Estate Living November 2016 Digital Issue | Page 8

Ginthe tonic

of all the gin joints, in all the towns,
in all the world . . .
Gin

is

the

chameleon

the

alcohol

Rick

bemoans

world.
his

of

When
enforced

reunion with Ilsa in the timeless
classic Casablanca, he calls his
establishment a “gin joint”. And
by that he’s implying that it’s a
pretty disreputable place. In fact, gin
has a chequered history − most of it
disreputable.

In

18th-century

London,

gin was so plentiful and so
cheap (and so badly made) it
was responsible for a huge
upsurge in alcohol abuse.
Known as “Mother’s Ruin”,
gin was, according to antigin campaigners of the time,
“the principal cause of all
the vice and debauchery
committed

among

the

inferior sort of people”.
But changes in taxation
and legislation led to a
slightly better class of gin
being served to a “slightly
better class of person”