Gin myths are just that

Gin is great stuff but has developed a bit of a bad reputation stemming from the 17th century Gin Lane.

Those of you reading this are probably already big fans of Gin but as your sitting there in the sun enjoying a refreshing G&T or sipping on that tantalising Martini the look of pure satisfaction on your face is bound to peak the interest of those less fortunate around you.

And I am sure you have witnessed the puckering of the lips and creasing of the brow that sometimes follows when you tell them you are drinking Gin.

Here are a few of the more common complaints directed at Gin and how you can turn them around and perhaps convince those less fortunate of what they are missing out on.

William Hogarths 1751 paintings Gin Lane and Beer street,
used to depict the evils of drinking Gin.

“Mothers Ruin isn’t it” yup quite possibly if you were living in 17^th /18^th century London. Gin does have a sordid past but that all adds to its intrigue. When

Gins fore-father Genever  first crossed the shores from Holland in the late 17^th century it was distilled using extremely crude methods, often there was a distillery on every street and because of the lack of regulations at the time they often produced extremely poor quality spirit with many dangerous higher alcohols such as methanol. Because the spirit tasted so bad they would often add other even worse illness inducing chemicals like turpentine or sulphuric acid to remove odours and make the Gin seemingly more drinkable.

This lead to a period of increased unrest as citizens would overindulge and literally go mad from the chemicals used in production. Which lead to the term “Mothers Ruin”, children were neglected as the poorest citizens needed to get there fix at any cost.

So the answer is “No” modern day Gin is actually one of the most pure alcohols you can buy and bears no resemblance to its 17^th/18^th century British forebears.

“Gin Makes me cry/depressed” yes it makes me cry if I don’t get my G&T too! But back on topic this is another common myth, ethanol and your state of mind make you cry.

All alcoholic beverages contain ethanol and ethanol can be a depressant so you will get the same effects from any other alcohol containing beverage including beer or wine. 

This is likely a myth created around the time of the Gin Craze in London where every negative aspect of the human condition was being blamed on Gin.

“My Grandma used to drink it horrible stuff”  Your grandparents drank the traditional stuff that was all that was available when they were your age. These days there is a lot of really good Gins available and they are rapidly gaining popularity, as an example London is in the middle of a Gin revolution they have had a 49% increase in the amount of premium Gin sold over the last 2 years a trend being seen in many countries globally.

There is so much variety out there now, try a different brand maybe one that has more of a citrus or spicy flavour as opposed to a more traditional Pine heavy traditional flavour.

“I drank too much in my younger days” lets face it when you were 18 years old you were drinking the cheapest Gin you could get your hands on, im telling you now that there are hundreds of good Gins that would have almost nothing in common with and would be much more pure than whatever you were drinking when you were 18 so don’t be afraid try something new.

“I don’t like Tonic water or its too bitter” well don’t drink it with tonic water, Gin makes a fantastic Martini or if you like something a little sweeter or dryer there are any number of classic Gin cocktails like the Tom Collins, Negroni or Bees Knees to suit your tastes.