金酒：一段关于名声的激荡历史

By Richard Barnett

Host： Well， initially， gin was conceived of as more of a medicine than a beverage for pleasure.

Richard： Absolutely. In fact， the whole idea of 1）distilling 2）spirits really comes out of the tradition of， strangely enough， out of the Arabic

3）alchemy. If you went to Baghdad， of all places， in the eighth or ninth centuries， youd have found an absolutely thriving culture of research， people trying to investigate the nature of the universe and study it in different ways. Distillation becomes a really powerful technique for doing that. And a lot of the early alchemists think that when you distill wine or beer or spirits in some kind of way， what you end up with is almost the human life force. You get people calling it 4）aqua vitae， the water of life. And then when this liquor starts to be mixed with 5）juniper berries—juniper has had a very long medicinal history， especially for the problems of childbearing. So you have these very potent medicinal substances coming together in gin. And for a long time， as…as you rightfully say， it was thought of as medicine.

主持人：呃，最初，金酒（又称“杜松子酒”）更普遍地是被视为一种药物，而非供消遣的饮品。

理查德：完全正确。事实上，说来也奇怪，蒸馏酒这个概念源于阿拉伯传统炼金术。在十八或十九世纪的巴格达，几乎每个地方，你都可以感受到这股正在兴起的文化热潮—— 对研究的狂热，人们试图研究宇宙的本质，用不同的方式来研习宇宙的奥妙。蒸馏法由此成为了很有力的研究手段。很多早期的炼金术士认为，当你以某种方式蒸馏葡萄酒、啤酒或者是其他酒精，最终你会感受到人类生命的力量。于是，人们称它为aqua vitae ——生命之水。后来人们开始把杜松子和这种蒸馏得到的酒调在一起。杜松子作为药物已经具有很长的一段历史，尤其是用在妇女分娩时。所以，人们将这种强有效的药材和酒调在一起。久而久之，正如你所说，它被认为是一种药物。

Host： How is it that gin， particularly in England of the 1700s， developed such a nasty reputation？

Richard： Well， it all comes down to high politics. In 1689 in this country， we have whats called the Glorious Revolution. The old Catholic King James II is booted out and a Protestant king—6）William of Orange， whos Dutch—is brought in. Now， when William of Orange comes to the throne， he knows that hes dependent upon a whole lot of 7）aristocratic supporters. Now， these people， in turn， are dependent for their income on the massive agricultural estates theyve got. So William knows that if he wants to keep his throne， what he has to do is keep the price of grain nice and high. Now， one of the first ways he tries to do this is to 8）deregulate British distilling. Pretty much anybody can start distilling. It opens up a new market for grain. Gin suddenly becomes incredibly cheap. Anybody can make it， probably anybody can afford it， and this is what starts to push its reputation down.

Host： And this becomes what has been called “The Gin Craze.”

Richard： Absolutely. This is a period between about 1720 and 1750. Theres a huge amount of public disquiet， not only about the low price of gin， but the social effects that this is having. Probably the most famous representation of this is the great English artist William Hogarth produces an 9）engraving called “Gin Lane，” which is a terrible image of the social breakdown thats being caused by gin.

Host： Right. Its an image of people basically falling about—I mean， a woman dropping her baby as she flops backwards， half-naked， obviously drunk.

Richard： Absolutely.

Host： A guy looking like a crack addict， only hes probably a gin addict.

主持人：那这种酒是如何被冠上恶名呢，尤其是在十八世纪的英格兰？

理查德：嗯，这要归结于高层政治。1689年，在英格兰，我们经历了光荣革命。天主教英王詹姆斯二世被撵下位，信奉新教的荷兰人奥兰治亲王威廉登上了王位。威廉登上王位后，他深知自己需仰仗于众多贵族们的拥护。而这些人主要的收入来源于自己经营的大规模农业庄园。所以，威廉知道自己如果想稳坐宝座，他必须要保证粮食价格稳定且高。那时，他首先做的一件事就是解除英国对酒类酿造的管制。结果是，几乎是任何人都可以酿酒。这为粮食打开了新的市场。金酒突然变得异常便宜。任何人都可以酿造金酒，几乎所有人都买得起，也就是从这时起它的名声开始衰落。

主持人：后来就演变成了“金酒狂热”。

理查德：没错。这段时期从

1720年持续到1750年。公众很不安，不仅是因为金酒低廉的价格，还因为它所造成的社会影响。最著名的代表作大概是英国艺术家威廉·荷加斯创作的一副名叫“金酒小巷”的版画，描绘的是金酒引起的可怕的社会萎靡情景。

主持人：是的。那幅画里的人们几乎都是放纵的、堕落的——在画里，孩子正从一个半裸女人的怀中跌出，而她自己倒仰坐在地上，明显是喝醉了。

理查德：没错。

主持人：另一个男子看起来就像是瘾君子的，很可能就是个金酒成瘾者。

Richard： In fact， if you wanted a very good modern 10）parallel for the way that gin was regarded in the 18th century， crack is probably a very， very good one.

Host： What finally brought gin to respectability？

Richard： I think its a number of things. Firstly， we should say its a very important American invention. Possibly one of the great American cultural contributions to the world is the invention of the cocktail. Through the 19th century， first of all， Americans and then Europeans get the habit of drinking spirits mixed up with the whole happy hour of other things： bitters and tonics and all sorts of things. And that helps to make gin more respectable. Its just one more ingredient in the cocktail cabinet.

I think the second thing that helps to make gin more respectable is the growth of the gin and tonic. If you imagine colonists from Europe going out to the tropics in the 19th century， one of the biggest problems they face is 11）malaria—terrible， terrible disease， kills many thousands of Europeans， and of course many hundreds of thousands of Africans in this period. Now， at the time， theres only one effective treatment， and thats a drug which in Britain is called 12）quinine. I think in the U.S. you call it quinine. Its derived from the bark of a tree that grows in South America.

Now， the trouble with quinine is its incredibly bitter. So in the 19th century， lots of companies start producing more 13）palatable ways of taking your daily quinine. This is tonic water. Now， British colonists in the late 19th century discover that tonic water and gin sort of complement one other. Theyve both got this rather sort of refreshing botanical kind of flavour. So， the British start drinking the gin and tonic and making it the distinctive drink of British colonials. And they bring this habit back to Britain in the—I suppose in the 20th century. So those are the two things that start to make gin a much more respectable prospect.

理查德：事实上，如果你想要在现在找一种相当于十八世纪的金酒的东西，那就是可卡因。

主持人：那最终是什么使得金酒重获人们的尊敬呢？

理查德：我认为是有几个因素。首先，我们必须提到这是美国十分重要的一项发明。或许美国对世界最重要的文化贡献之一就是发明了鸡尾酒。在十九世纪，先是美国人，接着是欧洲人都习惯把酒和其他的东西混着喝：苦啤或者是奎宁水，还有各种其他的调料。这样使得金酒开始受到尊重（译者注：金酒是鸡尾酒中常用的基酒之一）。鸡尾酒酒柜中又多了一味调料。

我觉得使金酒受人尊敬的第二个因素，还因为人们更普遍地把金酒和奎宁水调配在一起。你想象一下，在十九世纪，欧洲殖民者去到热带地区，面临的最大问题之一就是疟疾——这种极其可怕的疾病导致成千上万欧洲人和非洲人丧命。当时唯一有效的治疗，就是在英国被称为奎宁的这种药物。我想在美国，只是发音有些不同。这是从南美洲一种树的树皮上提取的物质。

问题是，奎宁非常苦。所以，在十九世纪时，许多公司都开始研究各种各样可以使奎宁更容易入口的方法。于是有了奎宁水。到十九世纪后期，英国殖民者发现奎宁水和金酒搭配很不错，混合后是一种清爽的植物芳香的味道。所以，英国人开始把金酒和奎宁水混合着喝，使其成为英国殖民者的特色饮品，并在二十世纪时，将这个习惯带回英国。这就是使得金酒重新受到人们尊重的两个因素。