Gin originated as a what?
A: A medicinal liquor made by monks and alchemists across Europe.
Gin became popular in England after the introduction of
what?
A: Jenever, a Dutch and Belgian liquor that was originally a medicine.
Gin became widespread after the 1688 Glorious
Revolution led by William of Orange and subsequent what?
A: Import restrictions on French brandy.
Gin subsequently emerged as what?
A: The national alcoholic drink of England.
Gin today is produced in different ways from a wide
range of what?
A: Herbal ingredients, giving rise to a number of distinct styles and
brands.
After juniper, gin tends to be flavored with what?
A: Botanical/herbal, spice, floral or fruit flavors or often a combination.
It is commonly consumed mixed with what?
A: Tonic water in a gin and tonic.
Gin is also often used as a base spirit to produce
what?
A: Flavored, gin-based liqueurs, for example sloe gin, traditionally
produced by the addition of fruit, flavorings and sugar.
The name gin is a shortened form of what older English
word?
A: Genever, related to the French word genièvre and the Dutch word jenever.
All ultimately derive from what?
A: Juniperus, the Latin for juniper.
Gin's roots can be traced to 11th-century Benedictine
monks in Salerno, in southern Italy, in a monastery surrounded by what?
A: An area rich in juniper trees.
What kind of still did these monks use?
A: A swan-necked alembic still.
The monks used it to distill what?
A: Sharp, fiery, alcoholic tonics, one of which was distilled from
wine
infused with juniper berries.
They were making what?
A: Medicines, hence the juniper.
Across Europe, apothecaries handed out juniper tonic
wines for what?
A: Coughs, colds, pains, strains, ruptures and cramps.
It is claimed that English soldiers who provided
support in Antwerp against the Spanish in 1585, during the Eighty Years'
War, were already doing what?
A: Drinking jenever for its calming effects before battle, from which the
term Dutch courage is believed to have originated.
Gin drinking in England rose significantly after the
government did what?
A: Allowed unlicensed gin production, and at the same time imposed a heavy
duty on all imported spirits such as French brandy.
What did this create?
A: A larger market for poor-quality barley that was unfit for brewing
beer.
In 1695–1735 thousands of gin-shops sprang up
throughout England, a period known as what?
A: The Gin Craze.
Because of the low price of gin, when compared with
other drinks available at the same time, and in the same geographic
location, gin began to be consumed regularly by whom?
A: The poor.
Of the 15,000 drinking establishments in
London, not
including coffee shops and drinking chocolate shops, over half were what?
A: Gin shops.
Beer maintained a healthy reputation as it was often
safer to drink the brewed ale than what?
A: Unclean plain water.
Gin was blamed for various social problems, and it may
have been a factor in what?
A: The higher death rates which stabilized London's previously growing
population.
The Gin Act 1736 imposed high taxes on retailers and
led to what?
A: Riots in the streets.