I taste a liquor never brewed Summary

The poem opens with a paradox: tasting a liquor that was never brewed, sourced from a peculiar sort of tankard and no local fruits. It becomes clear that the speaker isn’t describing real liquor, but using the language of alcoholic intoxication as an extended metaphor for something else. She is depicting a state of being drunk on the wonders of nature. The speaker proceeds to go further in depth with her description of the world surrounding her: bees, butterflies, flowers, and so on. As she falls into this state, the speaker adds some additional images and themes. The poem ends with images of spiritual beings—seraphs and saints—watching the “little Tippler / Leaning against the – Sun!” The Tippler is the speaker of the poem, drunk on nature’s beauty.