"To take away the taste of death" - rum, Van Blonk, and booze

Footsteps of the fallen

This latest episode looks at alcohol and its influence at home and the front.
Our journey begins in a London pub containing a remarkable piece of WW1 memorabilia, where time has remained still since 1915. We examine the alcohol restrictions imposed on the home front to preserve industrial production, especially amongst munitions workers, and hear about the so-called "Carlisle Experiment," which changed the way pubs were run for over sixty years.
We then head to the front line and behind to look at the soldier's experience of alcohol when serving. From the daily rum rations to acidic glasses of "van blonk" in behind the lines estaminets, alcohol formed a big part of the average soldier's life in the military. We look at how the Abbot of Belgian Monastery restricted beer production after a run-in with the Army Service Corps, hear about "3-bottle Officers" origins, and discover the WW1 history behind possibly the most famous cocktail in the world.
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