Gin - HG - was the staple drink of the masses back in Hogarth`s day - it was much purer than the "water" and certainly the cheapest alcoholic drink available.......................



Juniper berries were recognized from ancient times as possessing medicinal properties. By the 11th century, Italian monks were flavoring crudely distilled spirits with juniper berries. During the bubonic plague, this drink was used, although ineffectively, as a remedy. As the science of distillation advanced from the middle ages into the renaissance period, juniper was one of many the botanicals employed by virtue of its perfume, flavour, and medicinal properties.

The name gin is derived from either the French genièvre or the Dutch jenever, which both mean "juniper". A common misconception is that the word is derived from the Swiss city Geneva. The Dutch physician Franciscus Sylvius is credited with the invention of gin. By the mid 1600s, numerous small Dutch distillers (some 400 in Amsterdam alone by 1663) had popularized the re-distillation of malt spirit or wine with juniper, anise, caraway, coriander, etc, which were sold in pharmacies and used to treat such medical problems as kidney ailments, lumbago, stomach ailments, gallstones, and gout. It was found in Holland by English troops who were fighting against the Spanish in the Eighty years war and where the term Dutch courage came from. Gin emerged in England in varying forms as of the early 17th century, and at the time of The Restoration enjoyed a brief resurgence. It was only when William of Orange, ruler of the Dutch Republic, seized the British throne in what has become known as the Glorious Revolution that gin became vastly more popular, particularly in crude, inferior forms, where it was more likely to be flavored with turpentine ( careful Cedric ).


Gin became popular in England after the government allowed unlicensed gin production and at the same time imposed a heavy duty on all imported spirits. This created a market for poor-quality grain that was unfit for brewing beer, and thousands of gin-shops sprang up throughout England. By 1740 the production of gin had increased to six times that of beer, and because of its cheapness it became popular with the poor. Of the 15,000 drinking establishments in London, over half were gin-shops. Beer maintained a healthy reputation as it was often safer to drink the brewed ale than unclean plain water. Gin, though, was blamed for various social and medical problems, and it may have been a factor in the higher death rates which stabilized London's previously growing population. The reputation of the two drinks was illustrated by William Hogarth in his engravings Beer Street and Gin Lane (1751). This negative reputation survives today in the English language, in terms like "gin-mills" or "gin-joints" to describe disreputable bars or "gin-soaked" to refer to drunks, and in the phrase "Mother's Ruin," a common British name for gin.

The Gin Act 1736 imposed high taxes on retailers and led to riots in the streets. The prohibitive duty was gradually reduced and finally abolished in 1742. The Gin Act 1751 was more successful, however. It forced distillers to sell only to licensed retailers and brought gin-shops under the jurisdiction of local magistrates.Gin in the 18th century was produced in pot stills, and was somewhat sweeter than the London gin known today.

In London in the early eighteenth century, gin sold on the black market was prepared in illicit stills (of which there were 1500 in 1726) and was often adulterated with turpentine and sulfuric acid.As late as 1913, Webster's Dictionary states without further comment that 'common gin' is usually flavored with turpentine.'

Dutch gin, also known as jenever or genever, evolved from malt wine spirits, and is a distinctly different drink from later styles of gin. Jenever is distilled at least partially from barley malt (and/or other grain) using a pot still, and is sometimes aged in wood. This typically lends a slightly malty flavor and/or a resemblance to whisky. Schiedam, a city in the province of South Holland, is famous for its jenever producing history. Jenever is typically lower in alcohol content and distinctly different from gins distilled strictly from neutral spirits (e.g. London dry gin). The 'oude' (old) style of Jenever, remained very popular throughout the 19th century, where it was referred to as "Holland Gin" or "Geneva Gin" in popular pre-prohibition bartender guides. The column still was invented in 1832, making the distillation of neutral spirits practical. This invention would enable the creation of the "London dry" style, which was developed later in the 19th century.

I rest my case

Tony

I`ll not touch any alcohol before 6


T

And what about Gin ????????


Tony

Yes yes yes - put a worm in a glass of water and it will live,put a worm in a glass of red wine and it will be killed - QED Red wine is an antiseptic ( and great if you have worms too !! )

Also according to the Telegraph this morning - 40% less risk of stroke - NURSE,Nurse,quickly................more Rioja


Tony ( Fully antibioticked )

Happy St.George`s Day to all our readers.....................


Tony

Oh right - yes they look ok - still very airbrushed though - I got the one with the muscles/biceps.

Thanks for the flighttrack

Tony

Oooer !! No thanks polchraine - looks more like an airbrushed bloke to me !

Next door and family just got in the minibus for Manchester Airport - so that`s alright then - Lanzarote here they come !

Still sunny but chilly here - what happened to the change in wind direction we were forecast ?

I`m going to dust off the Bellows Unit .....................

Tony

I wouldn`t want anything from Iceland after seeing that Kerry Catona woman .................................


Tony

Beautiful selection Tim

Regards

Tony

I have to say - based on information received only - that the whole thing seems to have been very badly handled.
Apart from Captain Moody`s miraculous escape back in 1983 over Jakarta when he flew THROUGH the cloud of ejecta inadvertantly,there seems to be little evidence to support the over-reaction based on the Met reports that planes would be crashing from the skies if they encountered the dust so far from its source.
IMHO

Tony