{"id":3845,"date":"2008-09-04T13:23:15","date_gmt":"2008-09-04T12:23:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/wp\/?p=3845"},"modified":"2021-11-15T13:41:51","modified_gmt":"2021-11-15T13:41:51","slug":"in-praise-of-poteen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/in-praise-of-poteen\/","title":{"rendered":"In Praise of Poteen by John McGuffin &#8211; review"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"text-element body\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"image-4-3 image-review alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/img\/poteen.jpg\" alt=\"In praise of Poteen\" width=\"333\" height=\"525\" \/> What exactly is Poteen or Poit\u00edn? If you are Irish then you\u2019ll already know. If you are American then you will recognise the same beverage under the name of Moonshine. Yes, dear reader, it\u2019s the intoxicating illegal liquor of the Emerald Isle and has a history steeped in folkloric charm and myth.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>In Praise of Poteen by John McGuffin is an entertaining read of the bitter-sweet variety. Its subject matter lends itself to comic interludes but also introduces us to the harsh reality of the Irish poor. Many dangers were encountered in not only the manufacture of the drink but also the consumption of the aforementioned hooch.<\/p>\n<p>In 1854 a revenue officer claimed \u201cthe average Poit\u00edn maker can clear 3 shillings (15p) a gallon profit\u201d. The officer also stated that this wasn\u2019t as good as in 1818 when \u201cdeducting all their losses, expenses and risks, together with bribes paid to the revenue officers, the Poit\u00edn maker makes \u00a31 for each day he works\u201d. Nice to think that a cottage industry supported all members of the community!<\/p>\n<p>It seems to have been a popular and profitable pastime and one that landlords were reluctant to stamp out. The reason for turning a blind eye had nothing to do with desire to allow tenants to throw the occasional party but had everything to do with the fact that the income from the drink was often the only method of making money enough to pay the landlord his rent.<\/p>\n<p>The by-products of Poteen were put to good use. The first run was very strong and almost undrinkable, so was considered as a balm for cuts and sprains. The waste was fed to cattle and anyone with cows in peak condition was suspected of involvement with the illegal industry.<\/p>\n<p>A rather dangerous by-product was ether, which was also used as a drink in Ulster. This was truly nasty stuff and difficult to consume without drinking a glass of water before, a glass of water after and holding one\u2019s nose during the exercise. The period of intoxication only lasted about twenty minutes and didn\u2019t leave a hangover so you could get drunk on ether a dozen times a day! That\u2019s a \u201csobering\u201d thought!<\/p>\n<p>In Praise of Poteen is a fascinating read. Its style is rich and amusing and it is sure to be a classic. Generations of Poteen producers have gone but this book remains as an unsentimental reminder of a colourful element of Irish history.<\/p>\n<p>In Praise of Poteen<br \/>\nAuthor: John McGuffin<br \/>\nPublished by Appletree Press, Belfast<br \/>\nPrice: \u00a38.99<br \/>\nISBN 978-086281768-8<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Food and Drink history review by Chrissie Walker \u00a9 2018<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What exactly is Poteen or Poit\u00edn? If you are Irish then you\u2019ll already know. If you are American then you will recognise the same beverage under the name of Moonshine. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20719,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,3485],"tags":[919,888,1336,623,1337,1339,1338,620],"class_list":["post-3845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-culture-and-art","tag-alcohol","tag-drink-literature","tag-in-praise-of-poteen","tag-irish","tag-john-mcguffin","tag-moonshine","tag-poteen","tag-spirits"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>In Praise of Poteen by John McGuffin - review - Mostly Food and Cocktails<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In Praise of Poteen by John McGuffin - review - Mostly Food and Cocktails\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What exactly is Poteen or Poit\u00edn? 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