Comments
So, if it wasn't made in a bathtub is medicinal?
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 07/12/12 at 09:23 AM
You're not far off the mark, Expat. Gin was once the basis for malarial treatment. An historian, James Burke in his great "Connections" series, informs that gin was originally used to cover the horrid taste of quinine. Whether it was made in a bathtub was not mentioned.
Posted by KDP on 07/12/12 at 11:15 AM
IIRC, tonic water originally contained quinine. Hence Gin & Tonic in the tropics was the drink du jure.
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 07/12/12 at 11:22 AM
Y'all beat me to the G&T info, and big pieces of Australia are tropical. BTW, James Burke went to the same Grammar School I did. He was the keynote speaker for Speech Day the first year I was there.
Nine shillings and sixpence was a pretty steep price for a whole bottle. I think they still had gold half sovereigns then, and you would only have gotten sixpence change out of one. The Bank of England says that equates to £24.48 ($37.77, or €30.97) in today's money.
Nine shillings and sixpence was a pretty steep price for a whole bottle. I think they still had gold half sovereigns then, and you would only have gotten sixpence change out of one. The Bank of England says that equates to £24.48 ($37.77, or €30.97) in today's money.
Posted by TheCannyScot in Atlanta, GA on 07/12/12 at 06:50 PM
I find vodka to be rather medicinal myself. 😝
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 07/13/12 at 12:43 AM
When I first tried Gin, I had not known you could drink a pine tree.
Now Rum, I certianly can go for drinking sugar cane.
Now Rum, I certianly can go for drinking sugar cane.
Posted by Baughbe on 07/13/12 at 09:09 AM
Gin, to me, tastes like perfume. Liquid corn or cactus juice are my vices when the devil rides my shoulder.
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 07/13/12 at 09:12 AM
Since I don't drink any more (for medical reasons), my memory is getting hazy, but I certainly don't remember gin as tasting anything like pine. That sounds like it's more in the retsina line of things.
Posted by TheCannyScot in Atlanta, GA on 07/13/12 at 12:04 PM
Commenting is not available in this channel entry.
Category: Medicine | Self-help Schemes | Advertising | 1920s | Alcohol