FOOD HISTORY: GIN (Part Two) Gin in Britain

 FOOD HISTORY: GIN (Part Two) Gin in Britain

Genever was introduced to Britain over a many year period, beginning with the Eighty Years War in 1585, when 6000 British soldiers were sent by Queen Elizabeth to the Low Countries to help them fight against the Spanish but  the troops arrived too late to be involved in much fighting  While they were there, however, they observed a tradition among their Dutch counterparts where they sipped from  small bottles of Genever that they carried on their belts. Before going into battle they drank some of their Genever after which they fought very bravely. The British dubbed this drink "Dutch Courage". Once again, in the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), British and Dutch troops fought together, both of them drinking "Dutch Courage" before battle. From the British soldiers association with their Dutch counterparts during these wars, Genever was introduced into Britain, where it was first called, Geneva", then, "Gena",  "Gen" and finally, "Gin". Slowly it  began to become popular. Gin increased in popularity ( and not in a necessarily good way) in 1689 when, through a number of historical twists and turns, the Dutchman, William of Orange, married to Mary, Queen of Scotland, ascended to the British throne. He took the name William III and he and  Mary became King and Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland. Their rise to power brought greater popularity and demand for Gin as a beverage to the usually beer drinking English public. In addition, one of the first things King William did, was to initiate  a trade war with France, Britain's traditional enemy. He blockaded French ports and laid heavy taxes on the import of French wines and cognac in order to weaken their economy. This had the effect of significantly reducing the availability of these products in England. Simultaneously, to make sure that the English still had their access to plentiful alcoholic beverages, he instituted The Corn Laws which provided British distillers tax breaks on spirit production. This resulted in a production spree in the distillation of  Gin.Thousands of legal and illegal gin-shops sprang up using very poor quality grain and  frequently adulterated Gin. Because of the relatively low price of gin compared to other alcoholic beverages, gin became popular with the poor. Also, because anyone could now prepare gin, many thousands of poor households distilled there own .This  led to a disastrously period in English history known as the "Gin Craze" when a pint of Gin was cheaper than a pint of beer and was vastly available. After several years of increased drunkenness, higher infant mortality and an increase in the overall death rate, the government tried to address the problem by introducing the Gin Act in 1736. This significantly raised the duty put on the retail cost of gin with the stipulation that two gallons was the smallest quantity one could buy at retail. While this increased duty was reduced and finally abolished in 1741, the 1751 Gin act was more successful, forcing  distillers to sell only to licensed retailers and brought gin shops under local government oversite. Gin continued to be distilled using the "pot still' method  until, in 1826, a new distilling technique was invented by  Scotsman, Robert Stein. Stein's still involved two columns whose design was later improved and patented by Irishman, Aeneas Coffey in 1831.These stills were called "column stills"* which could run continuously, not having to stop between batches as had the pot still. This allowed a much purer spirit to be produced on a larger scale. The clean spirit produced from the column stills allowed the distillers to significantly reduce or eliminate the sugar used to soften the harshness in the old, pot distilled gins. This new type of column still made the distillation of neutral spirits more practical and enabled a new style of gin to be created  in the later 18th century.This new style of gin became known as Dry gin or London Dry gin and was usually distilled in the presence of bitter orange peel or lemon accents, as subtle combinations of many other spices, as well. This was more  as more typical of the gin products we know today. Together with the reforms enacted by the government to reduce the abuses associated with uncontrolled Gin usage and the production process becoming more refined, with new, subtle flavors, in made its ascent into high society, Further,the  evolution of Gin as a  component of  "new" alcoholic beverages was brought about by Britain's Empire building with expansion into territories all over the world. A large part of this involved the British navy.