Port wine and the Madeira wine drunk by the witches of the Witch-Demon Society were both fortified wines. The difference was that Port wine was fortified with brandy, while Madeira wine had high-proof alcohol added to it.
Was there any difference between alcohol and brandy?
The military was an entirely male world. To men who might lose their lives at any moment, alcohol and brandy were no different. Tasting wine was something only senior officers did.
Alcohol was made from starchy materials such as corn, wheat, and potatoes, while the ethanol in brandy was produced by fermenting the sugars in fruit. When brandy was added to Porto wine, itself made from grapes, it enhanced the flavor of the wine, turning it into Port wine with natural sweetness and a fruity aroma.
Madeira wine was also known as "the wine of immortality." This wine was "lifeless"; like a corpse soaked in formaldehyde, it could be stored for centuries in ordinary conditions without requiring a cellar with constant temperature and humidity. Yeast was killed by high-proof alcohol. Port wine was fortified before the grape juice had finished fermenting. In the Bible, yeast represented "sin," and the bread used in Communion was usually unleavened. Yet the Eastern Orthodox Church used leavened bread, because they believed it represented the Holy Spirit. Moreover, the Western Church refused to recite the epiclesis during Mass.
Although Constantinople had fallen, Eastern Orthodox believers took root in Russia, while others emigrated to America.
When the Salem witch trials occurred, the new governor of Massachusetts and Increase Mather had just obtained a charter from Britain. The people of Massachusetts had driven out the former governor, Andros, but order had not been restored. They needed a new governor.
The new governor, Phips, was not a believer. He had never even been