Italian Trip: Gin ... Sandy's Birthday Drink

Mixing it up a bit and seeing the other side of Scotland's drinking culture .... GIN.

A little bit of history thanks Mr Google

1500s

It’s fair to say that gin goes back a bit. In fact, it’s said that as far back as 1585 English soldiers were knocking back a juniper-based spirit to calm their nerves before battle when they were helping the Dutch fight the Spanish in the Eighty Years' War. Not surprising that the term Dutch Courage has stuck.

1600s

Assuming that’s true, this probably means that the Dutch physician Franciscus Sylvius didn’t invent gin in the mid 17th century, despite getting the credit. What he did do, though, was make it popular. By 1670 malt spirit or malt wine re-distilled with juniper was sold in pharmacies and used to treat medical problems such as kidney and tummy troubles, gallstones and gout.
In 1689, it hit England. The Dutch prince William of Orange came to the British throne, bringing the juniper spirit with him. Widely known for his hatred of all things Catholic, he imposed huge duties on imported spirits from France – which meant people turned to gin for a cheaper tipple. With unlicensed gin production legal at the time, thousands of gin-shops sprang up across the country, creating the Gin Craze.

1700s

By the 1720s and 1730s, cheap gin was so popular with the poor that the death rate outstripped the birth rate and it was dubbed Mother's Ruin. Given it was generally laced with oil of sulphuric acid and turpentine, this isn’t exactly a surprise. Two Gin Acts later, though, with high taxes on retailers, gin was no longer cheap and no longer the poor man’s drink.

1800s

Throughout the 1800s, people drank Old Tom, a sweeter, cordial gin which has recently seen a resurgence. A picture of an old tomcat would hang outside a tavern and a passer-by in need of a sharpener would insert a coin into a slot underneath – then a reviving measure of gin would be poured down a tube from inside. The good old days!
Meanwhile, overseas, ex-pats in tropical British colonies used gin to take the edge off the bitter flavour of quinine, which was an anti-malarial. The quinine was dissolved in carbonated water to form tonic water – and there you have it: today’s G&T.

1900s

In the early 1900s, the taste for sweet drinks waned and London Dry Gin became the preferred cocktail spirit – with a Dry Martini the hot favourite. Cocktails stayed popular during the prohibition era in the US as thirsty entrepreneurs invented Bathtub Gin. This combined industrial alcohol, glycerine, juniper oil and water from the bath tap with fruit juices and mixers – creating a raft of new cocktails.
The 1920s and 1930s were the golden age of gin, with barmen and cocktail experts from the US flocking to London. It was the drink of choice among Hollywood stars and remained the dominant white spirit right up until the early 1960s. Then vodka came along and the gin bottle was pushed to the back of the drinks cabinet.
By the 1970s, gin was the boring drink your parents drank. But the Bombay Sapphire launch in 1988 changed all this: the unusual blue bottle and juniper-light profile attracted a new following. It reinvented the category and opened the door for Hendricks 10 years later, complete with apothecary bottle and cucumber perfect serve.

2018 Moving forward yet again, a new historical fact that needs to be documented! ... 14th July on a mid-summers day.

A bunch of Aussie tourist find a small bar in Lossiemouth a wee seaside village over looking the North Sea and set up their own "Gin Club" ... calling themselves the "G,C's" such an innovative bunch!! start to try their way through the Scottish Gin range.

Not going to be a pretty afternoon so here is a before picture while they all still look semi respectable!

So let me introduce our first drinkie poo's ...

Opps sounding a wee too hissed already, probably are, we have just finished at the whisky distillery! The lengths of suffering I have to endure just to give my blog readers some enthralling information.

The 1998 Hendricks, historically (over the last 20 years that is) is served with cucumber and I must say a joy to finish a Hendricks "G" & only a wee splash of "T" (one doesn't want to flood the gin now do we) us "G,C's" all sooooo learned ... now! ... so as I was saying to eat a Hendricks infused cucumber balls is one of life's simple delights.

Moving forward to what we "G,C's" are dubbing a breakfast cocktail ... move over miss Bloody Mary!

The Hendricks Raspberry Cocktail,

Muddle several seriously scrummy Scottish raspberries with your Hendricks Gin, add apple juice stir and .... grin.

Breakfast will never be the same again!

Now as for the Isle of Harris Gin ... Cheeky little number, with mint and sugar kelp as part of its distillation along with all the usuals of juniper berry and other secret herbs and spices.

So to bring out those minty nodes

serve over ice with fresh mint and lemon,

with that pooftenth wee splash of "T"