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Beat the summer heat - MCV - Melbourne Community Voice for Gay and Lesbian Readers
Written by Dark LordThursday, 24 January 2008 01:13 - Last Updated Thursday, 24 January 2008 01:14
S.M. King reclines on a chaise lounge with a Singapore Sling.
 One summer in the 90s, I took to visiting an old gent regularly for a chat. Red-faced and impeccably dressed in a cravat, he would make us gin and tonics from a drinkstrolley in the sun room and regale me with stories of being a British Army officer in India inWWII. Battles on colonial tennis courts and unexpected kinships, jolly hockey sticks war stuff.The tonic was always warm, conferring on his flat the feeling of a long forgotten outpost of HerMajesty’s empire, where you couldn’t drink the water or escape the untamed heat. Thought to have originated in Holland, gin became a firm favourite of the British military, whowere given ‘Dutch Courage’ on the front. The perpetual sunset that was the British Empire tookgin to every corner of the world, where gin and tonic was regarded as a necessary medicine toprotect against malaria. It remains the world’s favourite way to enjoy the spirit, closely followedby the classic Martini. The Martini was a New York invention of the early 20th century, and started out with a ration oftwo parts gin to one part vermouth. Winston Churchill was of the opinion that passing the corkfrom the vermouth bottle over the glass of gin was sufficient in making a Martini, and indeedtoday’s preference is for less vermouth. 
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