tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/gin-32170/articlesGin – The Conversation2023-07-11T19:24:49Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2050652023-07-11T19:24:49Z2023-07-11T19:24:49ZLast seen 90 years ago, strange worm species is found crawling in Malaysia<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536803/original/file-20230711-29-zqck7d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=152%2C54%2C1388%2C891&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The first specimen of _Bipalium admarginatum_ was found by George Verdon in the jungle of a tropical island.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">George Verdon</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>George Verdon had a biological enigma on his hands. He’d stumbled across an animal while out for a run which was proving difficult to identify… In all fairness, this run had been through an island jungle on the Malay peninsula, so the chance of finding something weird was significantly higher than usual, but nevertheless this particular animal was resisting his attempts to work out what it was.</p>
<p>It was about 10 cm long and looked like a worm. It also had stark stripey warning colours and for a moment almost looked like a tiny juvenile snake. However, when looking at the head – hammerheaded and flattened and apparently eyeless – it was clearly something different.</p>
<p>As a professional wildlife filmmaker, George has seen a lot of strange animals, but was lost with this one. After some Internet research, he found that there were some scientists crazy enough (us…) to study these weird creatures.</p>
<p>For the last 10 years, we have undertaken to characterise the land flatworms which invade European countries, such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/obama-nungara-how-a-flatworm-from-argentina-jumped-the-atlantic-and-invaded-france-131186"><em>Obama nungara</em></a>, now found in more than 70 departments in France, or the giant species <a href="https://theconversation.com/yes-giant-predatory-worms-really-are-invading-france-97106"><em>Bipalium kewense</em></a>. George got in touch in August of 2019, sending us an e-mail with some photos and asking if we knew any more about it. </p>
<p>Upon comparison with the scientific literature, it turned out to be a species that hadn’t been seen in the 90 years since it was first discovered: <em>Bipalium admarginatum</em>. It hadn’t been recorded since it was first described in 1933 by de Beauchamp, on an island not far away from George’s sighting. Naturally, we were excited, and asked George if he had collected the specimen he had seen. For some reason we don’t understand, he had been out for a jog without a field kit, and had subsequently let the animal glide back into the leaf litter. We asked him if he could dive back into the jungle to find a few specimens, and gave instructions on how best to find and catch them.</p>
<h2>Macaques, and quadruple gin and tonic… without tonic</h2>
<p>Returning to the scene of the sighting armed with collecting vials, larval forceps, and the help of Liv Grant (a friend and colleague), George found more of the species. This was only half of the challenge, as they turned out to be in the territory of macaques, who were not feeling hospitable. Liv took up the task of fending off the marauders while George hastily collected, and the two quickly retreated.</p>
<p>So far so good, but how to preserve them? The instructions we gave were to put the animals in pure ethanol, but tropical islands are notoriously lacking when it comes to laboratory supplies. Or so we thought… George found a solution: a quadruple gin and tonic, minus the tonic, the lime, the ice, and the umbrella. After putting the specimens into a vial with the gin, George brought them to Michelle Soo, at the UCSI University of Kuala Lumpur, who took charge of verifying the discovery.</p>
<h2>Complete mitochondrial genome</h2>
<p>The next step was to attempt a molecular analysis of the animal. This is important for characterising it and understanding its relationship with other species of the genus <em>Bipalium</em>. Normally this is only done <a href="https://peerj.com/articles/4672/">on specimens well preserved in absolute ethanol</a>. Romain Gastineau, at the University of Szczecin in Poland, tried anyway… and thanks to next-generation sequencing techniques, we were able to characterise the complete mitochondrial genome of <em>Bipalium admarginatum</em>, despite the original harvest in the gin. </p>
<p>Only about 10 complete mitogenomes are known in this family, all the others having been obtained from specimens harvested under perfect conditions and <a href="https://peerj.com/articles/12725/">impeccable ethanol in a laboratory</a>. It deserved a <a href="https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5277.3.11">publication</a>, which we undertook. We were even able to convince the scientific journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5277.3.11">to add a summary in the Malay language</a>, in order to convince the country’s citizens to collect any bizarre worms they will encounter. Hopefully we will receive other specimens, there are so many extraordinary species to discover and rediscover.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205065/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jean-Lou Justine a reçu des financements du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leigh Winsor, Michelle Soo et Romain Gastineau ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur poste universitaire.</span></em></p>A strange worm found in the jungle, then harvested and preserved in… gin, provides a better understanding of the evolution and genetics of flatworms.Jean-Lou Justine, Professeur, UMR ISYEB (Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité), Muséum national d’histoire naturelle (MNHN)Leigh Winsor, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, James Cook UniversityMichelle Soo, Assistant Professor, Deputy Dean of the Department of Biotechnology, UCSI UniversityRomain Gastineau, Professeur assistant (Institut des sciences de la mer et de l'environnement), University of SzczecinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1508272020-12-23T13:41:37Z2020-12-23T13:41:37ZThe icy backstory to that ‘clink clink’ you’ll hear when raising a toast to the end of the year<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/376434/original/file-20201222-19-ks8ad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=85%2C8%2C5647%2C3807&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ice with a slice of history.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/celebration-concept-with-hand-close-up-of-a-couple-royalty-free-image/667560414?adppopup=true">Instants/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Accompanying many a New Year’s Eve toast to the end of another seemingly endless year will be the subtle tinkling of the ice in the glass.</p>
<p>Over the festive period, people around the world will be <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/16/opinion/2021-covid-politics.html">raising a glass to better times ahead</a>.</p>
<p>Accompanying sighs of relief will likely be the subtle tinkling of ice.</p>
<p>In researching a book on the social, medical and moral history of gin and tonic, I have imbibed – moderately – in bars from the <a href="https://www.raffles.com/singapore/dining/long-bar/">Raffles Hotel in Singapore</a> to the <a href="https://www.experienceoxfordshire.org/venue/randolph-hotel-morse-bar/">Morse Bar in Oxford</a>. At each venue, my G&T was always served over ice.</p>
<p>The history of chilled drinks goes back to antiquity. But it was the innovative “frozen water” trade from New England to India in the mid-19th century that popularized ice.</p>
<h2>Frigid luxury</h2>
<p>By that time, ice had been used to chill the drinks for millennia – but only ever for the elite. </p>
<p>Chilled wine was <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/drsarahbond/2016/07/31/pass-me-a-cold-one-a-short-history-of-refrigerating-wine-and-beer/?sh=5789b0e74e2e">all the rage in first-century Rome</a>. Ice chunks were <a href="http://www.expo2015.org/magazine/en/economy/a-short-history-of-ice-cream--from-ancient-roman-snow-to-love-with-a-heart-of-cream.html">brought down from the summits</a> of Mounts Vesuvius and Etna to <a href="https://www.ancient.eu/books/0415186242/">chill the food and drink of the wealthy</a>. Roman author <a href="https://www.ancient.eu/Pliny_the_Younger/">Pliny the Younger</a> ascribes to Emperor Nero both the invention of the ice bucket and <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0132%3Alife%3Dnero%3Achapter%3D48">the chilling of water</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/037698360703400216">Mughal emperor</a> <a href="https://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/cities/india/delhi/humayun/humayun.html">Humayun</a> chilled summer fruit juice into a frozen sherbet in the mid-1500s. He used ice shavings from huge blocks of ice he transported on muleback from Kashmir to the capital city of Delhi. To keep it from melting, the ice was treated with potassium nitrate, <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/an-interesting-tale-of-the-business-of-ice-and-its-history-in-india/articleshow/20252095.cms?from=mdr">otherwise known as saltpetre</a>. By the 18th century the Mughals were so dependent upon ice for chilling both food and palaces that they built large “baraf khana,” or ice houses, to store the product.</p>
<p>Across the world in 17th-century Florence, the ruling Medici family would host elaborate feasts featuring tabletop mountain ranges sculpted from ice made by chilling water in winter. They also acted as patrons to <a href="https://www.florenceinferno.com/the-invention-of-ice-cream-in-florence-history-and-legend/">Bernardo Buontalenti, the pioneer of modern-day ice cream</a>.</p>
<p>But until the early 1800s, only emperors and the fabulously wealthy enjoyed the cooling effects of ice.</p>
<h2>Cool customers</h2>
<p>That changed with a young man from Boston. <a href="https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/frederic-tudor-1806-brings-cocktails-and-ice-cream-world/">Frederic Tudor</a> was born in 1783 to a wealthy Boston family who summered on a pond in Rockwood, just north of the city. There, they enjoyed ice cream and chilled drinks thanks to ice harvested in winter and stored in an ice house.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/376427/original/file-20201222-15-1bxwa7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/376427/original/file-20201222-15-1bxwa7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=804&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376427/original/file-20201222-15-1bxwa7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=804&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376427/original/file-20201222-15-1bxwa7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=804&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376427/original/file-20201222-15-1bxwa7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1010&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376427/original/file-20201222-15-1bxwa7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1010&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376427/original/file-20201222-15-1bxwa7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1010&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Photograph of Frederic Tudor.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?q=Frederic%20tudor">Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When his brother, William, quipped that they should harvest ice from the estate’s pond and sell it in the tropics, Frederic took the notion seriously. He begged and borrowed from his <a href="https://www.library.hbs.edu/Citations/SC-Books/The-Ice-King-Frederic-Tudor-and-His-Circle">social network</a>, which included Revolutionary War heroes and merchant elite, to fund his ice enterprise. </p>
<p>According to Tudor’s diary, <a href="https://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/frederic-tudor-the-ice-king">held at the Harvard Business School</a>, he started shipping ice to <a href="https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/frederic-tudor-1806-brings-cocktails-and-ice-cream-world/">the Caribbean island of Martinique in 1806</a>. But islanders remained unconvinced of the benefits of chilling. The ice melted on the dock, and Tudor landed in debtors prison, owing over US$5,000 to his patrons.</p>
<p>Despite this setback, <a href="https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/22407/surprisingly-cool-history-ice">Tudor’s entrepreneurial spirit</a> was said to be undimmed. By 1826 he had garnered enough business to hire noted inventor <a href="https://www.oregonhistoryproject.org/articles/biographies/nathaniel-wyeth-biography/#.X-IFxOlKhp8">Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth</a> as foreman for his company – The Tudor Ice Co. Wyeth created new types of saws, pulleys, iron grids and hoisters needed for <a href="https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/01/04/ice-king/">efficient ice harvesting</a>. He cut huge blocks of ice from Fresh Pond in Cambridge using horse-drawn ice cutters, and moved them via rail to ships in the Boston and Salem harbors. </p>
<p>From there, the world awaited.</p>
<h2>Ice houses of India</h2>
<p>In 1833 Tudor was approached by <a href="http://charlestownbridge.com/2020/09/16/historic-houses-of-the-month-frederic-tudor-and-charlestowns-ice-trade/">Samuel Austin, a merchant of silks and spices</a>, to ship ice to Calcutta, modern-day Kolkata, 16,000 miles away, as ballast to add weight to his empty ships. Austin knew that the colonial British in India were frightened of the <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/how-did-people-get-ice">tropical heat</a>, believing it to be deadly, and they often escaped to the hills during the endless summer. </p>
<p>So on May 12, 1833, the ship <a href="https://scroll.in/article/720912/how-ice-shipped-all-the-way-from-america-became-a-luxury-item-in-colonial-india">Tuscany sailed from Boston for Calcutta</a>, its hold filled with 180 tons of ice cut during the previous winter. When it arrived <a href="http://failuremag.com/article/cool-customer">in Calcutta</a> four months later, the ship still held 100 tons of ice. It meant Tudor could sell his superior ice at just 3 pence for a pound, undercutting his rivals who sold dirtier ice for much higher.</p>
<p>When news of the ice in Calcutta circulated, British merchants in Bombay, modern-day Mumbai, excitedly raised money to build an ice house in the city’s docks. Initially, demand was limited to the British and Parsis – Persians settled in India – but Tudor’s low prices and superior commodity soon ensured that most elite Indians had access to cold beverages through their homes, clubs and restaurants. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/376484/original/file-20201222-23-14u2wvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/376484/original/file-20201222-23-14u2wvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376484/original/file-20201222-23-14u2wvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376484/original/file-20201222-23-14u2wvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376484/original/file-20201222-23-14u2wvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376484/original/file-20201222-23-14u2wvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376484/original/file-20201222-23-14u2wvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The dome of Mumbai’s Ice House can be seen nestled between a church and courthouse.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bombay_courthouse1850.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Bombay’s <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/an-interesting-tale-of-the-business-of-ice-and-its-history-in-india/articleshow/20252095.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst">ice trade with the U.S.</a> was robust and continued through much of the 19th century, when, during the American Civil War, Indian cotton was used to fill the empty ice ships returning home.</p>
<p>By 1853 India became Tudor’s most lucrative destination, with Calcutta alone <a href="https://pazhayathu.blogspot.com/2012/02/water-cooler-air-conditioning-before.html">yielding an estimated $220,000 in profits</a>.</p>
<p>A few of the structures built to accommodate the trade still exist today. A decade ago, I visited an ice house in Madras, modern-day Chennai – now known as Vivekananda House – an <a href="https://sriramv.wordpress.com/2017/05/03/lost-landmarks-of-chennai-the-syrian-roof-at-ice-house/">engineering marvel</a>. British military engineer Col. J.J. Collingwood borrowed a Syrian roofing technique for the ice tower – a domed structure built using clay cylinders. This roof kept the ice very cool, as it was doubly insulated.</p>
<h2>On Walden Pond</h2>
<p>The American naturalist Henry David Thoreau noted the trade in the winter of 1846. After observing a crew of <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-02b44e78-2da1-4a27-bcc5-dd0de5f38b20">100 ice cutters</a> of the Tudor Ice Co. at work on Walden Pond, <a href="https://www.walden.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Walden16PondInWinter.pdf">he wrote</a>, “The sweltering inhabitants of Charleston and New Orleans, of Madras and Bombay and Calcutta, drink at my well.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/376432/original/file-20201222-17-1mrgngn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/376432/original/file-20201222-17-1mrgngn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376432/original/file-20201222-17-1mrgngn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376432/original/file-20201222-17-1mrgngn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376432/original/file-20201222-17-1mrgngn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376432/original/file-20201222-17-1mrgngn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376432/original/file-20201222-17-1mrgngn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Spy Pond, Massachusetts, Ice Harvesting from a print.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Ice_Harvesting%2C_Massachusetts%2C_early_1850s.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It wasn’t just India. Ice cut in New England was transported to Singapore, Jamaica, Havana, New Orleans and Hong Kong.</p>
<p>As well as being able to deliver in bulk, Tudor also marketed the quality of his ice. His claim that the ice of Wenham Lake – 10 miles North of Boston – was the “purest” in the world spawned many imitators. In 1844, a competitor, The Wenham Lake Ice Co., <a href="https://friendsofim.com/2020/07/23/icy-regents-canal/#:%7E:text=In%201844%2C%20the%20Wenham%20Lake%20Ice%20Company%20opened,from%20outside%20the%20store%20looking%20into%20the%20window.">opened an ice store </a> in <a href="https://www.victorianlondon.org/publications8/socialbees-00.htm">The Strand, London</a>, where it displayed a large block of ice with a newspaper placed behind it so that passersby could read the print through the frozen water.</p>
<h2>Ice King on the rocks</h2>
<p>The Tudor Ice Co. flourished despite competition. In December 1847, <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/frederic-tudor-1773831">The Sunbury American </a> newspaper reported that 22,591 tons of ice were shipped to foreign ports. </p>
<p>In the space of 40 years, Tudor had <a href="https://todayinsci.com/T/Tudor_Frederic/IceTradeAmericaToIndia.htm">built an ice empire</a>, block by block, earning him the moniker the “Ice King.” </p>
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<p>But the icy winds of change were blowing. In 1844, the American inventor John Gorrie, a doctor who specialized in treating malaria – also related to the birth of the G&T – had <a href="http://www.phys.ufl.edu/%7Eihas/gorrie/fridge.htm">produced a prototype of the modern air conditioner</a>. </p>
<p>In 1851, <a href="https://www.wired.com/2008/07/dayintech-0714/">Gorrie received a U.S. patent </a>for one of the world’s first ice-making machines, and by 1860 he was successful in making ice through artificial refrigeration. Meantime, the New England lakes grew <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/how-did-people-get-ice">dirty with pollution</a> from coal-fired railroads.</p>
<p>The Tudor Ice Co.’s market declined precipitously; the <a href="https://historywithkev.com/2020/08/25/the-civil-war-the-ice-trade-and-the-rise-of-the-ice-machine/">company closed in 1887</a>. </p>
<p>Tudor had died earlier in Boston, in the middle of winter, 1864. By that time, he had created what the ice industry now defines as “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/dec/10/super-cubes-inside-the-surprisingly-big-business-of-packaged-ice#:%7E:text=Within%20The%20Ice%20Co%2C%20they,key%20component%20of%20their%20offering.">the clink effect</a>” – the ability of ice cubes to recall a host of positive associations – around the world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150827/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tulasi Srinivas does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The history of ice in drinks goes back to antiquity. But it only really got going when a Bostonian started exporting ice to the British in colonial India.Tulasi Srinivas, Professor of Anthropology, Religion and Transnational Studies, Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies, Emerson CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/706792016-12-23T06:41:35Z2016-12-23T06:41:35ZCocktails have transformed from drinks into aphrodisiac experiences<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151051/original/image-20161220-26712-ajfont.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">santypan/Shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For the philosopher Bertrand Russell, drinking alcohol was a sign of misery: happy people – a category that for the rapacious Russell included sexually satisfied people – did not seek escape in booze.</p>
<p>Yet for the rest of us mere mortals, sexy drinks and sexy feelings often go hand in hand. Sure, necking a few pints in a grungy pub probably has a similar effect – scientifically – to sipping away at a succession of perfect negronis on an Italian beach. But today’s trendiest booze makers and bar people insist on going rather further than the simple imbibing of alcohol. Their USP is the presentation of truly, shall we say, intoxicating drinking sessions, theatrical and layered from conception to construction to presentation. They want their drinks to invoke lust: aphrodisiac, embodied, enervating.</p>
<p>Gin is the centrepiece of the sensual cocktail revolution. These days, it’s an elixir with special powers. In Britain alone, there are now a record <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/03/28/britains-love-of-gin-sees-number-of-uk-distilleries-double/">233 gin distilleries</a> (the number was 116 in 2010). </p>
<p>Gin bars, such as The Ginstitute in Notting Hill and speakeasies such as the Stac Polly in Edinburgh and Gin Bathtub in New York, have sprung up. Meanwhile, LA’s giant gin bar The Flintridge Proper offers 200 bottles of gin, and makes its own blend with foraged botanicals, including wild sage and rosemary, star jasmine, and lemon from an employee’s back garden. Luxury boutique gins like the thyme, olive and basil-infused Spanish Gin Mare are now to be found where the Bollinger used to be in the houses of the swanky. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151378/original/image-20161222-17318-q0l8ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151378/original/image-20161222-17318-q0l8ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151378/original/image-20161222-17318-q0l8ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151378/original/image-20161222-17318-q0l8ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151378/original/image-20161222-17318-q0l8ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151378/original/image-20161222-17318-q0l8ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151378/original/image-20161222-17318-q0l8ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gin distilleries and homemade botanicals are blossoming.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/25375488@N06/7670372492/in/photolist-cFNEvA-cFNB1S-cFNBVj-zrxkJp-e3hvt8-e3ofZL-e3hvqH-e3hvsB-e3ofZ7-azgcW-cFNWEY-cFNDtE-cFNTBC-9Eby12-e3og13-e1A4DC-e3hvrx-86LALK-cFNNbC-e3hvsa-boW4Yv-e3ofZj-5VbVXb-cFNPQq-5iyz7N-2pCe5g-boW4JB-boW4uM-9DzpAs-6y1uT5-s66MG-4csATK-boVwa2-ft2aNy-cFNCA9-2enbb-cFNVzC-2pGC65-5n3kdk-5pxjXq-zomNr7-9Dwx3i-dbkyTH-4nMma9-FeFWZS-2pCcM8-2pC9xn-5KpjCo-2pGkwE-kvFPK">25375488@N06/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But what’s so aphrodisiac about gin? Mostly, the botanicals (the plants, spices and essences) it’s brewed with. With gin-makers getting ever-more creative in their use of botanicals, we – the lusty customers – are getting hit with more infusions meant to <a href="https://www.ginfestival.com/news/aphrodisiac-gins">inspire</a> carnality. </p>
<p>Cardamom, cinnamon, chocolate, honey and nutmeg are all examples, and can all be found in contemporary versions of mother’s ruin. Some brands are even more explicit: X-Gin, another luxury gin, bills itself simply as “a pure aphrodisiac”. Its combination of juniper berry with 15 herbs “and several of the best spices known to man” makes it, apparently, “gin for the queens, Gods and kings”. And, presumably, their orgies.</p>
<p>But gin alone can’t pull off the scene. So tonic is no longer tonic but a magical dance with aroma. And cocktails are not necessarily just drinks anymore, but an exercise in sensuality, where nose, eyes and tongue are marshalled in one smooth operation. A little sherbet here, a whiff of edible perfume there, a spray of violet essence, a flash of colour or fire or sugar.</p>
<p>Which is exactly the kind of thing that Smith and Sinclair, “adult play” experts and makers of essentials like, erm, edible cocktail lozenges, are offering at a pop up at the Sanderson hotel’s Purple Bar, Fitzrovia, London (until Christmas Eve). The result is, in fact, somewhere between the sublime and grotesque. Potions include the likes of lapsang suchong whisky, gold-dusted rose-infused gin stirred with a giant sugar diamond, and those naughty cocktail pastels in flavours such as spiced rum and whisky sour, equivalent to half a shot each.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151381/original/image-20161222-17312-1ikri0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151381/original/image-20161222-17312-1ikri0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151381/original/image-20161222-17312-1ikri0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151381/original/image-20161222-17312-1ikri0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151381/original/image-20161222-17312-1ikri0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151381/original/image-20161222-17312-1ikri0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151381/original/image-20161222-17312-1ikri0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Edible alcohol – why not?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Zoe Strimpel</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Your date is meant to be dazzled by fizzing smoke spewing from the “Thyme for Tea” cocktail, which is presented in a teapot; marvel at the way the (slightly sickly) maraschino-liqueur-filled “Violet You’re Turning Violet” turns a deeper shade of purple as it was being poured, and yelp with joy when a spoonful of chocolate sherbet was topped with Bailey’s, while a rather surprising edible Christmas essence is sprayed overhead. The intention is to dazzle and scramble senses, and – presumably – to tip you into bed when you’ve downed tools. On our visit, the former was rather more successful than the latter.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, over at the Green Bar at the plush <a href="http://www.hotelcaferoyal.com/">Hotel Café Royale</a> on Piccadilly, bar honcho Derren King has built a wardrobe of gin and botanicals that are more sophisticated than the Smith and Sinclair sensual assault and perfect for an awkward date. After making an intuitive read of each person’s tastes and even moods, he produces a botanicals-infused gin to match. </p>
<p>This is a delightfully gender-neutral exercise. My (male) date that night was given a rose-petal flute called a Red Queen (gin, sour cherry, clove, orange, champagne) while I was presumed to want a more austere White Queen (gin, lemongrass, lychee, lemon and champagne). Then I was “matched”, Bumble-like, with more drinks. My Tanqueray with lemon and lime, tea reduction, rose and lychee, plum wine and egg white was full to bursting with “look at me” cocktail tricks, while my more spartan friend – keen to assert his masculinity – was assigned celery gin, celery, fresh basil and olives in martini form. This was almost <em>too</em> masculine – he had to grit his teeth to swallow it.</p>
<p>Perhaps it’s fitting that sensory cocktails have taken flight in the age of Tinder, in which dates too often feel mechanical, bonds week, conversation a bore. If the app often fails to infuse dates with chemistry, the new breed of high-functioning cocktails can help.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70679/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zoe Strimpel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Today’s trendiest booze makers and bars insist on going rather further than the simple imbibing of alcohol.Zoe Strimpel, PhD Candidate, University of SussexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/667812016-10-12T19:08:09Z2016-10-12T19:08:09ZNo, enjoying a gin and tonic doesn’t mean you’re a psychopath<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141359/original/image-20161012-8415-16ro0ck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Don't feel bitter, but that story you read about gin was probably wrong.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Igor Normann/Shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>I was looking at Facebook one evening last week when my attention was captured by the headline “<a href="http://thetab.com/uk/2016/09/05/gin-lovers-psycopaths-17675">Gin lovers are all massive psychopaths, according to experts</a>” – a somewhat disconcerting thing to read as I sipped the gin and tonic I had in my hand at the time. </p>
<p>As someone whose propensity to empathise with others has seen me spend entire evenings crying over the plight of movie characters, psychopathy has never made its way onto my list of self-diagnoses.</p>
<p>I instantly felt compelled to learn more about how a penchant for gin had become the new diagnostic tool to detect a <a href="https://theconversation.com/psychopaths-versus-sociopaths-what-is-the-difference-45047">psychopath</a>. The short story is, it hasn’t. </p>
<p>I determined this reasonably efficiently. A search for the word “gin” in the <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195666315300428">research paper</a> that prompted this news story produced a grand total of zero hits.</p>
<p>It’s therefore rather concerning that this paper has spawned a huge number of popular articles all reporting this non-existent link, such as <a href="http://www.stylist.co.uk/life/Gin-psychopath-test-alcohol-tonic-drink-truth-personality-favourite-beverage">this one that has been shared on Facebook nearly 300,000 times</a>. </p>
<p>Depending on what you read, if you’re partial to a gin and tonic you are either <a href="http://thetab.com/uk/2016/09/05/gin-lovers-psycopaths-17675">a psychopath</a>, or slightly more generously, <a href="http://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/drinks/news/a7758/gin-psychopath-study/">a possible psychopath</a>. </p>
<p>Other stories have cast the net a bit wider, branding <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/10/14/coffee-psychopathy-study_n_8296076.html">coffee</a> and <a href="http://vinepair.com/booze-news/if-you-are-a-fan-of-ipa-science-says-youre-more-likely-to-by-psychotic/">beer</a> drinkers as potential psychopaths too – which, if you think about it, would make society a pretty scary place. </p>
<h2>Booze news</h2>
<p>These news stories are misreported accounts of <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195666315300428">research</a> from the University of Innsbruck. Across two studies, the researchers investigated the relationship between bitter taste preferences and various antisocial personality traits, including psychopathy.</p>
<p>While many tend to think of it as a disorder that afflicts only the most calculating of criminals, psychopathy is also conceptualised as a personality trait that falls along a continuum, with those at the extreme end characterised by superficial charm, callousness, and a lack of empathy.</p>
<p>The researchers measured psychopathy using a <a href="http://www.uws.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/227057/The_Dirty_Dozen_A_Concise_Measure_of_the_Dark_Triad.pdf">brief personality measure</a> that assesses three socially undesirable personality traits: psychopathy, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-we-becoming-so-narcissistic-heres-the-science-55773">narcissism</a>, and Machiavellianism – collectively known as the “<a href="http://members.shaw.ca/ssucur/materials/02_selected_notes/06_tempest/03_PaulhusWilliams.pdf">dark triad</a>”. </p>
<p>Participants indicated their agreement with statements such as “I tend to be callous or insensitive” and “I tend to lack remorse”. Responses were then averaged to create a score for psychopathy and the other traits.</p>
<p>The researchers measured bitter taste preferences in two ways. First, participants were provided with a list of 10 bitter foods and drinks, including coffee, tonic water, beer, radishes and celery, and rated them on a scale from 1 (dislike strongly) to 6 (like strongly). These scores were then averaged to create an overall measure of bitter taste preferences for each person. The researchers also asked participants to rate their liking for bitter foods and drinks in general (as opposed to the specific examples) on the same scale.</p>
<h2>The bitter truth</h2>
<p>The results reported no significant relationship between psychopathy scores and participants’ preference scores for the specific bitter foods and drinks. That is, those with higher psychopathy scores did not display stronger overall liking for the bitter foods and drinks on the list, including tonic water, coffee and beer.</p>
<p>However, there was a weak correlation between psychopathy scores and participants’ scores on their <em>general</em> preference for bitter tastes. So you might say that people at the psychopathic end of the spectrum are slightly more likely to express a preference for eating or drinking bitter things in general. </p>
<p>How on earth do these findings translate to people who drink gin, coffee or beer being probable psychopaths? Quite simply, they don’t. </p>
<p>The study provided no evidence that an individual’s preference for specific bitter drinks like coffee, beer or tonic water (with or without gin) has any relationship with psychopathy. Even if it had, this would fall a long way short of being able to brand anyone who enjoys a G&T as a psychopath. </p>
<p>The only thing this study found was a weak positive relationship between psychopathy and a general penchant for bitter things. In my view, this link is negligible compared with other, more well established predictors of psychopathy, such as a person’s <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/secrets-criminal-mind-adrian-raine/">genes</a> or sex.</p>
<p>If you want to know whether someone is a psychopath, the truth is that most will reveal themselves soon enough, especially if you know the <a href="https://theconversation.com/not-all-psychopaths-are-criminals-some-psychopathic-traits-are-actually-linked-to-success-51282">telltale signs</a> – which don’t include whether or not they’re brandishing an aperitif.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66781/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Megan Willis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Claims that gin lovers are more likely to be psychopaths are just another case of science media misreporting - which should be a tonic to any tipplers who were worried by the news.Megan Willis, Senior Lecturer, School of Psychology, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.