Tubâ, a variety of
palm wine, existed in the
Philippines before colonisation. They were widely consumed for recreation and important in various religious rituals. Heavy consumption of alcohol in the Philippine islands was described in several Spanish accounts.
Social drinking (
tagayan or
inuman in
Tagalog and
Visayan languages) was and continues to be an important aspect of Filipino social interactions. Laksoy is pre-colonial in origin. Despite being distilled, laksoy and lambanog were inaccurately called
vino de nipa and
vino de coco, respectively, in Spanish. In
Historia de Las Islas E Indios de Bisayas (1668), the Spanish missionary
Francisco Ignacio Alcina described "dalisay" as
vino de la nipa, el primero que se extrae y más fuerte ("nipa wine, the first to be extracted and the strongest"). In the
Vocabulario de la lengua Tagala, primera, y segunda parte (1794) by Domingo de los Santos, he defines
dalisay as a type of
alac that is
muy fuerte y bueno ("very strong and good"). In
Historia general sacro-profana, política y natural de las islas del poniente, llamadas Filipinas (1697-1755) by Juan José Delgado, native liquor is described as being distinguished into three types:
vino ordinario (from the first distillate),
dalisay (from the second distillate), and
mistela (from the third distillate). In contrast to Alcina and other authors, Delgado applies the terms to both nipa and coconut liquor, distinguishing them as
dalisay de nipa and
dalisay de coco. ==Description==