I knew I liked a good Porter better than Gin…
“And here I cannot omit taking Notice of an unobserved, tho considerable Advantage to the Populate, arising from the late regulations to prevent the Use of Corn among the Distillers, which has answered two Ends, first, by lowering the price of the Staff of Life; and secondly, by raising the Price of Poison, for Gin is now so dear, or else so very bad, that good Porter gains the preeminence, and I doubt not, but at the Year’s End, there will be found a considerable increase in the consumption of the Commodity, a Liquor not only more wholesome in itself, but when drank to Excess, does not inflame the Passions to that violently Degree as Spirituous Liquor do, which rather enrages than inebriates, and makes Men mad and mischievous rather than merry. And I am firmly persuaded, that most of the hasty and precipitate Murders that have been committed among the Common People, in Family Quarrels, have arose form the direful Effects of this Liquid Fire.”
-John Fielding, esq. An Account of the Origins and Effects of a Police Set on Foot by His Grace the Duke of Newcastle (1758)