What stories behind our spirits?

Gin

Gin and Tonic with ice and a slice; the timeless cocktail to be drunk at any time of year, anytime of week and at any hour of the day.

The cocktail is the ‘couture’ of the alcoholic catwalk.

The cocktail is the ‘couture’ of the alcoholic catwalk; the rumble of the shaker, the chink of the ice and the elegance of the glass give the ceremony of the cocktail that cosmopolitan appeal.

Blinded by the glamour of cocktail flouncing, I was eager to understand what it really meant to enjoy a cocktail; to reveal the historical magic behind the potent, yet delicious art of this genre of alcohol, in particular, my all-time trustworthy companion, gin.

The estimated date of the first production of gin was in 17thC Holland; produced as a medicine to treat stomach complaints, gout and gallstones. British troops in Colonized India were given quinine to protect them against malaria; taken with carbonated water and topped with gin to disguise its quinine’s unpalatable taste. Thus, the staple Gin and Tonic was known among the troops as their ‘Dutch Courage’.

By 1730, London had over 7000 shops that only sold spirits. Alcoholism among the lower classes became a huge problem; on the 29th of September 1739 The Gin Act was passed making the spirit, usually very cheap, very expensive. As a consequence, there were street riots and the laws were widely broken; even the Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole opposed the Act as he considered it to be enforced against the will of the common people! Thankfully, the Act was repealed in 1742 (production had risen by 50% during the 6 years!).

Also know as ‘the mother’s ruin’, gin was rumoured to bring about abortions and generally be overly enjoyed by poor women trying to obliterate their bleak social situation.

Yo, ho, ho and a bottle of rum.

Whether it be one of many cocktails such as Cachaça, Cuba Libre, Daiquiri, Piña Colada, Mojito, plain old Rum and Coke, or a hot toddy on a cold day, these rum favourites have their origins in sugar, smuggling and slavery.

Fermented drinks made from sugarcane are believed to go as far back as ancient India or China, and an early drink known as 'brum' was produced by the Malay people thousands of years ago.

A hot, hellish, and terrible liquor.
Barbados document, 1651

The history of rum as we know it today began in the 17thC when plantation slaves in the Carribean discovered that molasses could be fermented in to alcohol. Later the distillation process brought the first rums in to being, 'a hot, hellish, and terrible liquor' according to a 1651 Barbados document!

Despite being too hot to handle for some, rum was used locally as a 'cure' for many aches and pains that afflicted those living in the tropics. Sugar plantation owners would sell it to naval ships on station in the Carribean and by the 1730s the British navy adopted a daily rum ration which was later mixed with water to make 'grog'. The 'grog' ration was a feature of British naval life until 1969.

With the navy came a thriving export trade and with such trade came rampant smuggling, in deliberate flouting of the British parliament's stringent laws on spirits trading between the colonies.

A famous rum story involves Horatio Nelson, whose body was preserved in a cask of rum to allow transport back to England following his victory at the Battle of Trafalgar. Rumour has it that rum-thristy sailors drilled a hole in the bottom of the cask and drunk all the rum, in the process drinking Nelson's blood! This explains the term 'Nelson's Blood' being used to describe rum.

Rum's popularity soon spread to colonial America where every man, woman, or child was drinking an average of 3 Imperial gallons (13.5 liters) of rum each year! The exchange of slaves, molasses and rum proved to be a profitable one, and one of the causes of the American Revolution was probably the Sugar Act in 1764, which introduced sticter tax measures on molasses and which was deeply unpopular.

Rum also became an important part of the political system in America; colonial voters were more concerned with which candidate would provide the most rum than with whether or not they would make competent leaders. The canditate was supposed to drink with the public to prove that he was independent and a true republican.

Whiskey Galore!

Associated with the kilt-wearing Scotsmen of the highlands and the commercial Tennessee Jack Daniels brand that appears everywhere in Americanised culture, you wouldn’t have thought that whiskey or ‘whisky’, as it can also be spelt, actually started life in Irish monasteries. Believed to have first been produced by monks as early as the 8th century, whiskey was originally drunk for its medicinal purposes and was called ‘aquavitae’—‘the water of life’. Taken over to Scotland in 1494, local peasants even began brewing it as currency by the 19th century. However, whiskey was also popular with royalty—Queen Elizabeth I is believed to have been partial to Irish whisky during her reign.

Dynamiting whisky. You wouldn’t think there’d be men in the world so crazy as that!

Whiskey also found fame in a novel by Compton Mackenzie in 1947 called ‘Whisky Galore!’ which was later made into a comedy film of the same name.

Mackenzie’s novel is based on a real incident during the Second World War when a ship, the S.S. Politician, ran aground off the island of Eriskay in the Hebrides. The locals got their hands on up to 28,000 cases of Scotch before the ship was ordered to be blown up by the local customs officer, who was incensed that the islanders had accrued so much whiskey without paying tax. The words of one man spoke for the value of the ship’s cargo: Dynamiting whisky. You wouldn’t think there’d be men in the world so crazy as that!

Across the Atlantic unpopular taxes on whiskey in 1794 led to the Pennsylvanian Whiskey Rebellion. Locals who refused to pay taxes on the liquor attacked federal officers and even burnt down the home of the tax inspector, forcing President George Washington to send in 13,000 troops to halt the disturbance. After that many whiskeymakers moved to southern Indiana and Kentucky, areas now famous for their whiskey production.

Vodka, the water of life

With its 35-50% alcohol per volume content, vodka is one of the world’s leading liquors. The word comes from the Slavic diminutive for “water”; like whiskey, the association of the alcohol with water probably originates from the Latin “water of life.”

The first record of the word was found in Polish court documents from the Palatinate of Sandomierz, which date from 1405 to 1537. At this time, it was known as “bread wine” and referred to medicine and cosmetics. Russia’s close association with vodka began with Tsar Ivan IV, known as Ivan the Terrible, whom opened Moscow’s first tavern. Following this, many more state-owned taverns were opened, creating a monopoly both of production and distribution, generating up to 40% of state revenue. Accordingly, vodka became not only an economic driving force but a cultural focal point. Although Dimitry Mandeleev (the chemist who came up with the key ideas behind the periodic table) proved that 38% alcohol per volume was the perfect percentage, this figure was rounded up to 40% by the authorities to simplify taxes.

Although we largely associate vodka with Russia, today many other countries sell their own brands. The site I Vodka lists over 600 brands of vodka produced in the USA, 526 from Poland, 103 from Russia and a meagre 70 from the United Kingdom!

There are two types of vodkas: plain and flavoured. Plain vodka is generally preferred in gourmet circles for the tasting of caviar. Since it has no distinct taste, colour or aroma Vodkais deemed an ideal mixer. Some of the most popular cocktails include White Russian, Bloody Mary, Cosmopolitan, Vodka Cranberry, Vodka Red Bull, Sex on the Beach and more recently thanks to James Bond, the Vesper! Lesser known drinks range from Screwdriver (vodka and orange) to the evocatively named Ectoplasm (vodka, rum, nutmeg, cream, and lemon juice).

So next time you’re about to order a regular vodka and Red Bull, why not be a little more adventurous and try a Flirtini (vodka, champagne and pineapple juice)?

So next time you find yourself sipping on your favourite spririt, whether it be neat or mixed, shaken or stirred, remember that it might once have saved you from malaria, contained the blood of a legendary naval commander or been the cause of a explosive rebellion, to name just a few alcoholic legends.

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