Did you know Gin was created to cure the plague?
Or fight malaria… and the French troops?
And what would you say if you could get it straight from a vending machine?
Gin’s uncanny history is that of medicine gone craze-e, a craze gone very Spirited,
and a Spirit gone crazy popular again.
In this week’s Drawn from the Barrel let’s check out the Incredible History of Gin.
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What is Gin?
Let’s first get the basics out of the way.
Gin is a distilled grain spirit made with juniper berries and other botanicals.
Basically, a juniper-starred vodka featuring a supporting cast of other ingredients.
Gin as medicine
Just like many a modern human vice, gin’s origin story can be traced back to monks - crazy ol’ rascals.
Jenever, the granddaddy of Gin, was a juniper-based medicine reportedly first concocted by Dutch
friars to cure the plague back in 1269.
But the true OGin was the physician Franciscus Sylvius.
He started prescribing “the good stuff” in 1550 to cure all sorts of ailments such
as gout, lumbago, and gallstones.
But besides fighting the various diseases, jenever was extremely good at fighting your
king’s enemies.
Used copiously in the Dutch independence wars in the mid-17th Century, the so-called “Dutch
Courage” did just that—give the warriors an extra ...khm, khm… incentive to fight.
The British, who fought alongside the Dutch, liked the sauce so much, the future king of
England, William of Orange, brought it home and even taxed it to help stave off another
monarchical disease - the French.
And of course, anything to do with fighting the French was immediately accepted and popularized
in ye old Britannia.
The chaps dropped the name ‘jenever’ in favor of a more efficient Gin, and thus a
massive gin production craze started to distill.
The London Gin Craze.
The beginning of the 18th century saw the rise of a peculiar new fad
called the London Gin Craze.
Gin was cheaper than beer, so everyone and their dog drank it.
For the next 50 years or so, Gin got blamed for every vice & debauchery committed among
“the commoners.”
Things were nasty and they got even nastier after the massive taxation in the 1736 Gin Act.
But that’s a story for a whole ‘nother video.
The Craze did give the world its first vending machine though.
See, the said Gin Act taxed the hell out of vendors who sold small amounts of gin.
So, one lad came up with a clever workaround.
Between 1747 and 1748, the Puss and Mew became London’s go-to pharmacy where thirsty Londoners
could find their daily fix of proper and safe gin without the added side-effect of paying
the insanely high tax.
It was a cat-and-mouse game with the cops, but it worked.
The first Gin cocktails
Gin’s role as “The Doctor”
would return several times to tamper with the history’s timeline.
In the 18th century, on long sea voyages throughout the colonial empire, gin was mixed with lime
juice and rationed to sailors to prevent scurvy — effectively creating the first classic
Gin cocktail, The Gimlet.
And to check its pureness, gin was poured over gunpowder and ignited.
And that’s where the Gunpowder Gin or Navy Strength Gin names come from.
To learn more about these, voyage to the linked video on the screen.
Later this century, Brits again turned to Gin to solve their problems.
Their soldiers stationed in India would mix the bitter quinine powder with gin to treat malaria.
Some clever chap later added carbonated water and sugar to counter the bitterness of the
quinine and voila!
The Gin & Tonic was born.
The bathtub gin
In the early 20th century you could actually bathe in gin—not because it was healthy,
mind you.
Bathtub Gin is what they called cheap, bathtub-produced gin during the American prohibition in the 1920s.
It was made from second-rate grain alcohol, flavorings, and other agents such as juniper
berry juice and glycerin, and it was supposedly made in literal bathtubs!
But it was the low-quality prohibition gin why we now have so many gin cocktails.
See, people wanted the buzz, but the spirit had an awful taste, so they added other ingredients
to mask it.
Gin today
After having spent its youth studying medicine, gin’s latest years have been spent in absolute stardom.
Featuring such stellar appearances as The Gimlet, Gin & Tonic, Tom Collins, Old Tom Gin
Sloe Gin, Negroni, and Martini, Gin’s star has been on a steady rise since its rehabilitation
in the 19th century.
And yes, originally Martinis were meant to be served with Gin, not vodka.
Sorry, Mr. Bond.
Since 2009, changes in Britain’s law allowed small distilleries to flourish, giving everyone
a chance of fame, and June 8 is now an official World Gin Day.
It even enjoys some royal patronage: Queen Elizabeth, a.k.a.
The Gin Queen in the connoisseur circles (rest her soul), was known to enjoy her signature
gin cocktail before lunch every day: that’s 30% Dubonnet and 70% gin with two cubes of
ice and a lemon slice for all you royalists.
Having picked up her habit from the Queen Mother herself, who lived to see her 101 birthday,
old Lizzie continued this proud royal tradition until her very last day on the throne.
In 2020, at 94 years of age, she even released her own gin made with botanicals from her
own country estate gardens.
Clearly there’s still something to be said about gin’s miraculous medicinal powers!
From curing the plague to keeping the royal bloodline healthy, gin’s position as a miracle
worker has been proven time and time again.
What is your favorite Gin or Gin cocktail?
Let us know in the comments below.
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Cheerios!