Drink with storied past finds new vigor in the Pearl

By Anne Marie Distefano

The Portland Tribune, Nov 11, 2005, Updated Oct 30, 2009

The name of the Pearl District’s newest martini bar is Olive or Twist, in reference to the garnishes of the classic, 1960s martini.

Owner Sam Fowler wants to capture the sophisticated feel of a mid-20th century cocktail party, and to that end has filled his drinks menu with vintage gin concoctions Ñ the dry martini, the gimlet and even the long-forgotten orange blossom.

At the same time, the name refers to a much earlier and rowdier heyday for gin. The cute double meaning evokes the England of Charles Dickens. Gin was the working-class drink of choice in 18th- and 19th-century London. It is during the darkest parts of his adventures, among pickpockets and footpads, that young Oliver Twist encounters gin.

Originally, gin came from Holland. In the 1600s, soldiers who drank gin before going into battle were said to be especially fierce fighters (hence the term “Dutch courage”). When William of Orange, a Dutchman, became King of England, he encouraged the British to take up the art of distilling. The idea was that this would be a boost for farmers Ñ unlike beer or wine, liquor could be made from any kind of grain.

Until that time, the British had been mostly ale drinkers, with French wine and brandy for the upper classes. Suddenly, in the early 1700s, hard liquor flooded the market. There were no regulations on its sale. Unlike beer, liquor could be sold by anyone, in any kind of shop, or even from a wheelbarrow on a street corner. At first, the grain spirits were flavored with various herbs, such as aniseed, cinnamon and cloves, but juniper quickly became the favorite tincture. The Dutch called it Geneva, but soon the word was slurred into gin.

In “Gin,” his edifying book on the subject, Patrick Dillon writes, “To call the early 18th century a hard-drinking age would be something of an understatement.”

1 | 2 Next Page >>

Facebook	Digg	Del.icio.us
Newsvine	Stumbleupon	Reddit