Plymouth Gin History 1793 - 1919

The HISTORY of PLYMOUTH GIN
	1431	The Dominicans or Black Friars build a monastery on the waterfront at Plymouth.
	1539	Dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII. The former monastery becomes the town 'lock up' and later the town meeting and lodging house.
	1550-1600	Plymouth rapidly develops into the largest naval base in England and the world.
	1620	The Pilgrim Fathers lodge at the former priory, now the Plymouth Gin Refectory before setting sail on the Mayflower for the New World.
	1640	The Plymouth Gin buildings used by the Huguenots as a refuge.
	1672	The buildings become the first non-conformist chapel.
	1706	First documented reference to Black Friars Lane
	1730's	First reference to 'the strength of the Plymouth water' served at a local dinner party. It is probable that this early Plymouth Gin was similar to the London 'Old Tom' gins i.e.. sweetened.
	1793	The first documented reference to Messrs. Coates & Co Plymouth Dry Gin, the world's first Dry Gin, produced at the Black Friars Distillery.
	1820	Mr Coates has no male children. His daughter had married a Mr Freeman and for the next 130 years the company is owned and run by members of the Freeman family.
	1832	William Henry Hawker Senior joins Coates & Co as a Partner
	1848	Pink Gin invented by Royal Naval ship's surgeon, Dr. Johann Gottlieb Benjamin Siegert. He used Plymouth Gin to make the medicinal Bitters more palatable
	1850	Plymouth Gin's supplies to the Royal Navy now top 1000 barrels a year of 100� UK Proof product (57% abv or 114� US Proof). Now known as Navy Strength
	1855	New copper pot stills installed at Black Friars distillery; these are still used today.
	1860	The main strength sold on the UK mainland was 72� UK Proof or 41.2% alc./vol.
	1870	The use of the monk device on the label believed to have come into use in this year.
	1870	Plymouth Gin was now the most widely distributed gin in the UK 'West Country' and known as 'the wine of the country'.
	1880	In the London courts "there is widespread superstition in the Western Counties that no bottle of "Plymouth Gin" is beyond suspicion that does not bear the label representing the person of the Black Friar" .The Western Figaro.
	1884	Plymouth Dry Gin awarded Prize Medal at the International Health Exhibition in London.
	1884 1888	Injunctions in law against local "Plymouth Gin imitators".
	1896	The first documented recipe for what would be called a dry martini published in New York in Stuart's Fancy Drinks & How to Mix Them. Plymouth Gin is the key ingredient used alongside a French (dry) vermouth and a dash of orange bitters. Publisher: Excelsior Publishing House, New York Year: 1896
1900's
	1900	Plymouth Gin is the world's largest volume brand of gin. American export strength produced at 44.5% abv.
1910's Coates Plymouth Gin 1/2 Bottle 1910's Coates Plymouth Gin Bottle	1906	Coates & Co's earliest surviving promotional material, a twelve page booklet with turn of century photos and stories.
	1916	Coates & Co Brandy Bottled under their own name at Black Friars Distillery.
	1917	Prohibition stamps stuck on Plymouth Gin bottles in the US. Inventoried under Act of Congress, Oct. 3, 1917. UNIVERSITY CLUB 1st District, Illinois. Imports at that time at 89 degrees US proof (44.5% abv) with $100 reward for counterfeit goods.