Spirits were an alcohol 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, which the Seventh Doctor did with whiskey when he was in Chicago in 1929, while he did so in the TARDIS, and could have used more traditional methods he claimed it preserved the period "flavour". (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)
Drinking establishments generally stocked a range of alcoholic beverages, including spirits. On Blinni-Gar the bar served various beverages including Draconian sake and Foamasi brandy. (PROSE: Prime Time) Whilst on Earth 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, whisky and vodka. (TV: Army of Ghosts)
Cultural institutions
The Ninth Doctor threatened to triplicate the flammability of some brandy, but the Slitheen declared that he was "making that up". Harriet Jones also informed him that one passes to one's left. Later, he, Harriet and Rose imbibed a measure of that brandy after successfully rescuing Mickey and Jackie by phone. (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 Gin, in which the Doctor preferred lime to lemon. (PROSE: Verdigris)
Specific spirits
Brandy
- The Sixth Doctor, Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart and Claire Aldwych drank (gulped mainly) a lot of brandy while discussing the deaths of Hitler and Eva Braun. (PROSE: The Shadow in the Glass)
- Bernice Summerfield brewed vodka to clean wounds (and to drink). She also found a flask of the Doctor's Napoleon Brandy. According to the Doctor, it was really Napoleon's brandy. (PROSE: Sanctuary)
- Benny drank drugged brandy whilst on the Braxiatel Collection. (PROSE: The Squire's Crystal)
- During his final days, the Brigadier would make the staff pour an extra brandy for the Doctor, in the hope he would visit one last time. (TV: The Wedding of River Song)
- The Fourth Doctor asked Harry Sullivan to go get a bottle of brandy from his TARDIS to help revive Sarah Jane Smith after she had fallen unconscious from lack of oxygen on The Ark. Sarah responded to the offer by making a disgusted noise and stating she hated brandy. (TV: The Ark in Space)
Vodka
- The Third Doctor drank what appeared to be a whiskey and soda whilst in Hart's office. (TV: The Sea Devils)
- The Third Doctor toasted Captain Dent's health with an unknown spirit after a civilised, but confrontational, introduction. (TV: Colony in Space)
- Bernice Summerfield drank cheap, watered down vodka in a dirty London bar in 1908. (PROSE: Birthright)
- Jack Harkness when sentenced to death ordered three hypervodkas as a last meal. (TV: The Doctor Dances)
Whiskey
- The Eighth Doctor once drank whiskey. (PROSE: Sometime Never...)
- Bernice spent time in the Witch and Whirlwind bar while Jason and Emile were off having adventures (on what wasn't Ardethe) drinking Jack Daniels and scotch. (PROSE: Deadfall)
Other spirits
- Chris' father, when Chris, the Doctor, Roz and Bernice returned to Earth following a variety of confrontations, opened a bottle of Gallavax Prime, fermented drink brewed by mutant space bees which tasted vaguely of honey. (PROSE: Original Sin)
- Bernice Summerfield drank rekkar with Professor Lazlo Zemar whilst researching on the planet Sentarion. (PROSE: Shakedown)
- Roz and Bernice drank homemade 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 filled from a bottle on her drinks tray when she spoke to the Fourth Doctor, Romana and Duggan. (TV: City of Death)