntington, when the commissioners determined low wines to be strong waters.
