Gin

The intemperate classes may resent restriction, but it remains necessary in their own interests.

I don't suppose many people read Harrison Ainsworth's novels today, but I remember a striking passage in Jack Sheppard where Mrs. Sheppard justifies herself to her friend Wood, the carpenter, who has told her that Gin Lane is the nearest road to the churchyard.

It is worth quoting.

"It may be, but if it shortens the distance and lightens the journey, I care not," retorted the widow.

So would my own thoughts.

I should have gone mad without it.

Gin is the poor man's friend, his soul set off against the rich man's luxury.

When worst than all, frenzied with want, I have yielded to horrible temptation and earned a meal the only way I could earn one.

[laughs]

... of this podcast was The Break Room: Rothko and Gin.

Rothko and Gin.

[laughs]

[laughs]

... to see how much money we can get out of him.

If you've got a song called Vodka, Tequila, Gin, Rose.

What we really need a, uh, quick tug in the toilet for you.

But there isn't a song called that.

The intemperate classes may resent restriction, but it remains necessary in their own interests.

I don't suppose many people read Harrison Ainsworth's novels today, but I remember a striking passage in Jack Shepard where Mrs. Shepard justifies herself to her friend Wood, the carpenter, who has told her that Gin Lane is the nearest road to the churchyard.

It is worth quoting.

It may be, but if it shortens the distance and lightens the journey, I care not, retorted the widow.

So would my own thoughts.

I should have gone mad without it.

Gin is the poor man's friend, his soul set off against the rich man's luxury.

When worst than all, frenzied with want, I have yielded to horrible temptation and earned a meal the only way I could earn one.

The landlords, the traders, and even some of the more compassionate philanthropists noticed that many of these newcomers turned to one particular beverage, an inexpensive distilled spirit that quickly rose in popularity among the working poor.

It wasn't until after the Glorious Revolution when French brandy imports were curtailed by Parliament that gin, a genever-derived drink from the Netherlands, slipped into domestic production as a cheap alternative to the heavily taxed spirits.

In seventeen twenty-nine, Parliament passed its first Gin Act, essentially a duty on gin that was far lower than that levied on wine or beer.

It tried to curb consumption without entirely eliminating the trade.

Yet that act was a failure in practice.

The consequences, however, were far from innocuous.

There are contemporary accounts, from court reporters to pamphleteers, that describe increasing levels of public drunkenness, crime, and even family breakdown.

William Hogarth, a middle-class artist, captured this in his seventeen fifty-one engraving, Gin Lane.

The intemperate classes may resent restriction, but it remains necessary in their own interests.

I don't suppose many people read Harrison Ainsworth's novels today, but I remember a striking passage in Jack Shepherd where Mrs. Shepherd justifies herself to her friend Wood, the carpenter, who has told her that Gin Lane is the nearest road to the churchyard.

It is worth quoting.

"'It may be, but if it shortens the distance and lightens the journey, I care not,' retorted the widow.

So would my own thoughts.

I should have gone mad without it.

Gin is the poor man's friend, his soul set off against the rich man's luxury.

When worst than all, frenzied with want, I have yielded to horrible temptation and earned a meal the only way I could earn one.