Green’s Dictionary of Slang

gin; spirits in general [var. on satin n. (1a) and like it implying the smoothness of good gin].

1811		implied in blue ribbon n. and white ribbin under white adj.
1819		P. Egan Key to the Picture of the Fancy going to a Fight 28: [K]ids who do not value ‘a part’ of their riband, to save the ‘whole’.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum 74: ribbon Liquor.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1873		Sl. Dict.