Mother s Milk, Mother s Ruin, and Ladies Delight. Dutch Courage and Cuckold s Comfort. These evocative nicknames for gin hint that it has a far livelier history than the simple and classic martini would lead you to believe. In this book, Lesley Jacobs Solmonson journeys into gin s past, revealing that this spirit has played the role of both hero and villain throughout history.

Taking us back to gin s origins as a medicine derived from the aromatic juniper berry, Solmonson describes how the Dutch recognized the berry s alcoholic possibilities and distilled it into the whiskey-like...