Whisky

It might be a surprise to those who have read about John Cowper's (later) diet of milk and raw eggs, to learn that he was much prone to drinking whisky, even during the prohibition years. There was also a time when he smoked, as we can see from a photograph of John Cowper (taken in his English home at Burpham) when he was in his thirties: he is sitting contentedly in an armchair and enjoying a cigarette.

I've just drunk some whisly out of that flask I always carry that my guardian angel bought at John Daniells that old good shop (opposite Wanamaker's) where no one ever goes. This has a bit recovered me from the rain of black snow and the trucks & the sewage-river and the iron & smoke & the pavements.
(Powys to Sea Eagle, Youngstown, Ohio, 16 January 1926)

Do you recall that pleasant walk we took when I scared you so by drinking from my flask? Well! I still manage to buy enough whiskey (such as it is) to fill up my flask. It is really made out of Indian Corn and is called "Moonshine" in Kentucky where the mountaineers make it in defiance of the authorities.
(To Lucy Amelia Penny, March 29 1929 in The Powys Journal,vol.1.)

And I can remember the day when prohibition began, and how I bought, and this was on "the Coast", a colossal stone jar, like one of those jars mentioned at the Marriage at Cana in Galilee containing the only alcoholic drink I really care for, namely very strong, very cheap, very fiery, very raw whisky.
(Autobiography)