Aliments: Sustenance and Libations series - On Gin

With my renewed approach to bloggeratin' - i cheerfully offer the first in my food/drink series "Sustenance & Libation."  To start things off properly, today's topic: gin.

As evident in the quote at the top of the page ("In the absence of anyone to be rude to, i'm going to the pub for an unspecified number of gin and tonics."  Captain Stephen Peacock, Are You Being Served?), i am a gin drinker.  Generally, i find people either love it or hate it.  There's not much in between.  I also find that gin drinkers are some of the most loyal to their brands.  I'm certainly not above the occasional Bombay or Beefeater, but i'm first and foremost a Tanqueray lady.

Gin, as most alcoholic beverages, has a long history.  It's stock really rose circa 1700 when it got quite popular in England (the country it is still most associated with).  Of course, not everybody was thrilled about that back then and gin got labeled with a low-class-inebriate's reputation.  Gin fell out of favor rather quickly after that, but it was back again by the Victorian era, and like most things popular during the Victorian era, it had come back with a major style upgrade.

Alas, the whole Prohibition thing knocked gin back down a peg or two, particularly that "bathtub" bit.  But once again, gin recovered well enough.

Read on for more....