Riot & Rose - 1743

1743 was the year of the Gin Act. In that century 10 litres of gin was drunk per man woman and child per annum every year. This wasn't the 80 proof 40% stuff with tonic but the 160 proof 80% stuff drunk straight. Not surprisingly society had a problem one that people wanted to crack down on and so they did, repeatedly through the century. Many acts imposed taxes and there were many riots, in one over 200 people were shot to death. Finally gin was banned from being made in London by small scale distilleries in 1751 amazingly only being legalized in 2008, 257 years later! In 2009 the Sipsmith distillery finally opened. Prior to that however The Gin Act of 1736 attempted to curb gin consumption by instituting a 20 shilling per gallon excise tax as well as a £50 annual license (equivalent to £8,000 today) for all gin sellers. The law proved immensely unpopular and provoked public rioting and widespread defiance. It is said that only two of the annual licenses were ever purchased and many people turned to producing homemade gin. The 1743 act reduced the cost of an annual gin selling license from £50 to just 20 shillings. This gin is a homage to that (I'm not sure why exactly). I tried it as gin #3 in a flight with ice, tonic and orange. It's a nice drop. Rated 2 out of 3 on the night.