Spirit (alcohol)

Spirits were alcoholic beverages produced through distillation, and were usually quite potent. They could be produced using methods involving a still or through brewing in even the simplest of containers, such as a bathtub. The Seventh Doctor used a bathtub in his TARDIS to brew whiskey when he was in Chicago in 1929. He could have used more traditional methods but he claimed it preserved the period "flavour" by brewing in a bathtub. (PROSE: Blood Harvest)

Spirits were consumed on their own, with a simple mixer (such as soda water, or tonic water) or were consumed as part of a cocktail.

Spirits were particularly flammable, Bernice Summerfield was able to use a bottle of particularly cheap vodka and a lighter against a Martian on Earth in 1997. (PROSE: The Dying Days) The Ninth Doctor later threatened the Slitheen, saying that he would triplicate the flammability of some brandy, and kill them all. (TV: World War Three)

Drinking establishments such as pubs generally stocked a range of alcoholic beverages, including spirits. On Blinni-Gaar the bar served various beverages including Draconian sake and Foamasi brandy. (PROSE: Prime Time) In the television series EastEnders, a storyline in 2007 had Peggy Mitchell being confronted by a ghost of Den Watts, where she told him to get out of her pub, saying that the only spirits she served were gin, whiskey and vodka. (TV: Army of Ghosts)

Spirits in culture
Sarah Jane Smith hated them. (TV: The Ark in Space) Clara Oswald called whiskey the "11th most disgusting drink ever invented". (TV: Hide) Others, however, particularly men, such as the Doctor and the Brigadier, found spirits a vital part of life, and shared them as a way of either connecting and communicating or celebrating. For example, the Ninth Doctor drank some brandy after rescuing Mickey Smith and Jackie Tyler from the Slitheen by phone. (TV: World War Three)

Harriet Jones later informed the Ninth Doctor that one passed spirits to one's left. (TV: World War Three)

Commercial brands
RedStar was a brand of Martian vodka. It was used in several cocktails such as 'A Red Under The Bed', Bernice Summerfield drank much RedStar whilst on Mars. (PROSE: Beige Planet Mars)

The Third Doctor and Iris Wildthyme drank Bombay Sapphire, in which the Doctor preferred lime to lemon. (PROSE: Verdigris)

Named spirits
Known spirits included: gin, brandy, vodka, whiskey.

Bernice Summerfield drank rekkar with Professor Lazlo Zemar whilst researching on the planet Sentarion. (PROSE: Shakedown)

Unnamed spirits
Other, unnamed spirits, however, have been encountered as well.

The Third Doctor toasted Captain Dent's health with an unknown spirit after a civilised, but confrontational, introduction. (TV: Colony in Space)

When Chris Cwej, the Seventh Doctor, Roz Forrester and Bernice Summerfield returned to Earth following a variety of confrontations, Chris' father opened a bottle of fermented drink brewed by mutant space bees. Roz thought that it tasted vaguely of honey. (PROSE: Original Sin)

Roz and Bernice drank home-made hooch on the planet Yemaya 4. (PROSE: SLEEPY)

On what was supposed to be an alcohol-free cruise, Bernice Summerfield drank some (particularly lethal) Brettellian potato spirit so strong it made her eyes water. (PROSE: Dry Pilgrimage)

In Paris, the Countess drank a green liquid filled from a bottle on her drinks tray when she spoke to the Fourth Doctor, Romana II and Duggan. (TV: City of Death)

Behind the scenes
Peggy Mitchell's reference to serving spirits is a play on the meaning of both "serve" and "spirit". Though not explained in detail in Army of Ghosts, "spirit" refers to incorporeal supernatural beings, sometimes including ghosts, but also the alcoholic beverage. A bartender can serve a person, but the food and drink itself can be what's served to the patron.