The King of Drinks van den BERSSELAAR_f1_i-xiv.inddi i 8/6/2007 10:48:01 PM African Social Studies Series Editorial Board Martin R. Doornbos, Institute of Social Studies the Hague Carola Lentz, University of Mainz John Lonsdale, University of Cambridge VOLUME 18 van den BERSSELAAR_f1_i-xiv.inddii ii 8/6/2007 10:48:01 PM The King of Drinks Schnapps Gin from Modernity to Tradition By Dmitri van den Bersselaar LEIDEN • BOSTON 2007 van den BERSSELAAR_f1_i-xiv.inddiii iii 8/6/2007 10:48:01 PM Cover Front Henkes prokotional calender, 1994 (detail) Collection Jenevermuseum Schiedam Cover Back Poster for ‘Capstan’ brand schnapps, 1994 (detail) Collection Jenevermuseum Schiedam This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A C.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress ISSN 1568-1203 ISBN 978 90 04 16091 0 Copyright 2007 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands van den BERSSELAAR_f1_i-xiv.inddiv iv 8/6/2007 10:48:01 PM CONTENTS List of illustrations ...................................................................... vii Acknowledgements ..................................................................... xiii 1. Introduction: foreign imports, local meanings ...................... 1 2. The Rise of Gin .................................................................... 35 3. Becoming the King of Drinks ............................................... 77 4. ‘Bird gin’ and ‘money gin’: brands and marketing ............... 111 5. Poison or medicine? Changing perceptions of Dutch gin ... 155 6. ‘Your very good health!’ Gin for an independent West Africa ............................................................................. 195 7. Schnapps gin from modernity to tradition ........................... 225 Bibliography ................................................................................ 247 Index ........................................................................................... 259 van den BERSSELAAR_f1_i-xiv.inddv v 8/6/2007 10:48:01 PM van den BERSSELAAR_f1_i-xiv.inddvi vi 8/6/2007 10:48:01 PM LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1.1 Billboard advertising Henkes Schnapps. Ghana, around 1970 ...................................................................... 2 Collection Lucas Bols BV 1.2 Billboard advertising a Christian religious event. Benin City, Nigeria, 2006 ................................................. 2 Photo by Robin MacGregor 1.3 Pouring of libation. Anloga, Ghana, 2000 ...................... 5 Libation was poured by David Ko\ Togobo who was assisted by Mr Yeke, an elder representing the house of the Fia of Anloga (the Fia died in 1999 and no successor had yet been installed). Also present in the photograph is Cephas Afetsi, who recorded, transcribed and translated most of the interviews I conducted in Ghana’s Volta Region. Photo by the author, 28 July 2000 1.4 Advert for Henkes Star Brand schnapps used in Ghana, around 1950 ...................................................................... 5 Collection Lucas Bols BV 1.5 Advert for Melchers’ range of distilled liquors, late 1940s ........................................................................... 5 Source: West Africa, 12 March 1949 1.6 Map of West Africa, indicating places mentioned in the text ............................................................................... 25 This map indicates the names and topography around 2000. The colonial name for Ghana was the Gold Coast (until 1957); Benin was known as Dahomey. Lake Volta was created in the 1960s 2.1 Akan gold weight in the shape of a gin bottle (Ghana) .............................................................................. 53 © National Museums Liverpool World Museum Liverpool (acc. no. 1974.30.293) 2.2 ‘De Kuyper’ Distillery, Rotterdam, around 1900 ............ 53 Source: K. Sluyterman and H. Vleesenbeek, Drie Eeuwen De Kuyper 2.3 Case of gin bottles for export ........................................... 53 Collection Jenevermuseum Schiedam van den BERSSELAAR_f1_i-xiv.inddvii vii 8/6/2007 10:48:01 PM viii list of illustrations 2.4 Henkes gin bottle for export with label and glass seal, mid-nineteenth century ..................................................... 53 Collection Lucas Bols BV 2.5 House with inset plates in the wall. Ikwerri, Southeastern Nigeria, 1930s ............................................. 67 G. I. Jones Photographic Archive 2.6 General store selling a diverse selection of imported wares .................................................................................. 67 Archives mission 21: Basel Mission D-30.22.042 ‘Schnapsbude’. Photographer: Friedrich August Louis Ramseyer. Location: Ghana. Date: between 1888 and 1908 3.1 Anyanwu shrine in Awka, Southeast Nigeria, around 1910 ...................................................................... 89 Source: N. W. Thomas, Anthropological Report on the Ibo-Speaking Peoples of Nigeria Part I (London: Harrison and sons 1913) 3.2 Alusi shrine with gin bottle. Southeast Nigeria, 1930s .... 89 G. I. Jones Photographic Archive 3.3 Protective canoe charm. Ibibio, Southeast Nigeria, ca. 1905 ............................................................................. 108 © National Museums Liverpool World Museum Liverpool (acc. no. 24.5.06.30) 3.4 Drawing showing key features of cases of Henkes ‘schnapps’ and ‘geneva’ brands exported to West Africa ........................................................................ 108 Collection Lucas Bols BV 4.1 Advert for Pears Soap from The Graphic Stanley Number, 1890 ................................................................................... 115 Source: Thomas Richards, The Commodity Culture of Victorian England (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press 1990) 4.2 Poster for Blankenheym & Nolet gin ............................... 115 Source: Wim Verstraaten, Het Groot Jeneverboek (Baarn: In de Toren 1984) van den BERSSELAAR_f1_i-xiv.inddviii viii 8/6/2007 10:48:01 PM list of illustrations ix 4.3 Liquor store, displaying a case of ‘Elephant’ brand gin ........................................................................... 115 Archives mission 21: Basel Mission D-30.22.041 ‘Schnapsbude’. Photographer: Friedrich August Louis Ramseyer. Location: Ghana. Date: between 1888 and 1908 4.4 Advert for Amstel beer ..................................................... 121 Source: West Africa, 28 February 1928 4.5 Advert for Booth’s dry gin ................................................ 123 Source: West Africa, 15 June 1935 4.6 Advert for Hoytema Dutch pot-still geneva ..................... 123 Source: West Africa, 2 November 1928 4.7 Melchers’ Distillery’s Elephant label, as used in Nigeria around 1930 ......................................................... 123 Collection Lucas Bols BV 4.8 Dutch gin labels used in West Africa around 1930 ......... 128 Collection Lucas Bols BV 4.9 Advertising plate for Henkes Paramount Chief Aromatic Schnapps (not dated) ........................................ 128 Collection Lucas Bols BV 4.10 Henkes Prize Medal label, used for export to the Gold Coast in the 1930s ................................................... 137 Collection Lucas Bols BV 4.11 Labels from Blankenheym & Nolet distillery’s West Africa Order Book ................................................... 137 Blankenheym & Nolet Archive 216/69 Exportorderboek Afrikaanse Westkust 1909–1910 5.1 Aburi Temperance Society ............................................... 162 Archives mission 21: Basel Mission D-30.09.028 ‘Temperenzverein Aburi’. Photographer: Rudolph Fisch. Location: Aburi, Ghana. Date: between 1885 and 1911 5.2 Cartoon ‘British methods of colonialism in Africa’ ......... 162 Unknown source 5.3 Akpeteshie still in Atiavi, Ghana, 2000 ............................ 183 Photo by the author 5.4 Label for Henkes Paramount Chief Aromatic Schnapps (not dated) ......................................................................... 183 Collection Lucas Bols BV van den BERSSELAAR_f1_i-xiv.inddix ix 8/6/2007 10:48:02 PM x list of illustrations 6.1 Poster for Henkes schnapps, ca. 1950 ............................. 206 Collection Lucas Bols BV 6.2 1940s advert for ‘Capstan’ brand schnapps .................... 206 Source: West Africa, 5 February 1949 6.3 Poster for ‘Capstan’ brand schnapps ............................... 206 Collection Jenevermuseum Schiedam 6.4 Advert Henkes ‘Keeps You Fit and Healthy’, around 1950 ..................................................................... 206 Collection Lucas Bols BV 6.5 Advert ‘Henkes for your good health’, used in West Africa around 1950 ................................................. 211 Collection Lucas Bols BV 6.6 Henkes Advert ‘Your Very Good Health!’, used in West Africa, late 1950s .................................................... 211 Collection Lucas Bols