War Time Tipples

This month many will commemorate the 70^th anniversary of the D-Day landings, and also the start of World War One. Hence, I have been considering the part that the consumption of alcohol played in The Great War, along with the monumental social changes that occured in relation to women's drinking habits.

During WW1 governments of all countries involved were worried about the quantities of alcohol being consumed, as drunkenness hampered their war efforts.

The British government announced several measures, including a "No Treating Order", where any drink ordered was to be paid for by the person supplied, with a threat of six months in prison. Tax on alcohol was also increased; by 1918 a bottle of whisky cost £1, five times what it had been before the war.

On the home front, the Central Control Group was set up in 1915, playing a key part in the demise of former Victorian gin palaces, and the introduction of places where respectable middle and upper-class women could drink openly in public without being labelled as slatterns or prostitutes. Formerly a sacred male environment, women drinkers now had direct access to bar premises, and 'the snug', a small side room with a frosted glass window, where higher prices were paid for the ability to drink in private. In this war-time transition women joined the workforce, becoming a greater part of the economy with access to their own money, and with the loss of male companionship at home, they soon began patronising pubs in unprecedented numbers to seek company, or solace when bereaved.

With their husbands away at war, more women were also running pubs; and restricted opening hours, a reduction in alcohol strengths and raised prices all had an impact on the influx of women into this traditionally male domain.

Meanwhile, in the trenches, in an attempt to steady their nerves, prevent illnes and raise their spirits for the battle ahead, British soldiers were given their daily ration of a pint of porter or two ounces of rum, diluted 3 to 1 with water to make 'grog'. More than one soldier remarked: “If we hadn’t had our rum, we would have lost the war.”, and George Bell of the 1st Bn. recorded that “a good stiff ‘tot’ of rum served to buck up the spirits of those wavering.” Rum was also used to deaden the pain of those injured, as one soldier declared in his postwar memoirs: “There are not one, but numberless occasions, on which a tot of rum has saved a man from sickness, or serious illness. Many a life-long teetotaler has taken the first drink of his life on the battlefields of France, not because he wanted to, but because he had to.”

Songs such as 'Never Mind' also became popular.

If the sergeant drinks your rum, never mind
And your face may lose its smile, never mind
He's entitled to a tot but not the bleeding lot
If the sergeant drinks your rum, never mind


As we cast our minds back, here are three cocktails invented around the time of WW1 to help us raise a glass to those who fought for our freedom 100 years ago......
'The Sidecar'
(reportedly created in Paris during WWI)
In a cocktail shaker filled with ice cubes, put three parts Cognac to two parts cointreau or triple sec, add a squeeze of lemon juice, shake well and strain into the glass, garnishing with a lemon twist.

'French 75'
(Named after the 75mm M1897 field gun used extensively by the French in WW1)
Make with two parts champagne to one part gin, with the addition of a dash of sugar syrup and a squeeze of lemon juice. Combine all the ingredients, except the champagne, in a cocktail shaker filled with ice, shake vigorously and strain into a champagne flute, topping up with the champagne.
'The Hemingway'
Author Ernest Hemingway, served as an ambulance driver in Italy towards the end of WW1, and was known to like his booze, once saying “Honey, drinking is war”. He created this cocktail, also known as 'Death in the Afternoon', shortly after the end of WW1.
Simply add one part absinthe to three parts chilled champagne in a champagne glass.