1 00:00:02,440 --> 00:00:05,080 Speaker 1: Happy Sunday. Since it is New Year's Eve and we 2 00:00:05,160 --> 00:00:06,840 Speaker 1: know a lot of folks are going to be ringing 3 00:00:06,840 --> 00:00:09,200 Speaker 1: in the new year with a cocktail, we have a 4 00:00:09,240 --> 00:00:12,520 Speaker 1: special bonus episode today. This is our September twenty second, 5 00:00:12,560 --> 00:00:16,480 Speaker 1: twenty twenty one distilled history of Gin. This is also 6 00:00:16,560 --> 00:00:19,239 Speaker 1: a good companion to our recent live show that featured 7 00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:22,200 Speaker 1: Gin based cocktails that came out on November twenty seventh. 8 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:25,040 Speaker 1: So Happy New Year's Eve, and shout out to all 9 00:00:25,040 --> 00:00:28,920 Speaker 1: the transit drivers, designated drivers, cab drivers and rideshare drivers 10 00:00:28,960 --> 00:00:31,280 Speaker 1: who are going to be getting folks home safely tonight. 11 00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:35,080 Speaker 1: And for everybody who's glass has some water or soda 12 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:39,520 Speaker 1: or something zero proof. Cheers. I hope it's delicious. Happy 13 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:45,120 Speaker 1: New Year, everybody, enjoy Welcome to Stuff You Missed in 14 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:55,440 Speaker 1: History Class, a production of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to 15 00:00:55,480 --> 00:00:58,760 Speaker 1: the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. 16 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:02,360 Speaker 1: We got an email from listener Jessica a couple of 17 00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:06,200 Speaker 1: weeks ago, and this email set in part quote my 18 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:09,160 Speaker 1: email tonight is to ask something on the lighter side. 19 00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:12,080 Speaker 1: I was enjoying my Gin and tonic after dinner and 20 00:01:12,160 --> 00:01:14,760 Speaker 1: had the thought of I wonder if Holly and Tracy 21 00:01:14,840 --> 00:01:17,480 Speaker 1: ever did an episode about Gin. So I went to 22 00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:20,080 Speaker 1: the website to try and search the archives low and behold, 23 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:23,399 Speaker 1: that doesn't seem to be possible in the current iHeartRadio format. 24 00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:26,960 Speaker 1: So is there an episode about Gin in the archives? 25 00:01:27,440 --> 00:01:30,560 Speaker 1: How would I go about bringing it up? So to 26 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:35,200 Speaker 1: answer half the question, Uh, the best way to find 27 00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:37,959 Speaker 1: old episodes of our podcast at this point is to 28 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:41,119 Speaker 1: google the topic along with the words stuff you missed 29 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:43,120 Speaker 1: in history class as part of your search. And I 30 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:45,480 Speaker 1: know that sounds weird, but that's also how I was 31 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:49,720 Speaker 1: doing it with the old website. Other search engines like 32 00:01:49,880 --> 00:01:53,000 Speaker 1: Duck Duck Go and bing did not used to work 33 00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:56,520 Speaker 1: as well for this, but they have caught up since 34 00:01:56,560 --> 00:02:00,400 Speaker 1: the last time I had checked. Nowadays, they're more constantly 35 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:03,480 Speaker 1: bringing up the episode if there is one as a 36 00:02:03,520 --> 00:02:07,320 Speaker 1: top search result, although sometimes it's on another platform rather 37 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:11,040 Speaker 1: than our website, which is fine. All goes into the 38 00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:15,639 Speaker 1: same bucket of listening. This would not have worked when 39 00:02:15,720 --> 00:02:19,079 Speaker 1: Jessica sent this email, though, because at that point there 40 00:02:19,320 --> 00:02:23,600 Speaker 1: was no episode on Gin, but there's about to be one. 41 00:02:23,720 --> 00:02:29,160 Speaker 1: It's this one BUMU recording right now might not be 42 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:34,600 Speaker 1: quite as light as Jessica was thinking when requesting the topic, 43 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:39,639 Speaker 1: though there's always surprise horror in history. So jin as 44 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:42,880 Speaker 1: we know it today is a distilled alcoholic beverage made 45 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:48,160 Speaker 1: from grain and flavored with botanicals, particularly juniper berries. Juniper 46 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:51,120 Speaker 1: is an evergreen shrub in the cypress family, and there 47 00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:54,839 Speaker 1: are at least sixty different juniper species growing all over 48 00:02:54,840 --> 00:02:58,679 Speaker 1: the northern hemisphere. Those berries are not what you would 49 00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:01,280 Speaker 1: think of like berry you could pick from a tree 50 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:05,440 Speaker 1: and nash On. They are actually small, fleshy cones rather 51 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:09,519 Speaker 1: than any kind of juicy looking delicious berry. Yeah, we 52 00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:14,520 Speaker 1: column berries, but they're really tiny little cones. Every part 53 00:03:14,639 --> 00:03:17,680 Speaker 1: of the juniper plant has been used for medicinal and 54 00:03:17,760 --> 00:03:22,080 Speaker 1: religious and culinary purposes for pretty much all of recorded history. 55 00:03:23,040 --> 00:03:26,880 Speaker 1: Anywhere it grows or anywhere that's been in reasonable trading 56 00:03:26,919 --> 00:03:31,240 Speaker 1: distance starts with ancient Egyptian texts that describe the use 57 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:37,000 Speaker 1: of juniper and mummification recipes. John Burgundy's Plague Treatise, which 58 00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:41,080 Speaker 1: is written in thirteen sixty five, recommends burning juniper branches 59 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:45,120 Speaker 1: to drive bad air and disease from the home. Juniper 60 00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:48,040 Speaker 1: was also one of the fragrant substances that was stuffed 61 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:50,960 Speaker 1: up into the beaks of plague doctor masks. In the 62 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:55,480 Speaker 1: seventeenth century, the first alcohols made with juniper were also 63 00:03:55,560 --> 00:03:59,080 Speaker 1: meant for medicinal or alchemical use. This is something it 64 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:02,000 Speaker 1: shares with the history vodka. Same thing, yep, most of 65 00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:07,160 Speaker 1: the most of the most Some of the earliest mentions 66 00:04:07,160 --> 00:04:08,880 Speaker 1: of this date back to the middle of the eleventh 67 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:12,840 Speaker 1: century in the writing of Benedictine monks living in Salerno, Italy, 68 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:15,920 Speaker 1: as well as the nearby medical school known as Scola 69 00:04:16,080 --> 00:04:20,599 Speaker 1: Medicina so Lenitana. Medical texts from this period describe a 70 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:26,080 Speaker 1: tonic that's made from distilled wine infused with juniper berries. Eventually, 71 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:30,080 Speaker 1: people started combining juniper with alcohol to make a beverage 72 00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:35,400 Speaker 1: rather than a medicine or a now chemical potion. In Finland, sakti, 73 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:39,479 Speaker 1: which as like an ale like beer that's flavored with 74 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:42,599 Speaker 1: juniper instead of hops, has been around since about the 75 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:49,080 Speaker 1: twelfth century, and central Europe Borovichka, also called juniper brandy, 76 00:04:49,320 --> 00:04:52,000 Speaker 1: has been made since at least the fifteenth century. Today 77 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:55,600 Speaker 1: it's popular in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, and then 78 00:04:55,600 --> 00:04:59,080 Speaker 1: there are similar beverages and other Slavic countries as well, 79 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:02,440 Speaker 1: that I'll have this juniper flavor to them. But the 80 00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:05,360 Speaker 1: beverage that comes up most often as a predecessor to 81 00:05:05,480 --> 00:05:09,160 Speaker 1: jin is the Dutch spirit yenavor. That's a term that 82 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:12,200 Speaker 1: comes from the Dutch word for juniper. As is the 83 00:05:12,279 --> 00:05:15,880 Speaker 1: case with most food origin stories, the specifics on who 84 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:20,520 Speaker 1: first created yenavor are not totally clear. The credit often 85 00:05:20,560 --> 00:05:24,600 Speaker 1: goes to chemist and physician Franciscus Silvius, also known as 86 00:05:24,600 --> 00:05:28,640 Speaker 1: Francois de la Bois or Sylvius de la Bois. However, 87 00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:32,920 Speaker 1: though Franciscus Silvius was born in sixteen fourteen, and some 88 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:36,240 Speaker 1: of the accounts of the creation of yenavor put this 89 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:41,400 Speaker 1: development in fifteen seventy two, so well before his birth, 90 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:46,760 Speaker 1: time Traveler, Yes, it is possible that people have conflated 91 00:05:46,839 --> 00:05:50,880 Speaker 1: two different people who had similar names, both of whom 92 00:05:50,920 --> 00:05:54,600 Speaker 1: worked at the University of Leiden. I was an apothecary 93 00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:58,560 Speaker 1: named Sylvius de Bouve in the sixteenth century, and the 94 00:05:58,600 --> 00:06:02,200 Speaker 1: other was Franciscus Silvius, who was a professor of medicine 95 00:06:02,200 --> 00:06:05,680 Speaker 1: in the seventeenth century. It is just as likely, though, 96 00:06:05,760 --> 00:06:08,960 Speaker 1: that no one person can get the sole credit for 97 00:06:09,040 --> 00:06:14,760 Speaker 1: creating this drink regardless. Dutch distiller Lucas Bowles was established 98 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:18,680 Speaker 1: in fifteen seventy five and describes itself as the world's 99 00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:22,680 Speaker 1: oldest distilled spirits brand. By sixteen oh two, Bowls was 100 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:25,680 Speaker 1: supplying spirits to the Dutch East India Company known as 101 00:06:25,720 --> 00:06:29,679 Speaker 1: the VOC as it's abbreviated from Dutch. By the middle 102 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:33,120 Speaker 1: of the seventeenth century, VOC sailors were getting y Neahvor 103 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:37,040 Speaker 1: in their rations, and soon the VOC was carrying yenavor 104 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:40,880 Speaker 1: anywhere the Dutch were trading, including to what is now Indonesia. 105 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:44,479 Speaker 1: When the Dutch established the settlement of New Amsterdam on 106 00:06:44,520 --> 00:06:48,440 Speaker 1: the island of Manhattan, they introduced jenavor to North America 107 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:53,920 Speaker 1: as well. Today, yenavor is sometimes known as Hollands and 108 00:06:53,960 --> 00:06:57,480 Speaker 1: some people call it Dutch gin, but it's really its 109 00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:01,840 Speaker 1: own distinct beverage. Gin has evolved over time, which we 110 00:07:01,920 --> 00:07:04,920 Speaker 1: will get to, but it generally starts with a neutral 111 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:08,600 Speaker 1: spirit made from a grain which is flavored with botanicals, 112 00:07:08,640 --> 00:07:12,920 Speaker 1: including juniper, but yenavor typically goes through a two or 113 00:07:12,960 --> 00:07:16,880 Speaker 1: even three step process. It starts with a fermented grain 114 00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:20,360 Speaker 1: mash which is distilled into a malt wine and then 115 00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:25,560 Speaker 1: that is distilled again with botanicals including juniper berries, and 116 00:07:25,640 --> 00:07:29,680 Speaker 1: the result of this process is a clear, malted grain 117 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:35,280 Speaker 1: based spirit. It's typically consumed by itself from a tulip 118 00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:41,240 Speaker 1: shaped glass. In my experience, most people mix gin with 119 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:44,360 Speaker 1: other stuff most of the time. That's not so much 120 00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:49,880 Speaker 1: the case with Genahbor. There's also an official appalaciond'rogen control 121 00:07:50,160 --> 00:07:54,920 Speaker 1: or an AOC for you neighbor. Legally, true yenahbor can 122 00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:58,920 Speaker 1: only be made in Holland, Belgium and very specific regions 123 00:07:58,960 --> 00:08:03,480 Speaker 1: of France and German. While yenaver and gin are distinctly 124 00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:07,240 Speaker 1: different drinks, there was probably a progression from Dutch jenav 125 00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:11,960 Speaker 1: to British gin. Yinaver was introduced into Britain sometime during 126 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:16,119 Speaker 1: the seventeenth century, and there are several possibilities for exactly when. 127 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:20,200 Speaker 1: One is that during the Anglo Dutch Wars, which started 128 00:08:20,200 --> 00:08:23,760 Speaker 1: in sixteen fifty two it made its way. Another is 129 00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:26,920 Speaker 1: after the restoration of Charles the Second, he spent some 130 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:29,720 Speaker 1: time in the Hague before returning to the British throne 131 00:08:29,760 --> 00:08:33,960 Speaker 1: in sixteen sixty. Probably the most common explanation is that 132 00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:38,000 Speaker 1: yinaver's popularity in Britain really started with the Glorious Revolution, 133 00:08:38,520 --> 00:08:41,880 Speaker 1: when King James the Second was deposed and succeeded by 134 00:08:41,920 --> 00:08:45,960 Speaker 1: William the Third, also known as William of Orange Stadtholder 135 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:49,800 Speaker 1: of the Netherlands. William ruled with his wife Mary, who 136 00:08:49,840 --> 00:08:54,080 Speaker 1: is James's daughter. Regardless of exactly when or how it 137 00:08:54,160 --> 00:08:57,959 Speaker 1: was introduced, after yanav made its way into Britain, English 138 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:02,079 Speaker 1: speakers morphed its name into Geneva or Jennifer, and then 139 00:09:02,120 --> 00:09:06,800 Speaker 1: shorten that to jin Yeah, because yenavor is spelled ge 140 00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:11,240 Speaker 1: n e v er, so if you're reading it on 141 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:15,960 Speaker 1: a page as an English speaker, it looks like it's jennifer. 142 00:09:16,880 --> 00:09:20,480 Speaker 1: So since common juniper is native to the UK, there 143 00:09:20,480 --> 00:09:24,520 Speaker 1: were already culinary and medicinal uses for it well before 144 00:09:24,679 --> 00:09:28,960 Speaker 1: yenaver was introduced, and in written accounts for the seventeenth century, 145 00:09:29,040 --> 00:09:33,280 Speaker 1: it's not always totally clear exactly what people are describing, 146 00:09:33,880 --> 00:09:38,199 Speaker 1: whether it's Dutch yenaver or a local British beverage or 147 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:43,160 Speaker 1: a medicinal preparation made from alcohol and juniper. For example, 148 00:09:43,280 --> 00:09:48,240 Speaker 1: past podcast subjects Samuel Peeps described feeling unwell in his 149 00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:52,719 Speaker 1: diary entry from October fourth, sixteen sixty three, Peeps was 150 00:09:52,800 --> 00:09:56,600 Speaker 1: chronically ill. He had recurring bladderstones, and over the next 151 00:09:56,679 --> 00:10:00,120 Speaker 1: few days his diary entries describe him as b being 152 00:10:00,280 --> 00:10:05,840 Speaker 1: in pain and constipated and experiencing painful urination. Then on 153 00:10:05,920 --> 00:10:08,920 Speaker 1: October tenth, he writes about making himself go into his 154 00:10:09,040 --> 00:10:12,280 Speaker 1: office where he met with Sir John Mens, Comptroller of 155 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:15,559 Speaker 1: the Navy, and Sir William Batton, Surveyor of the Navy. 156 00:10:16,200 --> 00:10:19,160 Speaker 1: He said of their conversation quote, Sir Jay Mens and 157 00:10:19,240 --> 00:10:22,760 Speaker 1: Sir W. Batton did advise me to take some juniper water, 158 00:10:23,160 --> 00:10:25,560 Speaker 1: and Sir W. Batton sent to his lady for some 159 00:10:25,800 --> 00:10:30,160 Speaker 1: for me strong water made of juniper. While Peeps does 160 00:10:30,200 --> 00:10:33,079 Speaker 1: describe starting to feel better over the next couple of days, 161 00:10:33,120 --> 00:10:36,160 Speaker 1: he had also tried some other treatments. So it's not 162 00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:39,360 Speaker 1: one hundred percent clear whether this strong water made of juniper, 163 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:43,640 Speaker 1: whether it was unaver or gin or something else, was 164 00:10:43,679 --> 00:10:47,920 Speaker 1: effective or not. So while there's some uncertainty and some 165 00:10:48,160 --> 00:10:53,120 Speaker 1: overlap here, jin definitely became a lot more popular in 166 00:10:53,160 --> 00:10:56,520 Speaker 1: Britain during William and Mary's reign, and it was not 167 00:10:56,760 --> 00:10:59,320 Speaker 1: just because William was Dutch and would have brought a 168 00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:02,560 Speaker 1: Dutch in luence to things. It's also because of things 169 00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:05,720 Speaker 1: like wars and laws, and we'll get to that after 170 00:11:05,760 --> 00:11:18,360 Speaker 1: a sponsor break. Soon after William and Mary came to 171 00:11:18,440 --> 00:11:22,240 Speaker 1: the throne of the United Kingdom, they declared war on France. 172 00:11:23,120 --> 00:11:25,480 Speaker 1: This was part of the Nine Years War which started 173 00:11:25,480 --> 00:11:29,439 Speaker 1: in sixteen eighty eight, and then Parliament passed the Trade 174 00:11:29,480 --> 00:11:33,120 Speaker 1: with France Act of sixteen eighty eight that banned all 175 00:11:33,200 --> 00:11:36,440 Speaker 1: trade with France and that put an end to all 176 00:11:36,520 --> 00:11:40,680 Speaker 1: of the imports of French wine and French brandy. In 177 00:11:40,800 --> 00:11:45,400 Speaker 1: sixteen ninety, Parliament passed the Act for Encouraging the Distilling 178 00:11:45,520 --> 00:11:49,640 Speaker 1: of Brandy and Spirits from Corn, the set of duty 179 00:11:49,679 --> 00:11:53,480 Speaker 1: of eight shillings per gallon on quote strong waters, brandy, 180 00:11:53,559 --> 00:11:57,760 Speaker 1: aquavita and spirits from the Channel Islands, and it decreed 181 00:11:57,800 --> 00:12:01,439 Speaker 1: that any liquors found to have been grown or manufactured 182 00:12:01,480 --> 00:12:05,760 Speaker 1: and French territory would be destroyed. At this point, the 183 00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:09,880 Speaker 1: British beer industry was regulated and taxed, but you didn't 184 00:12:09,880 --> 00:12:13,120 Speaker 1: need a license to sell gin. So this law meant 185 00:12:13,160 --> 00:12:16,720 Speaker 1: that locally made spirits distilled from grain were the cheapest 186 00:12:16,760 --> 00:12:21,320 Speaker 1: alcoholic beverage available. It also helped create more demand for 187 00:12:21,360 --> 00:12:24,720 Speaker 1: British grown grains, since pretty much every grain was lumped 188 00:12:24,720 --> 00:12:28,640 Speaker 1: into the category of corn, so this law helped boost 189 00:12:28,679 --> 00:12:31,559 Speaker 1: the price of grain to the benefit of British landowners 190 00:12:31,880 --> 00:12:35,880 Speaker 1: by encouraging people to use it to make alcohol. The 191 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:39,880 Speaker 1: UK also already had its own distilling guild that was 192 00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:44,320 Speaker 1: the Worshipful Company of Distillers, established in sixteen thirty eight. 193 00:12:45,200 --> 00:12:48,720 Speaker 1: The guild initially had a monopoly on distilling in the 194 00:12:48,760 --> 00:12:51,960 Speaker 1: area around London, and the number of distilleries in the 195 00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:55,120 Speaker 1: Kingdom really grew in the last half of the seventeenth 196 00:12:55,160 --> 00:12:58,720 Speaker 1: century thanks to its influence. So by the time this 197 00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:03,400 Speaker 1: law was passed encouraging the distilling of brandy and spirits 198 00:13:03,440 --> 00:13:07,400 Speaker 1: from corn, the UK was pretty ready for it. These 199 00:13:07,440 --> 00:13:10,199 Speaker 1: spirits were really all over the place in terms of 200 00:13:10,240 --> 00:13:13,760 Speaker 1: their quality and ingredients and what type of alcohol we 201 00:13:13,800 --> 00:13:17,160 Speaker 1: would actually describe them as today, but by the early 202 00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:21,120 Speaker 1: eighteenth century, one in particular was becoming prominent, and that 203 00:13:21,480 --> 00:13:24,680 Speaker 1: was Jin. The first written use of the word jin 204 00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:29,280 Speaker 1: in the Gin form in English was in seventeen thirteen 205 00:13:29,400 --> 00:13:33,480 Speaker 1: from the Infernal Congress or News from Below being a 206 00:13:33,559 --> 00:13:37,600 Speaker 1: letter from Dick Estcourt, the late famous comedian, to the Spectator. 207 00:13:38,280 --> 00:13:42,240 Speaker 1: It read quote being fatigued with Touchin's impudence, I took 208 00:13:42,240 --> 00:13:44,840 Speaker 1: a turn in the Prato and drunk a dram of 209 00:13:44,920 --> 00:13:47,640 Speaker 1: royal gin with the Duchess of Portsmouth, who has a 210 00:13:47,640 --> 00:13:53,440 Speaker 1: little brandy shop here. Jen was also really quickly becoming notorious. 211 00:13:53,800 --> 00:13:58,560 Speaker 1: In seventeen fourteen, Bernard Mandeville published The Fable of the Bees, 212 00:13:58,840 --> 00:14:03,960 Speaker 1: or Private Vices Public Benefits. In this book, he made 213 00:14:03,960 --> 00:14:07,880 Speaker 1: the argument that various vices, many of which were widely 214 00:14:07,960 --> 00:14:12,200 Speaker 1: criticized and even condemned, actually contributed to some sort of 215 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:17,160 Speaker 1: public good. So here's how Mandeville described gin. Quote. Nothing 216 00:14:17,240 --> 00:14:20,160 Speaker 1: is more destructive, either in regard to the health or 217 00:14:20,200 --> 00:14:23,720 Speaker 1: the vigilance and industry of the poor, than the infamous liquor, 218 00:14:23,840 --> 00:14:27,120 Speaker 1: the name of which derived from Juniper and Dutch, is 219 00:14:27,240 --> 00:14:30,440 Speaker 1: now by frequent use, and the laconic spirit of the 220 00:14:30,520 --> 00:14:34,920 Speaker 1: nation from a word of meddling length shrunk into a monosyllable, 221 00:14:35,240 --> 00:14:39,600 Speaker 1: intoxicating gin that charms the unactive, the desperate, and the 222 00:14:39,640 --> 00:14:43,160 Speaker 1: crazy of either sex, and makes the starving lot behold 223 00:14:43,200 --> 00:14:47,200 Speaker 1: his rags and nakedness with stupid indolence or banter, both 224 00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:51,480 Speaker 1: in senseless laughter and more insipid jest. It is a 225 00:14:51,480 --> 00:14:55,080 Speaker 1: fiery lake that sets the brain in flame, burns up 226 00:14:55,120 --> 00:14:59,200 Speaker 1: the entrails, and scorches every part within. And at the 227 00:14:59,240 --> 00:15:02,680 Speaker 1: same time a leaf of oblivion in which the wretch 228 00:15:02,760 --> 00:15:06,720 Speaker 1: immersed drowns in most pinching cares, and with his reason 229 00:15:07,160 --> 00:15:11,080 Speaker 1: all anxious reflections on brats that cry for food, hard 230 00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:15,560 Speaker 1: winter's frosts, and horrid empty home. I just wanted to 231 00:15:15,720 --> 00:15:19,640 Speaker 1: shout out to Holly because this was written in the 232 00:15:19,920 --> 00:15:23,360 Speaker 1: seventeen hundreds, and it was full of long s's that 233 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:25,880 Speaker 1: look like f's, and I missed one of the long 234 00:15:26,080 --> 00:15:30,920 Speaker 1: s's when I was getting it into here. Holly corrected 235 00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:35,800 Speaker 1: it on the fly. I did not have to go. 236 00:15:35,920 --> 00:15:38,560 Speaker 1: It does not say the fame time. It should, in 237 00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:43,320 Speaker 1: fact say the same time. I love reading things with 238 00:15:43,360 --> 00:15:46,000 Speaker 1: long s's in them, but sometimes they can be challenging. 239 00:15:47,560 --> 00:15:50,600 Speaker 1: So Vandabil went on to blame Jin for making men 240 00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:55,400 Speaker 1: quarrelsome and violent and even causing murders, for breaking down 241 00:15:55,400 --> 00:16:00,520 Speaker 1: people's constitutions, and for causing consumption and sudden death, but 242 00:16:00,600 --> 00:16:05,080 Speaker 1: he says these are rare compared to quote, loss of appetite, fevers, 243 00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:13,520 Speaker 1: black and yellow jaundice, convulsions, stone and gravel, dropsies and leucophlegmacies. 244 00:16:14,280 --> 00:16:17,120 Speaker 1: He also goes on at very great length about all 245 00:16:17,160 --> 00:16:21,080 Speaker 1: the squalid conditions in areas that are home to establishments 246 00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:24,640 Speaker 1: that sell spirits, and to all the social and economic 247 00:16:24,800 --> 00:16:30,320 Speaker 1: ills that those establishments cause. But Mandeville then goes on 248 00:16:30,400 --> 00:16:33,560 Speaker 1: to say, quote those who can enlarge their view and 249 00:16:33,640 --> 00:16:36,600 Speaker 1: will give themselves the leisure of gazing on the prospect 250 00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:40,760 Speaker 1: of concatenated events, may in a hundred places see good 251 00:16:40,840 --> 00:16:45,040 Speaker 1: spring up and pollulate from evil, as naturally as chickens 252 00:16:45,080 --> 00:16:48,680 Speaker 1: do from eggs. The money that arises from the duties 253 00:16:48,760 --> 00:16:52,120 Speaker 1: upon malt is a considerable part of the national revenue, 254 00:16:52,560 --> 00:16:55,480 Speaker 1: and should no spirits be distilled from it, the public 255 00:16:55,560 --> 00:16:59,160 Speaker 1: treasure would prodigiously suffer on that head. But if we 256 00:16:59,160 --> 00:17:02,360 Speaker 1: would set in a true light the many advantages and 257 00:17:02,520 --> 00:17:06,720 Speaker 1: large catalog of solid blessings that accrue from, and are 258 00:17:06,800 --> 00:17:09,760 Speaker 1: owing to the evil I treat off, we are to 259 00:17:09,840 --> 00:17:13,119 Speaker 1: consider the rents that are received, the ground that is tilled, 260 00:17:13,440 --> 00:17:16,679 Speaker 1: the tools that are made, the cattle that are employed, 261 00:17:16,800 --> 00:17:20,240 Speaker 1: and above all the multitude of poor that are maintained 262 00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:24,360 Speaker 1: by the variety of labor required in husbandry, in malting, 263 00:17:24,760 --> 00:17:28,480 Speaker 1: in carriage, and distillation before we can have that product 264 00:17:28,560 --> 00:17:31,439 Speaker 1: of malt, which we call low wines, and is but 265 00:17:31,520 --> 00:17:35,199 Speaker 1: the beginning from which the various spirits are afterwards to 266 00:17:35,280 --> 00:17:39,639 Speaker 1: be made. In other words, sure, poor people were getting 267 00:17:39,760 --> 00:17:43,359 Speaker 1: drunk and sometimes dying because of gin, but look at 268 00:17:43,359 --> 00:17:47,480 Speaker 1: how much it was helping the economy. Needless to say, 269 00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:50,320 Speaker 1: this book and the argument that Mandeville was making in 270 00:17:50,359 --> 00:17:57,680 Speaker 1: it were highly controversial. Mandeville's description of gin as destructive 271 00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:01,159 Speaker 1: was not controversial among the British lead though in the 272 00:18:01,240 --> 00:18:05,360 Speaker 1: early eighteenth century it was increasingly taken for granted that 273 00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:08,960 Speaker 1: gin was uniquely dangerous and was leading to all kinds 274 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:13,040 Speaker 1: of problems. By about seventeen twenty, this had blossomed into 275 00:18:13,040 --> 00:18:16,160 Speaker 1: a full on moral panic described as the Gin craze, 276 00:18:16,400 --> 00:18:19,880 Speaker 1: where sometimes you'll see it as the gin epidemic, particularly 277 00:18:19,920 --> 00:18:23,720 Speaker 1: in big cities like London, Portsmouth and Bristol. For about 278 00:18:23,720 --> 00:18:26,840 Speaker 1: three decades there was a huge focus on gin consumption 279 00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:30,040 Speaker 1: and the damage it was purportedly doing and how they 280 00:18:30,119 --> 00:18:33,760 Speaker 1: might stop it. Then. To be clear, gin did become 281 00:18:33,920 --> 00:18:37,439 Speaker 1: a lot more popular in these years, and there was 282 00:18:37,600 --> 00:18:42,240 Speaker 1: some real damage involved. Alcohol consumption carried the same health 283 00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:45,800 Speaker 1: risks in the eighteenth century that it does today, over 284 00:18:45,920 --> 00:18:51,000 Speaker 1: consumption and abuse still impacted people's lives and livelihoods. It 285 00:18:51,080 --> 00:18:55,760 Speaker 1: also wasn't uncommon for liquor to be adulterated with other substances, 286 00:18:55,840 --> 00:19:00,680 Speaker 1: including things like sulfurous acid and turpentine, and there weren't 287 00:19:00,800 --> 00:19:04,280 Speaker 1: really any age restrictions on drinking, so people of any 288 00:19:04,359 --> 00:19:08,080 Speaker 1: age drank really at any time of the day, including 289 00:19:08,160 --> 00:19:11,359 Speaker 1: parents using gin and other liquors to try to soothe 290 00:19:11,400 --> 00:19:16,160 Speaker 1: their babies. Excessive drinking, and especially drinking too much gin 291 00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:21,560 Speaker 1: in particular, also became associated with violence and crime. Records 292 00:19:21,560 --> 00:19:25,560 Speaker 1: from London's Central Criminal Court aka the Old Bailey include 293 00:19:25,600 --> 00:19:29,919 Speaker 1: repeated references to gin. For example, A William Burrows, who 294 00:19:30,040 --> 00:19:33,200 Speaker 1: was indicted for assault in seventeen thirty one, was described 295 00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:40,119 Speaker 1: as having fallen quote into that dreadful society of gin drinkers, whorees, thieves, housebreakers, 296 00:19:40,480 --> 00:19:43,960 Speaker 1: street robbers, pickpockets and the whole train of the most 297 00:19:43,960 --> 00:19:48,639 Speaker 1: notable blackguards in and about London. James Baker, who was 298 00:19:48,680 --> 00:19:52,199 Speaker 1: convicted of robberies in seventeen thirty three, was described as 299 00:19:52,280 --> 00:19:57,480 Speaker 1: quote one of them who frequented gin shops. Perhaps most horrifyingly, 300 00:19:57,680 --> 00:20:00,960 Speaker 1: in seventeen thirty four, Judith de u four was convicted 301 00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:04,439 Speaker 1: of murder after two witnesses testified that she had stripped 302 00:20:04,440 --> 00:20:07,359 Speaker 1: her daughter Mary naked and left her in a field 303 00:20:07,840 --> 00:20:11,520 Speaker 1: and sold the baby's clothes to buy jim at the 304 00:20:11,560 --> 00:20:15,240 Speaker 1: same time. Though most of the focus here, most of 305 00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:19,919 Speaker 1: the concern was targeted at poor and working class people 306 00:20:20,119 --> 00:20:22,280 Speaker 1: and what they were doing with their time and money. 307 00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:26,240 Speaker 1: In seventeen twenty seven, Daniel Dafoe wrote about the after 308 00:20:26,359 --> 00:20:29,399 Speaker 1: effects of the prohibition of trade with France and this 309 00:20:29,680 --> 00:20:34,359 Speaker 1: increase in English distilling. He said, quote we find since 310 00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:38,800 Speaker 1: these prohibitions very great quantities of brandy run by the 311 00:20:38,920 --> 00:20:43,080 Speaker 1: arts of clandestine traders. But even that quantity is now 312 00:20:43,200 --> 00:20:46,600 Speaker 1: much abated, except in the north parts and the west parts, 313 00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:49,920 Speaker 1: since the distillers have found out a way to hit 314 00:20:49,960 --> 00:20:54,440 Speaker 1: the palette of the poor by their new fashioned compound 315 00:20:54,600 --> 00:20:58,679 Speaker 1: waters called geneva, so that the common people seem not 316 00:20:58,800 --> 00:21:02,119 Speaker 1: to value the French brandy as usual, and even not 317 00:21:02,320 --> 00:21:07,400 Speaker 1: to desire it. Efforts to curtail drinking, and especially gin drinking, 318 00:21:07,840 --> 00:21:11,400 Speaker 1: were really rooted in upper class ideas of appropriate behavior 319 00:21:11,440 --> 00:21:15,359 Speaker 1: and social standards, and on quote cleaning up the moral 320 00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:18,240 Speaker 1: lives of the poor, rather than addressing any of the 321 00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:23,119 Speaker 1: social or economic factors that might contribute to excessive drinking. Soon, 322 00:21:23,440 --> 00:21:27,000 Speaker 1: gin was perceived as the cause of poverty and immorality, 323 00:21:27,320 --> 00:21:29,960 Speaker 1: and it became symbolic of pretty much every vice and 324 00:21:30,040 --> 00:21:34,000 Speaker 1: social ill. To combat all of this, Parliament passed a 325 00:21:34,080 --> 00:21:38,479 Speaker 1: series of Gin Acts starting in seventeen twenty nine, and 326 00:21:38,520 --> 00:21:43,440 Speaker 1: these used a range of strategies, including taxes and fines 327 00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:48,359 Speaker 1: and licensing fees and other regulations to try to discourage 328 00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:52,880 Speaker 1: gin sales and consumption. For example, in seventeen thirty three, 329 00:21:52,960 --> 00:21:56,360 Speaker 1: it became illegal to sell spirits quote about the streets 330 00:21:56,359 --> 00:21:59,639 Speaker 1: and any wheelbarrow or upon the water in any ship, 331 00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:03,760 Speaker 1: boat or vessel. Several versions of the Gin Act encouraged 332 00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:07,840 Speaker 1: people to inform on others for illegally selling spirits. This 333 00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:10,800 Speaker 1: was especially true after the passage of the seventeen thirty 334 00:22:10,840 --> 00:22:13,760 Speaker 1: six Act, which did more to stoke illicit gin sales 335 00:22:14,119 --> 00:22:18,000 Speaker 1: than to discourage people from doing it. Informers were paid 336 00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:20,240 Speaker 1: half of the ten pound fine that was collected for 337 00:22:20,359 --> 00:22:23,880 Speaker 1: violating the Act. At some point, this was lucrative enough 338 00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:28,280 Speaker 1: that people basically became professional informers, often working in groups 339 00:22:28,320 --> 00:22:30,400 Speaker 1: of two or three so they could back up each 340 00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:35,600 Speaker 1: other's accounts when they reported someone's illicit business. Professional informers 341 00:22:35,640 --> 00:22:38,879 Speaker 1: had to be strategic, though. People who couldn't afford to 342 00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:41,000 Speaker 1: pay the fine were sentenced to two months of hard 343 00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:44,879 Speaker 1: labor instead, and that meant that the informers would get nothing. 344 00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:50,560 Speaker 1: Most informers also avoided reporting people from their own neighborhoods, 345 00:22:50,600 --> 00:22:54,520 Speaker 1: since they faced retaliation and sometimes even physical violence, for 346 00:22:54,680 --> 00:22:59,280 Speaker 1: getting local drinking establishments shut down. Their reputations in their 347 00:22:59,280 --> 00:23:02,960 Speaker 1: own community also weren't likely to recover if they reported 348 00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:06,760 Speaker 1: somebody who knew and trusted them, but there was still 349 00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:10,480 Speaker 1: a lot of retaliation. A law passed in seventeen thirty 350 00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:13,840 Speaker 1: eight set a penalty of seven years transportation to the 351 00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:18,280 Speaker 1: North American colonies for attacking an informer. By that point, 352 00:23:18,320 --> 00:23:21,600 Speaker 1: there had been at least twelve thousand prosecutions for selling 353 00:23:21,640 --> 00:23:26,240 Speaker 1: gin without a license, and these laws disproportionately affected women. 354 00:23:27,200 --> 00:23:30,720 Speaker 1: Newly established gin houses were often more welcoming to women 355 00:23:30,800 --> 00:23:33,920 Speaker 1: than pubs that sold beer were, especially when it came 356 00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:37,600 Speaker 1: to single, working class women. So even though women weren't 357 00:23:37,640 --> 00:23:41,080 Speaker 1: necessarily drinking more gin than men were, they were more 358 00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:44,120 Speaker 1: visible than they had been. This was kind of new, 359 00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:48,040 Speaker 1: so soon the drink was being more associated with women. 360 00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:53,240 Speaker 1: Gin became known by nicknames like Ladies Delight, Mother Geneva, 361 00:23:53,359 --> 00:23:57,040 Speaker 1: and Mother Gin. But at the same time, while only 362 00:23:57,160 --> 00:24:01,879 Speaker 1: about a third of Britain's unlicensed sellers were women, at 363 00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:05,560 Speaker 1: least half the people who faced charges for violating the 364 00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:08,840 Speaker 1: gen Acts were women. Women also made up as much 365 00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:12,399 Speaker 1: as three fourths of the people who were imprisoned because 366 00:24:12,400 --> 00:24:15,480 Speaker 1: they could not afford to pay the fine. The Gen 367 00:24:15,560 --> 00:24:19,280 Speaker 1: Acts were deeply unpopular among poor and working class people, 368 00:24:19,440 --> 00:24:23,320 Speaker 1: leading to riots in seventeen thirty seven. Trying to enforce 369 00:24:23,359 --> 00:24:26,400 Speaker 1: the law was also expensive, and in the seventeen forties 370 00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:28,840 Speaker 1: the Kingdom needed to put more money toward the War 371 00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:33,000 Speaker 1: of the Austrian succession. This was also happening in parallel 372 00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:35,399 Speaker 1: with the Jacobite uprisings that we have covered on the 373 00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:38,240 Speaker 1: show before, and there were fears that the Jacobites were 374 00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:42,760 Speaker 1: stirring up discontent among working class people, using all of 375 00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:46,080 Speaker 1: this furor over Gin as a cover. On top of 376 00:24:46,160 --> 00:24:50,160 Speaker 1: all these factors and shifts in the government's priorities, two 377 00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:53,840 Speaker 1: of the biggest proponents of the Gen Acts died in 378 00:24:53,880 --> 00:24:58,280 Speaker 1: the late seventeen thirties. One was Sir Joseph Jekyl, master 379 00:24:58,400 --> 00:25:01,760 Speaker 1: of the Roles, and the other Edward Parker, who had 380 00:25:01,840 --> 00:25:05,520 Speaker 1: run a professional informing ring that had accused at least 381 00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:10,280 Speaker 1: fifteen hundred people of illegal activity. So, after all this, 382 00:25:10,800 --> 00:25:13,800 Speaker 1: the wars and the Jacobites and the people dying. In 383 00:25:13,840 --> 00:25:17,920 Speaker 1: seventeen forty three, Parliament repealed the Act that had been 384 00:25:18,040 --> 00:25:21,600 Speaker 1: passed in seventeen thirty six and replaced it with one 385 00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:25,119 Speaker 1: that was more focused on regulating the industry than on 386 00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:29,359 Speaker 1: trying to curtail it. So licenses became more affordable and 387 00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:33,760 Speaker 1: the unlicensed gin trade started to wane. The war may 388 00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:36,879 Speaker 1: have contributed to a decline in the illicit liquor trade 389 00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:39,960 Speaker 1: as well. Some people who had been supporting themselves that 390 00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:43,880 Speaker 1: way instead found work related to the war. A new 391 00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:47,040 Speaker 1: style of beer was also introduced around this time that 392 00:25:47,080 --> 00:25:50,119 Speaker 1: would be porter, which started to become more popular and 393 00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:54,159 Speaker 1: more affordable to working class people. The Gin Act of 394 00:25:54,200 --> 00:25:56,920 Speaker 1: seventeen fifty one built on the one that had been 395 00:25:56,960 --> 00:26:00,800 Speaker 1: passed in seventeen forty three. It increased to the duty 396 00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:04,040 Speaker 1: on gin and set a licensing fee of two pounds 397 00:26:04,080 --> 00:26:08,760 Speaker 1: a year and mandated that only respectable people were eligible 398 00:26:08,760 --> 00:26:13,280 Speaker 1: for a license to sell spirits. Gin's popularity continued to 399 00:26:13,359 --> 00:26:17,399 Speaker 1: wane in the UK after this, dropping from an estimated 400 00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:21,840 Speaker 1: eight point five million gallons consumed in seventeen fifty one 401 00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:26,320 Speaker 1: to five point nine million just a year later. You 402 00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:28,639 Speaker 1: think of millions of gallons, it sounds like so much, 403 00:26:28,680 --> 00:26:33,080 Speaker 1: but that's a huge drop off. It's a you know, 404 00:26:33,119 --> 00:26:36,520 Speaker 1: spread out among a lot of people also drinking a lot, 405 00:26:37,520 --> 00:26:41,560 Speaker 1: like a lot of people drinking a lot for sure. Listen. Uh. 406 00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:45,359 Speaker 1: There had been a huge number of pamphlets, sermons, works 407 00:26:45,359 --> 00:26:48,760 Speaker 1: of art and the like during the Gin craze, And ironically, 408 00:26:48,800 --> 00:26:51,240 Speaker 1: the one that's probably the most well known came out 409 00:26:51,280 --> 00:26:53,960 Speaker 1: at the very end of this That was Gin Lane 410 00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:58,159 Speaker 1: by past podcast subject William Hogarth. And this was an 411 00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:01,919 Speaker 1: engraving showing all of the evil of Gin, among other things, 412 00:27:01,960 --> 00:27:05,520 Speaker 1: an extremely emaciated man with a cup and bottle in 413 00:27:05,560 --> 00:27:08,919 Speaker 1: his hands, and an ebreated woman whose child is falling 414 00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:10,959 Speaker 1: over the railing of the stairs that she's sitting on, 415 00:27:11,480 --> 00:27:14,440 Speaker 1: and a crowd of people having a melee in the background. 416 00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:19,240 Speaker 1: It has the caption Gin Cursed Fiend with fury fraught 417 00:27:19,520 --> 00:27:23,080 Speaker 1: makes human race a prey. It enters by a deadly 418 00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:27,359 Speaker 1: draft and steals our life away, virtue and truth driven 419 00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:31,679 Speaker 1: to despair, its rage compels to fly, but cherishes with 420 00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:36,399 Speaker 1: hellish care, theft, murder, perjury, damned cup that on the 421 00:27:36,520 --> 00:27:40,520 Speaker 1: vitals prays that liquid fire contains, which madness to the 422 00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:45,680 Speaker 1: heart conveys and rolls it through the veins. Hogarth put 423 00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:49,640 Speaker 1: out his engraving Beer Street as a companion to this one. 424 00:27:49,960 --> 00:27:53,040 Speaker 1: This is the far more pleasant scene of people mostly 425 00:27:53,080 --> 00:27:56,919 Speaker 1: just going about their lives in business. Its caption reads 426 00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:02,560 Speaker 1: quote beer happy, produce of our eyes, consinewy strength, impart 427 00:28:03,119 --> 00:28:07,560 Speaker 1: and wearied with fatigue and toil, can cheer each manly heart, 428 00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:13,119 Speaker 1: labor and art upheld by the successfully advance, we quaff 429 00:28:13,240 --> 00:28:17,400 Speaker 1: thy balmy juice with glee and water. Leave to France 430 00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:22,000 Speaker 1: genius of health, Thy grateful taste rivals the cup of Jove, 431 00:28:22,600 --> 00:28:29,040 Speaker 1: when warms each English generous breast with liberty and love, Oh, 432 00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:33,800 Speaker 1: William Hogarth, Beer good, gin bad. In the words of 433 00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:37,000 Speaker 1: William Hogarth, I also read some speculation that the reason 434 00:28:37,040 --> 00:28:39,440 Speaker 1: that he put this out like really at the end 435 00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:42,280 Speaker 1: of all this, when Jin's popularity was dropping really quickly, 436 00:28:43,520 --> 00:28:46,840 Speaker 1: was that, thanks to the ends of earlier wars, there 437 00:28:46,880 --> 00:28:51,160 Speaker 1: were suddenly a lot of unemployed sailors and others about, 438 00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:54,880 Speaker 1: and that that made people worried once again about the 439 00:28:54,960 --> 00:29:00,240 Speaker 1: specter of gin. Oh William Hogarth, Obviously, this is not 440 00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:03,040 Speaker 1: the end of gin, so we are going to talk 441 00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:06,200 Speaker 1: about what happened in gin's history a little bit more 442 00:29:06,280 --> 00:29:19,120 Speaker 1: after we pause for a sponsor break. In eighteenth century Britain, 443 00:29:19,640 --> 00:29:23,240 Speaker 1: the drink that people were consuming and describing as gin 444 00:29:23,680 --> 00:29:26,240 Speaker 1: was really all over the place in terms of what 445 00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:28,600 Speaker 1: grain it was made of and how it was flavored, 446 00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:33,400 Speaker 1: what it tasted like, whether it was adulterated with anything dangerous. 447 00:29:34,080 --> 00:29:37,080 Speaker 1: Most of it was made in batches in pot stills, 448 00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:40,760 Speaker 1: so there could even be a huge variation in quality 449 00:29:40,840 --> 00:29:44,080 Speaker 1: from batch to batge, even when those batches were all 450 00:29:44,120 --> 00:29:48,320 Speaker 1: made by the same distiller. In general, though, a lot 451 00:29:48,360 --> 00:29:51,200 Speaker 1: of the flavorings that were added into it were there 452 00:29:51,240 --> 00:29:54,800 Speaker 1: to try to improve the taste of some generally poor 453 00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:59,240 Speaker 1: quality alcohol. One of those flavorings was sugar, so the 454 00:29:59,280 --> 00:30:03,480 Speaker 1: final bever ridge was sweeter than gin typically is today 455 00:30:03,680 --> 00:30:07,320 Speaker 1: most of the time, and this sweeter rougher gin became 456 00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:10,640 Speaker 1: known as old Tom and There are several stories about 457 00:30:10,640 --> 00:30:13,440 Speaker 1: where that name came from. One is that when the 458 00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:16,960 Speaker 1: Gin Acts were in effect, Captain Dudley Bradstreet rented a 459 00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:20,560 Speaker 1: house for the purpose of illicitly selling gin. You put 460 00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:23,280 Speaker 1: a picture of an old tomcat on the outside, and 461 00:30:23,400 --> 00:30:26,000 Speaker 1: customers would put their money in a drawer built into 462 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:29,320 Speaker 1: the wall and whisper a code word, and then their 463 00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:32,240 Speaker 1: gin would be dispensed through a lead pipe that ran 464 00:30:32,360 --> 00:30:34,560 Speaker 1: out through the wall from the inside of the house 465 00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:37,280 Speaker 1: to the outside, and the customer would catch it in 466 00:30:37,320 --> 00:30:41,960 Speaker 1: a cup. While I love this story, it may be 467 00:30:42,080 --> 00:30:45,240 Speaker 1: apocryphal and the Old Tom may just be a weird 468 00:30:45,320 --> 00:30:49,120 Speaker 1: name that cropped up. There are some places that still 469 00:30:49,120 --> 00:30:52,760 Speaker 1: make Old Tom gin as like a craft gin experience. 470 00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:57,640 Speaker 1: Even though gin consumption dropped off pretty quickly after seventeen 471 00:30:57,720 --> 00:31:01,640 Speaker 1: fifty one, the beverage did not go away entirely. Later on, 472 00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:05,680 Speaker 1: in the eighteen twenties, a grain surplus combined with a 473 00:31:05,760 --> 00:31:09,080 Speaker 1: reduction in the duties that were levied on spirits, and 474 00:31:09,200 --> 00:31:13,560 Speaker 1: gins started to surge in popularity again. A new kind 475 00:31:13,600 --> 00:31:17,920 Speaker 1: of drinking establishment also evolved around this time. That was 476 00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:21,480 Speaker 1: the Gin Palace, which tended to be a brightly lit 477 00:31:21,520 --> 00:31:26,080 Speaker 1: and heavily decorated space where people came to drink. In 478 00:31:26,160 --> 00:31:30,320 Speaker 1: the mid eighteen twenties, thanks to all this, gin consumption 479 00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:34,320 Speaker 1: in Britain roughly doubled. This stoked a lot of the 480 00:31:34,360 --> 00:31:36,720 Speaker 1: same concerns that had been part of the gin craze 481 00:31:36,720 --> 00:31:40,120 Speaker 1: that happened about one hundred years earlier. In In eighteen thirty, 482 00:31:40,200 --> 00:31:44,080 Speaker 1: the Lancet published an article describing what they call gin liver. 483 00:31:44,600 --> 00:31:47,960 Speaker 1: That's what we would know is cerhosis today. But efforts 484 00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:50,720 Speaker 1: to reduce gin consumption in the early nineteenth century were 485 00:31:50,720 --> 00:31:53,920 Speaker 1: focused less on making gin more expensive and more regulated, 486 00:31:54,360 --> 00:31:58,000 Speaker 1: and more on making beer cheaper. This didn't have quite 487 00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:01,800 Speaker 1: the intended effect, though, public houses serving beer became more 488 00:32:01,800 --> 00:32:04,960 Speaker 1: popular among the working class, while more middle class people 489 00:32:05,040 --> 00:32:08,320 Speaker 1: started to prefer gin served in a gin palace. Kat 490 00:32:08,360 --> 00:32:10,800 Speaker 1: didn't really reduce the popularity of gin very much. It 491 00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:15,120 Speaker 1: just sort of flipped which social classes preferred which drink. 492 00:32:16,240 --> 00:32:21,080 Speaker 1: The process of making gin also changed somewhat around this time. 493 00:32:21,520 --> 00:32:26,800 Speaker 1: The column still was developed. Starting around eighteen twenty two, 494 00:32:27,040 --> 00:32:31,600 Speaker 1: Irish distiller Anias Coffee refined this design and was awarded 495 00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:34,880 Speaker 1: for a patent on his improved version. In eighteen thirty. 496 00:32:35,800 --> 00:32:40,120 Speaker 1: Unlike pot stills, which required distillers to make their wares 497 00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:45,239 Speaker 1: in small batches, the column still could run continually, and 498 00:32:45,280 --> 00:32:48,320 Speaker 1: this made the final product a lot more consistent with 499 00:32:48,520 --> 00:32:52,560 Speaker 1: generally better quality. Again, there are still plenty of distillers 500 00:32:52,560 --> 00:32:55,840 Speaker 1: who work in small batches using pot stills today, but 501 00:32:56,160 --> 00:33:01,280 Speaker 1: generally using more sophisticated techniques and more consistency than in 502 00:33:01,280 --> 00:33:05,120 Speaker 1: the eighteenth century. The development of the column still also 503 00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:08,800 Speaker 1: led to a new style of gin, London Dry, named 504 00:33:08,840 --> 00:33:11,960 Speaker 1: for being made in London and for not being sweetened. 505 00:33:12,600 --> 00:33:15,040 Speaker 1: Some of the distillers that were established around this time 506 00:33:15,120 --> 00:33:19,200 Speaker 1: still exist today. For example, Charles Tanker established a distillery 507 00:33:19,200 --> 00:33:22,840 Speaker 1: in the Bloomsbury neighborhood of London in eighteen thirty. Plymouth 508 00:33:22,960 --> 00:33:26,560 Speaker 1: gin was evolving as well, sweeter and stronger than London 509 00:33:26,640 --> 00:33:30,560 Speaker 1: Dry and available in a more potent navy strengths for 510 00:33:30,800 --> 00:33:34,240 Speaker 1: provisioning to the Royal Navy. There were still a lot 511 00:33:34,280 --> 00:33:38,400 Speaker 1: of concerns about all the social issues associated with drinking, 512 00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:43,120 Speaker 1: and specifically with drinking gin, though Charles Dickens started writing 513 00:33:43,160 --> 00:33:46,840 Speaker 1: about this in his Sketches by Boz in eighteen thirty six. 514 00:33:47,640 --> 00:33:51,120 Speaker 1: Unlike earlier writers from back in the seventeen hundreds. Though 515 00:33:51,320 --> 00:33:56,440 Speaker 1: Dickens didn't really frame gin as the cause of poverty, 516 00:33:57,280 --> 00:34:00,640 Speaker 1: he was fond of gin himself, and instead he described 517 00:34:00,760 --> 00:34:05,200 Speaker 1: over consumption and alcohol abuse as effects of poverty and 518 00:34:05,320 --> 00:34:09,440 Speaker 1: poor living conditions. Quote gin drinking is a great vice 519 00:34:09,520 --> 00:34:13,080 Speaker 1: in England, but wretchedness and dirt are a greater And 520 00:34:13,200 --> 00:34:16,799 Speaker 1: until you improve the homes of the poor, or persuade 521 00:34:16,840 --> 00:34:19,719 Speaker 1: a half famished wretch not to seek relief in the 522 00:34:19,760 --> 00:34:23,960 Speaker 1: temporary oblivion of his own misery. With the pittance which 523 00:34:24,120 --> 00:34:27,680 Speaker 1: divided among his family, would furnish a morsel of bread 524 00:34:27,719 --> 00:34:32,480 Speaker 1: for each gin shops will increase in number and splendor, 525 00:34:33,560 --> 00:34:36,120 Speaker 1: just like William Hogarth had depicted gin Lane in the 526 00:34:36,280 --> 00:34:39,840 Speaker 1: eighteenth century. Other artists depicted the dangers of alcohol in 527 00:34:39,880 --> 00:34:44,040 Speaker 1: the nineteenth century, including George Kruickshank, who is sometimes called 528 00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:48,840 Speaker 1: the modern Hogarth. Kruck Shank's satirical The Gin Shop shows 529 00:34:48,880 --> 00:34:53,680 Speaker 1: a whole inebriated family in the shop, including children standing 530 00:34:53,719 --> 00:34:56,480 Speaker 1: in a trap with death off to one side, and 531 00:34:56,600 --> 00:35:00,319 Speaker 1: a cask of old tom shaped like a coffin. Unlike 532 00:35:00,360 --> 00:35:03,799 Speaker 1: the eighteenth century movement that had mostly focused on spirits, 533 00:35:04,120 --> 00:35:06,440 Speaker 1: the temperance movement that arose in the UK in the 534 00:35:06,520 --> 00:35:11,000 Speaker 1: nineteenth century focused on the dangers of all alcohols, including beer. 535 00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:15,400 Speaker 1: More London dry distillers were established in the middle of 536 00:35:15,400 --> 00:35:19,520 Speaker 1: the nineteenth century, including Gilby's in eighteen fifty seven and 537 00:35:19,640 --> 00:35:24,399 Speaker 1: beef Eater in eighteen sixty three. Distillers also started experimenting 538 00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:28,000 Speaker 1: with different blends of botanicals in addition to the juniper, 539 00:35:28,160 --> 00:35:33,359 Speaker 1: to give their products different flavor profiles. All kinds of 540 00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:37,360 Speaker 1: gin based cocktails and mixed drinks evolved during the nineteenth century. 541 00:35:38,120 --> 00:35:41,400 Speaker 1: Bitters were popularized in the UK around this time, particularly 542 00:35:41,440 --> 00:35:46,320 Speaker 1: pay shows and Angustura bitters. Plymouth gin flavored with angusterra 543 00:35:46,360 --> 00:35:48,920 Speaker 1: bitters became known as pink gin, which was both a 544 00:35:48,960 --> 00:35:52,560 Speaker 1: popular beverage and a treatment to sue the stomach and 545 00:35:52,600 --> 00:35:56,320 Speaker 1: prevent sea sickness. Here in the US you can buy 546 00:35:56,440 --> 00:35:59,440 Speaker 1: various pink gins in bottles, some of which are this 547 00:35:59,640 --> 00:36:04,400 Speaker 1: and of which are not. They're pink for some other reason. 548 00:36:05,360 --> 00:36:10,680 Speaker 1: Another nineteenth century innovation was the gimlet, combining gin and lime, 549 00:36:10,760 --> 00:36:14,120 Speaker 1: and this probably arose from the use of lime juice 550 00:36:14,160 --> 00:36:19,440 Speaker 1: to prevent scurvy among sailors. Sometimes this name is attributed 551 00:36:19,480 --> 00:36:23,280 Speaker 1: to Sir Thomas Gimlett, the Surgeon General of the Navy, 552 00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:26,640 Speaker 1: although another idea is that it was named for the 553 00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:29,840 Speaker 1: tool that was used to drill holes in the barrels 554 00:36:29,880 --> 00:36:32,879 Speaker 1: that these liquids were stored in. That tool is also 555 00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:37,120 Speaker 1: called a gimlet. The Martini was introduced by about eighteen seventy, 556 00:36:37,160 --> 00:36:41,160 Speaker 1: combining gin, Vermouth and Garnish. This is also about when 557 00:36:41,160 --> 00:36:44,560 Speaker 1: the gin and Tonic made its debut. Chinchona bark has 558 00:36:44,600 --> 00:36:47,680 Speaker 1: its own long long history as the source of medicine 559 00:36:47,680 --> 00:36:51,560 Speaker 1: to treat recurring fevers. Quinine comes from Chinchona bark, and 560 00:36:51,600 --> 00:36:54,520 Speaker 1: the British Royal Navy relied on it to treat malaria. 561 00:36:55,600 --> 00:37:02,279 Speaker 1: Quinine was unpleasant to consume, though, teen seventy Schwepes introduced 562 00:37:02,280 --> 00:37:06,440 Speaker 1: what it called Indian tonic water that was carbonated water 563 00:37:06,600 --> 00:37:11,440 Speaker 1: infused with quinine. John Jacob Schwepp was not the first 564 00:37:11,560 --> 00:37:15,400 Speaker 1: person to carbonate water, and Schwep's was not the first 565 00:37:15,400 --> 00:37:20,319 Speaker 1: company to combine carbonated water and quinine. But Schwep's was 566 00:37:20,400 --> 00:37:24,600 Speaker 1: the first company to produce carbonated water at an industrial 567 00:37:24,719 --> 00:37:28,440 Speaker 1: scale and also to market this quinine tonic as a 568 00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:33,560 Speaker 1: malaria preventative. Mixing tonic water with gin and serving that 569 00:37:33,719 --> 00:37:37,120 Speaker 1: over ice became a popular way for people in tropical 570 00:37:37,239 --> 00:37:41,359 Speaker 1: areas to get their doses of quinine. Tonic water as 571 00:37:41,360 --> 00:37:45,640 Speaker 1: it is produced today has far less quinine in it 572 00:37:45,680 --> 00:37:50,960 Speaker 1: does not really prevent or treat malaria at the currents proportions. 573 00:37:51,160 --> 00:37:55,040 Speaker 1: Please do not count on these things as medicine for yourself. 574 00:37:56,360 --> 00:38:00,719 Speaker 1: This brings us to gin's connections to colonialism. Anywhere the 575 00:38:00,719 --> 00:38:04,480 Speaker 1: British Empire established a trade or started a colony, it 576 00:38:04,560 --> 00:38:08,160 Speaker 1: introduced gin or made gin more widely available there than 577 00:38:08,160 --> 00:38:12,160 Speaker 1: it had been before. Britain and other European powers also 578 00:38:12,239 --> 00:38:17,680 Speaker 1: traded liquor for enslaved Africans during the Transatlantic slave trade. Overwhelmingly, 579 00:38:17,760 --> 00:38:20,680 Speaker 1: the people already living in these areas already had their 580 00:38:20,680 --> 00:38:24,680 Speaker 1: own fermenting methods, and unless religious prohibitions on alcohol were 581 00:38:24,680 --> 00:38:27,720 Speaker 1: in place, some of them were used to make beers, wines, 582 00:38:27,800 --> 00:38:30,880 Speaker 1: or other alcoholic beverages in addition to being used to 583 00:38:30,880 --> 00:38:36,400 Speaker 1: preserve foods. But stronger distilled spirits were often a new innovation, 584 00:38:37,520 --> 00:38:40,560 Speaker 1: and this led to some of the same societal and 585 00:38:40,640 --> 00:38:44,080 Speaker 1: health issues that Britain had already witnessed. Starting in the 586 00:38:44,080 --> 00:38:49,520 Speaker 1: eighteenth century combined with the same paternalistic attitudes about how 587 00:38:49,600 --> 00:38:53,200 Speaker 1: working or poorer people were spending their time, but now 588 00:38:53,239 --> 00:38:58,239 Speaker 1: a lot of those attitudes were also threaded through with racism. 589 00:38:58,440 --> 00:39:02,960 Speaker 1: Colonial officials often had a lot of concerns as local 590 00:39:03,080 --> 00:39:07,799 Speaker 1: people developed their own distilling practices and lumped everything that 591 00:39:07,800 --> 00:39:11,600 Speaker 1: they were making under the umbrella of gin, regardless of 592 00:39:11,760 --> 00:39:16,759 Speaker 1: what was actually being used. So as one example, in Nigeria, 593 00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:23,200 Speaker 1: British officials described locally made distilled palm wine as gin, 594 00:39:23,880 --> 00:39:27,800 Speaker 1: even though did not have the ingredients that were commonly 595 00:39:27,920 --> 00:39:31,479 Speaker 1: used to make gin. So we haven't really talked about 596 00:39:31,480 --> 00:39:34,279 Speaker 1: the United States at all. Although jin did exist in 597 00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:38,120 Speaker 1: the US, Americans tended to prefer both beer and whiskey 598 00:39:38,160 --> 00:39:42,000 Speaker 1: to gin, but when prohibition went into effect in nineteen twenty, 599 00:39:42,520 --> 00:39:46,720 Speaker 1: illicit gin became a bit more popular. Gin was easier 600 00:39:46,760 --> 00:39:48,960 Speaker 1: to make than many other spirits since it did not 601 00:39:49,160 --> 00:39:51,960 Speaker 1: need to be aged, and since the juniper could help 602 00:39:52,040 --> 00:39:56,560 Speaker 1: disguise the flavor of roughly made alcohol. The terms radiator 603 00:39:56,680 --> 00:40:01,040 Speaker 1: gin and bathtub gin arose during this time, although bathtub 604 00:40:01,160 --> 00:40:04,200 Speaker 1: gin was probably meant to describe the dirtiness of the 605 00:40:04,200 --> 00:40:08,399 Speaker 1: bootleg gin rather than it actually being made in a bathtub. Yeah, 606 00:40:08,400 --> 00:40:11,239 Speaker 1: The idea of it really being made and bathtubs sort 607 00:40:11,239 --> 00:40:15,239 Speaker 1: of came about in film depictions of prohibition from later on, 608 00:40:15,880 --> 00:40:19,040 Speaker 1: rather than how people using it were using it at 609 00:40:19,080 --> 00:40:24,160 Speaker 1: the time. In the early twentieth century, Jin's popularity started 610 00:40:24,160 --> 00:40:26,440 Speaker 1: to wane in a lot of the world. When it 611 00:40:26,480 --> 00:40:30,640 Speaker 1: came to distilled spirits and their popularity, Jin was really 612 00:40:30,719 --> 00:40:35,680 Speaker 1: overtaken by vodka, but especially in the United States, attitudes 613 00:40:35,719 --> 00:40:40,720 Speaker 1: toward drinking also started to shift. Alcoholics Anonymous was established 614 00:40:40,760 --> 00:40:44,360 Speaker 1: in nineteen thirty five, and by nineteen fifty the organization 615 00:40:44,480 --> 00:40:48,200 Speaker 1: had grown large enough to hold its first international convention. 616 00:40:49,160 --> 00:40:53,520 Speaker 1: The popularity of the quote three martini lunch rose and 617 00:40:53,640 --> 00:40:56,239 Speaker 1: fell over the course of the mid twentieth century, with 618 00:40:56,360 --> 00:40:59,520 Speaker 1: Jimmy Carter criticizing that practice when he ran for president 619 00:40:59,600 --> 00:41:04,880 Speaker 1: in teen seventy six. Over time, gin and drinks made 620 00:41:04,880 --> 00:41:10,800 Speaker 1: with gin started to be seen as pretty passe. However, again, 621 00:41:10,960 --> 00:41:12,879 Speaker 1: if you live in the modern world, you know gin 622 00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:16,520 Speaker 1: didn't go away. There's really been a resurgence in gin 623 00:41:16,560 --> 00:41:20,640 Speaker 1: and its popularity. More recently, some people mark gin's resurgence 624 00:41:20,719 --> 00:41:23,920 Speaker 1: as starting with the introduction of Bombay sapphire in nineteen 625 00:41:23,960 --> 00:41:28,480 Speaker 1: eighty six. Others credit Scottish distillers William Grant and Sons, 626 00:41:28,960 --> 00:41:32,560 Speaker 1: which introduced Hendrix gin in nineteen ninety nine, and over 627 00:41:32,600 --> 00:41:35,000 Speaker 1: the last couple of decades there's been a big focus 628 00:41:35,040 --> 00:41:39,480 Speaker 1: on small batch craft distillers experimenting with botanical blends to 629 00:41:39,520 --> 00:41:42,239 Speaker 1: come up with their own flavorings and seasonal gins and 630 00:41:42,280 --> 00:41:45,719 Speaker 1: the like. In twenty twenty, the global gin market was 631 00:41:45,840 --> 00:41:50,200 Speaker 1: valued at fourteen point h three billion dollars, with European 632 00:41:50,239 --> 00:41:54,480 Speaker 1: consumers making up about half of that market share. Yes, 633 00:41:55,160 --> 00:41:58,719 Speaker 1: gin a lot of variety in gin nowadays. If we 634 00:41:58,800 --> 00:42:04,279 Speaker 1: did not mention your face gin or your favorite gin drink, uh, 635 00:42:05,280 --> 00:42:08,320 Speaker 1: don't feel personally left out. I haven't mentioned my favorite 636 00:42:08,360 --> 00:42:20,880 Speaker 1: ones either. Thanks so much for joining us on this Saturday. 637 00:42:21,080 --> 00:42:23,200 Speaker 1: Since this episode is out of the archive, if you 638 00:42:23,239 --> 00:42:25,760 Speaker 1: heard an email address or a Facebook RL or something 639 00:42:25,800 --> 00:42:28,279 Speaker 1: similar over the course of the show, that could be 640 00:42:28,360 --> 00:42:33,040 Speaker 1: obsolete now. Our current email address is History Podcast at 641 00:42:33,200 --> 00:42:37,120 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio dot com. You can find us all over social 642 00:42:37,160 --> 00:42:40,560 Speaker 1: media at missed in History, and you can subscribe to 643 00:42:40,600 --> 00:42:44,600 Speaker 1: our show on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, 644 00:42:44,680 --> 00:42:50,279 Speaker 1: and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Stuff you Missed 645 00:42:50,280 --> 00:42:53,440 Speaker 1: in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For more 646 00:42:53,480 --> 00:42:57,880 Speaker 1: podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or 647 00:42:57,920 --> 00:43:03,400 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.