armada

“It drinks much like a wine, but it’s more approachable, like a beer,” said Andrew Blake, the founder of Blake’s Beverage Company in Armada, Mich.

“And what of Queen Elizabeth’s rousing speech to the English troops as they prepared to do battle with the Spanish Armada in the year 1588? Mrs. Apple made glowing mention of it in her brief but thorough talk on English history. Surely, I ought to have a peek at that as well.”

“Elizabeth, Armada...Elizabeth, Armada...Eureka! Here it is.”

“There must be little here to interest you, then,” she said, and pretended to go back to reading about the Spanish Armada.

The speech she gave for the baroness was like something out of one of those modern frozen-yogurt machines they have nowadays: sprinkles of Cicero were ladled over chunks of Demosthenes, and Queen Elizabeth’s speech before the battle with the Spanish Armada swirled together with spoonfuls of Julius Caesar.