THE GIN CRAZE AND THE POLITICS OF DEMONIZING GIN
The Gin Craze of affordable hooch made public drunkenness a massive problem, along with unscrupulous distillers using harmful ingredients. The general populace was overserved. So much so in fact, the Gin Act of 1751 came bearing down on the little man, the corner gin shop. The Gin Act provided that distillers must sell to licensed merchants. In order to obtain a license, a merchant was required to be a “significant” property owner, and the license fees were very expensive.
Did you know? The Gin Act was not repealed until 2008.
Evidence seems to indicate that gin was consumed straight up or neat until the 1800s. Talk about a tough liver. Sometime around 1825, British soldiers of the East India Company were being wiped out by malaria in greater numbers than were being killed in battle.
Consuming quinine powder (made from the bark of the Cinchona tree) was discovered to prevent and treat Malaria, but the stuff is very bitter and doesn’t smell too good, either.
To make it a bit more palatable, soldiers started mixing it with sugar and soda (which essentially is tonic) and then threw in some gin for good measure.
Thus, the Gin and Tonic was born and is credited for saving millions of lives. Chin chin.
Gin in the u.s. (and that darn prohibition)
Prohibition dried out America from 1920 to 1933. The Eighteenth amendment prohibited the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages.
Just like with teenagers, when anything is forbidden, it makes the desire for it that much stronger. Liquor was smuggled into the country from Canada, Mexico, and Cuba among other places. Americans are nothing if not industrious.
By the late 20s, bootleggers were making corn liquor in their hidden stills, usually out in the country.
Unfortunately though, while a few bourbon and whisky distilleries procured favor from the United States government (and hence still exist today), no U.S.-distilled gin made it through. No pre-prohibition gin still exists.
Bathtub gin
Demand was high, production was fairly simple, and folks began making gin from grain alcohol and juniper berries, which they allowed to steep in a bathtub for a few days before distribution. Some bootleggers weren’t all that scrupulous with their alcohol source and on occasion used unprocessed denatured alcohol, which resulted in the unfortunate deaths of an estimated 50,000 people.