Ah gin. Ginny, gin, gin. loved by rapscallions and royalty alike.
In it's 300 odd year history gin has been painted as the source of many a social ill, much like the printing press and rock 'n' roll, but as we will see this was a tale told to express a fear of a shifting social scene (daddio). Super for all you class warrior types. Hazzah!
So anyway, on to the bees.
Bees?
Yes Bees. The earliest mention of Jenever, also known as Dutch Gin, was in an 18th century book called The Fable of the Bees.
“The infamous liquor, the name of which deriv’d from juniper-berries in Dutch, is now, by frequent use… from a word of middling length shrunk into a monosyllable, intoxicating gin.”
Or for a moderner translation people were too trolleyed to pronounce 'Genever' so contracted the word to 'gin'.
The book is actually about bees throwing off the dreary shackles of communism or something but aren't all bees communist by nature what with their classless communal living thingy? Their Honey's good though. Anyway...
Although juniper berries have been added to drinks since ancient Egyptian times, in the 17th century, the Dutch added them to malted wine to come up with a medicinal drink. The afore mentioned Jenever.
During Europe's Eighty Years War (1618 and 1648) British soldiers were fighting alongside the Dutch in The Low Countries.
It was during these wars that British soldiers got hold of some of the Dutch Jenever and used it to embiggen their bravery in battle. Presumably this is where the term 'Dutch Courage' comes from.
1689 and soon after William of Orange got somewhat suckered in to scaring off James II and assuming the kingship of England, he started a trade war with France. The French exported plenty of quality plonk to England so William started enforcing blockades and introducing taxes on these Latin libations.
He also introduced 'An Act for encouraging the distilling of brandy and spirits from corn'. This allowed any old body to set up a distillery so long as they posted a notice for 10 days beforehand on their property. This was a surefire way to not only replace the booze from abroad but also produce gin of a super high quality... Right?
The supply of gin became plentiful. It is believed that one in five households were making gin and usually in their own bathtubs. Yuk!
And because gin was way cheaper than beer or wine and the water was ...er.... unappealing, demand was high too.
People wound up drinking so much dodgy gin that they went either bonkers or died. Things were going bad quickly.
The Bishop of Sodor and Man, a Thomas Wilson, commented that gin produced a “drunken ungovernable set of people.”
At the height of the craze it is said that the death rate was much higher than the birth rate in London.
Something had to be done...
Or did it?
Tis ſtrange that our Great Men who live at their Eafe,
Can eat what they will, and can drink what they Pleaſe,
That they ſhould contrive, and permit Laws to paſs,
To hinder the Poor of a chirruping Glaſs;
When they and their Ladies in private can be As frisky , in ſhort,
and as tipſy as wę, I dare not ſay Drunk,
for that would be a Crime, ' Tis only the Poor that gets drunk as a Swine.
The Gin Shop (1829) is an etching that shows some poor sozzled fella being poisoned with gin by a lady server stood next to lady drinking gin and lady feeding baby with gin and young lady drinking gin and lady, lady, lady!!!!!
This, from what some learned scholars believe, seems to be what is behind the moral panic that accompanied gin.
For one, gin was seen as quite a girly drink and, two, common folk drinking gin was seen as them getting a taste for the finer things in life, oh how very dare they.
During this time wealth folk were drinking gin at a proper silly rate.
They were none to effective to begin with (because politics) and, despite the taxes and duties placed on gin raising plenty of money to fight wars and expand the empire, these acts usually exacerbating the situation (what does exacerbating mean?).
Eventually however the eighth and final act brought the consumption of gin down and it was overtaken by beer.
In 1751, when the eighth act was introduced, an English artist produced two art prints. Beer Street and Gin Lane.
This, from what some learned scholars believe, seems to be what is behind the moral panic that accompanied gin.
For one, gin was seen as quite a girly drink and, two, common folk drinking gin was seen as them getting a taste for the finer things in life, oh how very dare they.
During this time wealth folk were drinking gin at a proper silly rate.
The 8 acts of gin
Between 1729 and 1751 parliament enacted 8 gin acts.They were none to effective to begin with (because politics) and, despite the taxes and duties placed on gin raising plenty of money to fight wars and expand the empire, these acts usually exacerbating the situation (what does exacerbating mean?).
Eventually however the eighth and final act brought the consumption of gin down and it was overtaken by beer.
In 1751, when the eighth act was introduced, an English artist produced two art prints. Beer Street and Gin Lane.
These pictures along with the final gin act brought about the end of the Gin Craze of the previous years and sanity returned.
1830
Aeneas Coffey. The Man, the Myth, the legend swooped in to save the day. Coffey was an Irish inventor and very fond of a tipple. In 1830 he patented a gin still that produced clean, quality gin. The kind of stuff that wouldn't send you absolutely do-lally!
Before Coffey's still beer was cheaper than gin and not likely to off folk who drank it but once gin was no longer likely to kill folk it made a bit of a comeback.
Gin palaces opened.
Before Coffey's still beer was cheaper than gin and not likely to off folk who drank it but once gin was no longer likely to kill folk it made a bit of a comeback.
Gin palaces opened.
These drinking establishments were created as grand and comfortable escape for folk from their usually run-down homes. Charles Dickens described them as 'perfectly dazzling when contrasted with the darkness and dirt we have just left' in Sketches by Boz.
This was during Britain colonial times and gin found uses overseas. In tropical colonies gin was used to disguise the flavour of anti-malaria medicine. These medicines were often dissolved in tonic water so when they were mixed with gin. The gin and tonic was born. Hazzah
English sailors often added Limes due to their anti-scurvy properties, thus birthing the term “limey,” a moniker for sailors.
This was during Britain colonial times and gin found uses overseas. In tropical colonies gin was used to disguise the flavour of anti-malaria medicine. These medicines were often dissolved in tonic water so when they were mixed with gin. The gin and tonic was born. Hazzah
English sailors often added Limes due to their anti-scurvy properties, thus birthing the term “limey,” a moniker for sailors.
1920s – The cocktail age
The roaring 20s, a post World War time of hedonistic euphoria.Gin had been the drink of choice on the Atlantic crossing for Canard Cruises. Canard Cruise ships were, at the time, considered floating palaces, the height of glamour.
With passengers crisscrossing the Atlantic between America and Europe the idea of the Cocktail Party arrived in the UK.
A British journalist called Alec Waugh noted that the first cocktail party in England was held by war artist Christopher Nevinson in 1924 .
(here)
Alec wrote that ‘There was nothing to do on winter evenings between half-past five and half-past seven.’ If you think long and hard enough, you’ll probably remember stuff like ‘taking care of a child or pet, gardening, reading a book …But what one needs…is some kind of party that starts at half-past five, that last ninety minutes, at which alcohol is served but not much food.’
Into this the mixologists come into their own. Mixologists had been about since 1852 but with the new fad of gin cocktails mixology became a thing...
WW2 and During the Blitz the gin factories were bombed. This did not bode well for the Axis powers. The Navy loved gin and as one sailor quipped... ‘Well, Hitler just lost the war!’” Ooopsy!
After the war and throughout the 20th century Gin went somewhat out of fashion
but since the 1990s and turn of the century Gin has had a bit of a renaissance
with many a new brand and producers getting going. Her Majesty the Queen herself has a gin, made from ingredients gathered from Sandringham Estate. Good to see her majesty getting in on the racket.
In 2018 gin sales passed £2 billion.
Goodness knows what has happened during the Pandemic of 2020.
Amazing! What a history gin has had.
Anyway, I'm off now to crack open a bottle.
Chin-chin!
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