How Gin Became the Meth of 18th Century England | Hacker News Reader

How Gin Became the Meth of 18th Century England

thedailybeast.com

31 pointspmcpinto12 comments

Actually, after first getting to really know gin at 37, I did some research and found this great article: http://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Mothers-Ruin/

Introducing me to the works of William Hogarth (see linked article). I was very surprised that it actually was the Dutch that introduced gin in the UK ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gin ). Funny, I like gin more than I like 'our own' 'jenever'. It's a great drink, neat or otherwise. I understand how this could have caused all this mayhem way back.

Thanks for the comment! Aside from providing me with a fascinating article, it finally solves my uncertainty about 'jenever' being linked to 'gin'. I've been trying to explain what it was to my expat friends, and gin is something they understand.

(still can't get them to enjoy raw herring though, which is traditionally paired with gin, especially when the new catch, Hollandse Nieuwe, is in...)

No mention of how British colonials were drinking it to cover up the awful taste of quinine, taken to combat malaria.

That just sounds like an excuse to drink gin. Disclosure: I like the taste of Indian tonic water

Indian tonic water (modern stuff) has vastly lower levels of quinine than what you would take back then.

Your genes actually play a large role in how you perceive the taste of quinine http://www.monell.org/news/news_releases/quinine

There's a Surprisingly Awesome episode about Broccoli and part of it is about genetic taste preferences and some people taste quinine in it. Very interesting episode:

https://gimletmedia.com/episode/6-broccoli/

This article didn't really say anything interesting. Is there a better article or even book about the gin craze and its effects? Is this just clickbait spam?

Gin: A Global History covers it some, though that's not the main topic of the book. http://www.amazon.com/Gin-Global-History-Reaktion-Edible/dp/...

I'm surprised they discussed gin in 18th Century England without mentioning Hogarth. He drew some great images of the chaos that gin caused: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_Street_and_Gin_Lane

They did mention him.

Ooops.

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