Evening star., 1941-08-24
Bathfub Gin Nearer
As War and Raids Hit
London Liquor Supply
Many Prices Have Gone
Up 5000, ond Some
Things Are Unavailable
By SHEILAH GRAHAM,

Correspondent of The Star and N. A. N. A
LONDON, Aug %. (By wireless)-
We were dining in Scott's in Plea
dilly, the center of the blitzed world
My companion ordered champagne
Sorry sir" he was told, but we
haven't a bottle of any kind of wine
in the place"
This was a few weeks ago and
the cellars in the City of London
belonging to the restaurant were in
accessible and covered with the de-
bris of the last big blitz.
Bombings. the impossibility of i'm
porting wines from the continent,
the sending of huge supplies of
Scotch whiskey to America to create
dollar reserves and the fact that
more women are drinking beer and
liquors, are responsible for the pres
ent shortage of liquor in England.
Consequently prices are high and
going higher.
Distribution Is uneven and with
the exception perhaps of Liverpool
drunkenness is practically nom
existent. Liverpool is a port and
visiting sailors come in from dan
gerous Journeys and warm up at
pubs. Who can blame them?
Champagne Now $40.
Champagne which used to cost
IS bottle in reputable restaurants
Is now $40. In gyp joints, the num-
Der of which is increasing. the price
Is SIS and upward. Claret has in
creased in price 300 per cent. Creme
de Menthe few years ago was
$3.50 a bottle, now it's $40. Whisky
has jumped to 81 and Kummel,
which used to be S1.50, is SO, when
You can get it.
l was at restaurant the other
evening with Quentin Reynolds. We
asked for kummel and were brought
the last quarter bottle in the
house" Quentin has a theory about
the kummel shortage. He says they
are using it for gasoline. In pre-
war DAYS kummel was imported from
Holland and Russia.
There Is a tremendous shortage
OF vermouth, which used to come
from France and Italy. When you
ask for dry martini-made of gin
and vermouth-you usually get a
mixture of gin and sherry. 1t tastes
awful. The other day I was in the
Ritz bar and saw an officer in the
navy empty his glass on the bar and
stalk Indignantly out after SAYING
III that's martini, I'm a Dutch
man"
Bathtub Gin Considered.
Gin Is not too plentiful. either
During a recent raid 10000 bottles
went up in flames and people are
beginning to consider the manufac-
ture Of bathtub gin. In fact. I've
been asked several times for the
American prohibition era formula
SpeakeaSies are beginning to
flourish underground just as they
did in the United States when liquor
was prohibited by law. To meet the
demands Of speakeasy clients, a new
"black market" is arising Already
there Is black market in food where
illegitimate traders who try to cor
ner the market on such rationed
foods as butter and meat to sell them
at an enormous profit for them
selves.
The black liquor market is con-
trolled by shady traders who bought
up huge stocks of liquor at the be-
ginning of the war and are currently
making an undercover fortune. I
was told of one man who has cor
nered most of the available ver-
mouth in this country. He bought
1t at something like cents a bot
tie and is selling at $3.50 bottle.
More Beer Being Made.
With regard to the beer short
age, more beer actually is being
made in this country than before
the war. But more people are drink
ing it. The British people paid 140,-
100000 in beer taxes last year. The
amount will be the same this year
but the beer will have 20 per cent
less hops and less sugar. I talked
with woman worker in a munition
factory in Northern England re-
Gently.
II didn't drink beer before the
war" she told me, "but after work
in a factory Can airplane factory
until or in the evening. need a
bit of a pick-me-up."
She and her feminine co-workers
have to hurry to a pub or they will
be out of luck. The supplies usually
run dry we'll before the 10 o'clock
closing time.
Bottled Beer Hard to Get.
In the country most of the pubs
close during the week and save their
Seer for the week end. Bottled beer
Is hard to buy and will be more
difficult in the months to come. A
friend of mine wanted to give a
small party at home and had to
postpone it 10 days because that was
the shortest period in which the
local dealer could get bottled beer.
The men who used to make bottles
are In the fighting forces The wom-
en- who could replace them are need
ed for vital war factory work. In
addition the draymen. the big
strong men who used to shoulder
casks of beer from trucks to shops
and pubs, are mostly in the services
like the tank corps, which need
physically powerful men.