Liquid diet

While, strictly speaking, Muslims did not drink alcohol (another Arabic word), at certain periods of Al-Andalus it was happily imbibed, even rhapsodized over, occasionally bringing civic problems of drunkenness. It was their formidable technological skills that developed the modern still (alambique, from the Arabic) originally for medicinal potions. From the Middle East the alembic made its way to the Iberian peninsula, where non-Muslims soon discovered the power of distilling grape must (leftover seed, stems, and skins of pressed grapes), so creating a neutral flavored brandy: aguardiente.