Alcohol and Drugs History Society

Illicit liquor in the New South (thesis)

Joshua Beau Blackwell, "'Used to be a rough place in them hills': Illicit liquor, the Dark Corner, and the New South" (M.A. thesis, College of Charleston, 2008).

Drugs and Alcohol: Contested Histories (book series)

Northern Illinois University Press is acquiring manuscripts for its series, Drugs and Alcohol: Contested Histories, which investigates cultural, legal, economic, and medical histories of alcohol, drugs, and other substances such as coffee and tobacco. The advisory board includes David Courtwright, University of North Florida; David Fahey, Miami University (Ohio); David Gutzke, Missouri State University; and James Mills, University of Strathclyde. Contact Sara Hoerdeman regarding manuscript submissions at shoerdeman@niu.edu

Mexico's anti-alcohol campaigns, 1910-40 (dissertation)

Gretchen Kristine Pierce, "Sobering the Revolution: Mexico's anti-alcohol campaigns and the process of State-building, 1910-1940" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Arizona, 2008). An abstract and a 24-page preview are available without charge at ProQuest (where you can purchase the full text of the dissertation).

Canadian liquor control

Dave Trippel supplies a website about Canadian liquor control here. By the way, anyone with a story or a citation relevant to this website, please send it on.

Idaho state liquor industry

Courtesy of Dave Trippel, a story about the Idaho state liquor industry is here.

Alcohol control and modernity (article)

Mark Lawrence Schrad, "The First Social Policy: Alcohol Control and Modernity in Policy Studies," Journal of Policy History 19/4 (Oct. 2007): 428-451.

Illegal liquor in Sri Lanka (book)

Michele Ruth Gamburd, Breaking the Ashes: The Culture of Illicit Liquor in Sri Lanka (Cornell University Press, forthcoming November 2008). As Buddhist norms crumble, more Sri Lankans drink, especially the local moonshine called kasippu.

Alcohol, violence, and the GAA in Ireland

For a discussion of alcohol, violence and the GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) in Ireland, see here.

Distributors or wholesalers in American alcoholic beverage industry

Thanks for David Trippel for drawing attention to an article about the crucial rule in the American alcohol beverage industry of distributors or wholesalers. At the repeal of prohibition, governments imposed a tier of wholesalers between retailers and producers to prevent the latter from controlling the former. The article also emphasizes the heavy taxation of alcoholic drink by both federal and state governments. For more, see here.

Avoid that third drink

Australian health authorities urge drinkers to avoid that third drink. For details, see here.

"Organic" alcohol--hedonistic environmentalism?

A new fad is "organic" alcohol, certified by the US Government to have been produced without pesticides, etc. Prominent drinks sellers such as the Marriott hotel chain now offer organic alcohol to people who eat only or mainly "organic" fruits, vegetables and other foods. For more, see here.

Club life in mid-18th cent. Edinburgh (article)

Corey E. Andrews, "Drinking and Thinking: Club Life and Convivial Sociability in Mid-Eighteenth-Century Edinburgh," Social History of Alcohol and Drugs 22/1 (Fall 2007): 65-82.

"Dry" underground trains in London part of British concern about youthful drinking

The recent ban on drinking on London's underground trains may surprise people in other countries where such drinking never was acceptable. The ban is a sign both of Britain's much discussed drink problem and government attempts to cope with it. Youthful drinking has been especially targeted. For more, see here.

(London) Times columnist questions practicality of changing British drinking habits

A (London) Times columnist fears that the British Government is naive in assuming that it can change the national culture about alcoholic drink.  For more, see here.

Soju, baijiu, and shōchū, East Asian distilled alcoholic beverages

According to Wikipedia, "mass produced [Korean distilled beverage based on rice] soju is similar to Chinese baijiu, a grain liquor, and Shōchū, a Japanese beverage." The online encyclopedia also says that "soju is sometimes mistakenly referred to as cheongju ..., a Korean rice wine similar to [Japanese] sake."

Prom-night drinking for high schoolers

Authorities in the greater New York City area warn parents about the dangers of prom-night drinking and how high schoolers smuggle alcohol (for instance, in the heels of shoes). For more, see here.

Drink parties on London "underground" on eve of dry trains

In response to the decision of the new Conservative mayor of London to ban the drinking of alcohol on the underground rail system, thousands of young people have organized drink parties for the trains on the eve of the prohibition. For more, see here.

Baghdad liquor sellers reopen

Improved security has allowed Baghdad liquor sellers to reopen their businesses. Most of the liquor sellers are Yazidis, members of a pre-Islamic Kurdish sect, or Christians. For details, see here.

Scots drink twice as much as five years ago

As a result of stronger beers and wine and larger glasses, Scots are drinking twice as much alcohol as five years ago. For details, see here.

A desperate new generation driven to drink

Britons drink so much that they now have children admitted to hospital with liver disease. According to a survey by the Office for National Statistics, more 13-year-olds have drunk alcohol than not – that’s 350,000 13-year-old drinkers in England and Wales alone. India Knight reports on Britain's boozing culture for The Times (of London).

James Bond and why you like a particular drink

Proceeding from the fictional character James Bond and his demand that cocktails be shaken and not stirred, scientists have analyzed why people like drinks. "Taste" is in fact influenced by eyes and ears (music), among other things. Reputation may well be the most important influence on why an expensive drink tastes better than one that is cheaper. For more, see here.

New Yorker magazine on alcohol

New Yorker, 19 May 2008, online version, includes a reprint of a 16 January 1960 medical article on alcohol by Berton Roueché with the ironic title, "Alcohol: The Shortest Way out of Manchester." For this reprint, see here. The 26 May 2008 issue includes Joan Acocella, "A Few Too Many: Anatomy of a Hangover." For Acocella, see here.

Raki controversy: secularism, Islam, and health in Turkey

Recently there has been controversy about laws regulating the sale of alcoholic drinks in Turkey. Sometimes this is represented as a struggle between Islamic and secular cultures and sometimes about health because of the danger of counterfeit drinks. The drink ordinarily consumed is raki: a distilled beverage made from grape-based alcohol and anise. For details about the controversy, see here.

Drink in Nova Scotia (book)

Graham Pilsworth, Nova Scotia drink-o-pedia (Halifax, N.S.: Nimbus, 2008).

Drinking among Lakota Sioux (book review)

Philip A. May, review of Beatrice Medicine, Drinking and Sobriety among the Lakota Sioux (2006), in American Indian Culture and Research Journal 31/3 (2007): 215-217. 1950s-1970s.

British have their first drink at 6:14 pm (part of study of European drinking habits)

SABMiller commissioned a study of European drinking habits that include the news that the British have their first drink at 6:14 pm (as lunchtime drinking has declined). For details about various countries, see here.

Alcohol Atlas of India (book)

The Indian Alcohol Policy Alliance has published the Alcohol Atlas of India (2008). It consists of four sections, with the first devoted to a history of alcohol in India from ancient to present times. For more, see here.

From wet to dry to wet in Weston, Massachusetts

Although the Josiah Smith Tavern opened for business in 1757, the Massachusetts town of Weston has been dry since the mid-nineteenth century. It seems likely that wine will be served at a hotel soon, thus ending Weston's status, rare in the twenty-first century, as a New England dry town. For more, see here.

Robin Room advocates higher taxes to attack Australia's alcohol problem

The well-known sociologist and alcohol expert Robin Room recommends higher taxes to attack Australia's alcohol problem.  He will address Tasmania's first annual conference on alcohol, tobacco, and other drug issues.  Room is the inaugural chair of social research in alcohol at the University of Melbourne's School of Population Health and director of the Centre for Alcohol Policy Research at the Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre.  For more, see here.

For more about Dr. Room's career and his return to his native Australia, see here.

Drink and respectability (article)

John Benson, "Drink, death and bankruptcy: retailing and respectability in late Victorian and Edwardian England," Midland History 32 (2007): 128-140.

Expat Thais turn to alcohol

Thais who work in foreign countries often turn to alcohol as the result of alienation and difficulties of working in a different culture. For more, see here.

Eric Felton's How's Your Drink? reviewed (book review)

John O'Sullivan, in the National Review Online, April 21, 2008, reviews Eric Felton, How's Your Drink? Cocktails, Culture, and the Art of Drinking Well (Agate, 2008).

Recent Spanish-language publications on alcohol

Courtesy of Dr. Gretchen Pierce (Indiana University Northwest), here are a few publications that appeared after the year 2000. The comment about one of them is hers.

Brito Rodríguez, Félix. “La cultura política en el Sinaloa posrevolucionario: elecciones, alcohol, y violencia.” Paper presented at XXX Simposio de Historia y Antropología de Sonora, Hermosillo, February 25, 2005. [I believe this is a chapter from his dissertation].

Fernández Labbé, Marcos. “Las comunidades de la sobriedad: la instalación de zonas secas como método de control del beber inmoderado en Chile, 1910-1930.” _Scripta Nova: Revista Electrónica de Geografía y Ciencias Sociales_ 9, no. 194 (59) (1 August 2005).

Gracida Romo, Juan José. “Historia de la Cervecería de Sonora y sus empresarios.” In _La industria en la historia de Sonora_. Hermosillo: Editorial Sociedad Sonorense de Historia and Editorial Universidad de Arizona, 2004.

Lewis, Stephen E. “La guerra del posh, 1951-1954: Un conflicto decisivo entre el Instituto Nacional Indígenista, el monopolio del alcohol y el gobierno del estado de Chiapas.” _Mesoamérica: Nuevas Historias de Chiapas_, siglos XIX y XX 25, no. 46 (2004).

Romero Gil, Juan Manuel. “Notas para un studio sobre la industria de alcohol en Sonora en los siglos XIX y XX.” In _La Industria en la Historia de Sonora_. Hermosillo: Editorial Sociedad Sonorense de Historia and Editorial Universidad de Arizona, 2004.

"Six O'Clock Swill" in Australia (article)

Tanya Luckins, "Pigs, Hogs and Aussie Blokes: The Emergence of the Term 'Six O'Clock Swill'," History Australia 4/1 (2007).

Alcohol on Madeira (book and article)

from José C. Curto on ADHS listserv in response to my question about recent non-English publications:

For the Island of Madeira, check out: Maria de Lurdes de F. Ferraz, “O vinho da Madeira no século XVIII: produção e mercados internacionais," in Actas do I Colóquio Internacional de História da Madeira 1986. Funchal, 1990. Vol. 2, p. 935 965; and, especially, Alberto Vieira, ed. História do Vinho da Madeira: Documentos e Textos. Funchal, 1993.

Alcohol in Brazil (books and articles)

from J.C. Curto on ADHS listserv in reply to my query about recent non-English publications:

Although the question of alcohol in Brazil has long been dominated by Luis da Camara Cascudo, Preludio da Cachaça: etnografia, história e sociologia da aguardente no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro, 1968, new work has recently began to appear.

João Azevedo Fernandes, “Selvagens Bebedeiras: Álcool, Embriaguez e Contatos Culturais no Brasil Colonial” PhD, Universidade Federal Fluminense, 2004; idem “Sobriedade e embriaguez: A luta dos soldados de Cristo contra as festas dos Tupinambás” Revista Tempo, 2006; idem, “Cachaça, a rainha do Sul”. Revista Atlântica de Cultura Ibero-Americana, 2005, 2: 84-7; idem, “Movidos a cauim: muito antes da chegada do europeu, os índios da América portuguesa já bebiam muito” Revista de História da Biblioteca Nacional, 2005.1 (4): 52-7; and Teresa Cristina de Novaes Marques, No tempo do Chopp: a cerveja e a cidade do Rio de Janeiro. A trajetória da Cervejaria Brahma entre 1888 e os anos 1930. São Paulo : Hucitec, (in press); idem, "Bancos e desenvolvimento industrial. Uma revisão das teses de Gerschenkron à luz da história da Cervejaria Brahma, 1888/1917" São Paulo: História e Economia. Revista Interdisciplinar. , v.1, p.87 - 119, 2005; idem “Capital, cerveja e consumo de massa: a trajetória da Brahma, 1888-1933” Ph D, Universidade de Brasília, 2003; idem and Maria Teresa Versiani, "Inovação de produto ou saída para a crise? O lançamento da cerveja Brahma Chopp no verão de 1934" História Econômica & História de Empresas, v.VI, p.87 - 120, 2003; idem, Joâo Lizardo de ARAÚJO, and Hildete Pereira de MELO, "Raça e nacionalidade no mercado de trabalho carioca na Primeira República: o caso da cervejaria Brahma" Rio de Janeiro, FGV: Revista Brasileira de Economia, v.057, p.535 - 568, 2003.

Alcohol in Angola (articles)

From J.C. Curto on the ADHS listserv in reply to my query about recent non-English publications:

Some of my own work on alcohol in Angola is available in Portuguese: José C. Curto, "Vinho verso Cachaça: A Luta Luso Brasileira pelo Comércio do Álcool e de Escravos em Luanda, 1648 1703," in S. Pantoja and J.F.S. Saraiva, eds. Angola e Brasil nas Rotas do Atlântico Sul. Rio de Janeiro: Bertrand do Brasil, 1999, pp. 69 97; and idem, “A Gerebita nas Relações entre Angola-colónia e o Reino de Kasanje,” Actas do III Encontro Internacional de História de Angola, Luanda, 25-28 September, 2007, forthcoming.

Globalization, differentiation and drinking cultures (article)

Thomas Wilson, "Globalization, Differentiation and Drinking Cultures, an Anthropological Perspective," Anthropology of Food, 3 December 2004. For the text, see here. Thomas M. Wilson is editor of Drinking Cultures: Alcohol and Identity (Berg, 2005).

Thornton reviews Cook's Paying the Tab (book review)

K. Austin Kerr brings our attention to Mark Thornton, "Review of Philip J. Cook, Paying the Tab: The Costs and Benefits of Alcohol Control." EH.Net Economic History Services, Apr 2 2008. URL. Thornton is the author of The Economics of Prohibition (1991).

Peanut Lolita and other forgotten modern liquors

In the Washington Post, April 2, 2008, Jason Wilson talks about the competition that he has with his brother Tyler: discovering forgotten liquors on dusty shelves of old package stores that don't replace inventory until it is sold. Discoveries include Peanut Lolita, Panache, Manderino del Castello, Cordial Compari, and Creme Yvette. Wilson also mentions the discoveries (and imports) of Eric Seed, "the Indiana Jones of Lost Spirits." Seed found and sells such drinks as Batavian Arrack, Zirbenz, and Falernum. For details, and perhaps corrections to my spellings, see here.

Bad habits decline

The USA Today, 3 April 08, in its front page statistical trivia feature, reports that bad habits are declining in America: slightly in the number of adults who had five or more drinks on at least one day (21% in 1997, 20% in 2007) and substantially in the number of adults who smoked at all (25% in 1997, 19% in 2007).

Drinking in New France (article)

Catherine Ferland, "Le nectar et l'ambroisie: La consommation des boissons
alcooliques chez l'élite de la Nouvelle-France au XVIIIe siècle." Revue
d'histoire de l'Amérique Francaise, 58.4 (Printemps 2005), pp. 477-505.
Citation courtesy of Cynthia Belaskie who points out that Ferland has other
relevant publications.

Perry with meals (and not Babycham)

A Welsh perry maker is promoting perry as a drink with meals. The pear-based beverage is lighter and sweeter than apple-based cider which typically is drunk apart from meals. Pear-based alcoholic drinks were briefly popular as Babycham, a sometimes ridiculed "girlie drink" that faded from the scene when women switched to flavored martinis. For more, see here.

Drinking for England (book review)

Fergus Linnane, Drinking for England: The Great English Drinkers and their Times (JR Books, 2008), was reviewed by Kathryn Hughes in the Guardian, 29 March 2008, here.

Alcohol, gender and health in Germany (article)

Spode, Hasso:
"Alkohol, Geschlecht und Gesundheit unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des deutschen Kaiserreichs. Ein Beitrag zur Natur-Kultur-Debatte." In: Martin Dinges (ed.), Männlichkeit und Gesundheit im historischen Wandel. 1800 - 2000, Stuttgart 2007, pp.191-210
(Alcohol, gender and health in Germany: a contribution to the nature-nurture-debate).

Science as a moral pressure group in the European Union (article)

Spode, Hasso:
Der "'Europäische Aktionsplan Alkohol' und seine Vorläufer. Wissenschaft als moralischer Interssenverband." In: Hans J. Teuteberg (ed.), Revolutionen am Esstisch. Neue Studien zur Nahrungskultur im 19./20. Jahrhundert, Stuttgart 2004, pp.282-318
(The European Alcohol Action Plan and its forerunners: science as a moral pressure group)

Alcoholic beverages from 16th to 19th centuries (articles)

Jaeger, Friedrich (ed.):
Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit, vol. 1-16., Stuttgart 2005-2012.
(The ambitious ”encyclopedia of modern times” contains several entries on alcoholic beverages from 16th to 19th c.; still forthcoming)

General history of alcoholic beverages (article)

Spode, Hasso:
"Alkoholische Getränke". In: Thomas Hengartner / Christoph M. Merki (eds.), Genussmittel. Eine Kulturgeschichte, Frankfurt a.M./Leipzig 2001, pp. 27-90
(A general history of alcoholic beverages)

Kashmiris take to alcohol

As violence has subsided in Indian-administered Kashmir, liquor shops have reopened. A perhaps unexpected result of peaceful conditions is that alcohol consumption has increased. For more, see here.

Drunken City

In the New York Times, 27 March 2008, Charles Isherwood reviews a play by Adam Boch, The Drunken City.

Drinking on Good Friday in Canada

For laws in various Canadian provinces about drinking on Good Friday, see here.

Arkansas and alcohol

For odds and ends about Arkansas and alcohol, see here.

From self-discipline and persuasion to prohibition

In a Reason Online review essay Jacob Sullum (author of Saying Yes: In Defense of Drug Use), agrees with a 1978 article by sociologist Harry G. Levine: the notion that drugs are inherently addicting explains the nineteenth-century shift from moderation and moral suasion to prohibition for alcohol and later for other drugs. For more, see here. Reason is a libertarian publication. In his essay Sollum reviews Joseph A. Califano, Jr. High Society: How Substance Abuse Ravages America and What to Do about It, and Richard DeGrandpre, The Cult of Pharmacology: How America Became the World's Most Troubled Drug Culture.

Drink and transatlantic progressivism (book)

David W. Gutzke, ed., Britain and Transnational Progressivism (Palgrave Macmillan, forthcoming September 2008).

Table of contents

Introduction / F.M.L. Thompson
Historians and Progressivism / David W. Gutzke
Britain and Transnational Progressivism / David W. Gutzke
The Civic Ideal: Glasgow and the United States, 1880-1920 / Bernard Aspinwall
Democracy and Drink / Bernard Aspinwall
Transatlantic Progressivism in Women’s Temperance and Suffrage / Ian Tyrrell
Britain’s "Social Housekeepers" / David W. Gutzke
Social Settlement Houses: The Educated Women of Glasgow and Chicago / Robert Hamilton

Utah eases and tightens its liquor laws

The Utah legislature has changed state liquor laws to permit cocktails at the strength poured in the rest of the USA but also tightened other restrictions. For instance, wine coolers no longer can be sold at grocery stores, only at state liquor stores. For more, see here.

Lunchtime drinking attacked in China

In Xinygang, a city of seven million in the Chinese province of Henan, a campaign has been launched against government employees drinking at lunchtime. Midday banquets, often paid for with public money, include so much heavy drinking that employees become unfit for work. The anti-lunchtime drinking campaign is related to the larger campaign against corruption among government officials. For more, see here.

Liquor in colonial India (article)

Indra Munshi, "On Drinking and ‘Drunkenness’: History of Liquor in Colonial India," in Mariam Dossal and Ruby Maloni, eds., State intervention and popular response: western India in the nineteenth century (Mumbai: Popular Prakashan, 1999), 127-46. Written by a sociologist whose conference paper is condensed from a version that appeared in Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 30, no. 37 (September 16, 1995). Although not new, her article is worth mentioning since it is about a neglected topic. Based mostly on government reports.

Alcohol control and modernity (article)

Mark Lawrence Schrad, "The First Social Policy: Alcohol Control and Modernity in Policy Studies," Journal of Policy History 19/4 (October 2007): 428-451. Political science approach.

Research on binge drinking

Researchers struggle to understand binge drinking in various cultures. For more, see here.

Writers and alcohol

For writers and alcohol, see here.

Distilling and drinking in antebellum western north Carolina (article)

Bruce E. Stewart, "This country improves in cultivation, wickedness, mills, and still: distilling and drinking in antebellum western North Carolina, " North Carolina Historical Review 83/4 (Oct. 2006).

Kentucky toddler drunk and hospitalized

A three-year old girl from northern Kentucky was hospitalized with a blood alcohol count nearly twice that which defines an adult as drunk. Cuts on the toddler's lips indicate that she did not drink the alcohol voluntarily. For more, see here.

All-day drinking in Britain a failure

A report commissioned by the British government concludes that the change in the hours to purchase alcohol that allows sales around the clock has failed to produce the desired result: a southern European culture of moderate drinking. Crime has increased in the early morning hours, and the total amount of alcohol consumed has risen. For more, see here.

Dry Mennonite community turns to drink

Steinbach, in the Canadian province of Manitoba, has long been "dry" and that suited its Mennonite population fine. Recently a referendum narrowly approved allowing a liquor store in the town. For more, see here.

Sneers at those who point to the consequences of drinking alcohol

Those who criticize drinking are dismissed as kill-joys, but the facts paint a grim picture. For instance, the British Medical Association has pointed out that alcohol kills more people in the United Kingdom in a month than heroin does in a year. For more, see here.

Controversy over Brazil's restrictions on alcohol sales and advertising

Big retail chains and others are fighting restrictions in Brazil on alcohol sales and advertising. The Brazilian government temporarily banned alcohol sales along federal highways and has proposed a ban on alcohol ads on daytime TV and radio. Some people compare the effort by the Brazilian government with the strict anti-tobacco legislation enacted in 1999 at a time when few other governments pursued similar legislation. For more, see here.

Sacred history of alcohol (book in preparation)

Michael M. Homan, a theology professor at Xavier University of Louisiana, is writing a book with the tentative title, Drinking with God: The Sacred History of Alcohol in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He also has written or co-authored related articles.

1773 liquor license petition written and signed by Samuel Adams and also signed by John Hancock and others

"A July, 1773, liquor license request petition written and signed by Samuel Adams, and signed by John Hancock, and other famous Bostonians, and then rejected by the colonial court just months before the Boston Tea Party has recently come on the market - yours for only $12,750.00"

Text and partial photograph at:

http://search.abaa.org/dbp2/detail.php?booknr=346681390

courtesy of David Trippel

Research Centre for the History of Food & Drink, University of Adelaide

Research Centre for the History of Food & Drink, University of Adelaide, Australia
For its website, see here.

Abstracts of papers (some of them not recent, so the biographical information may not always be accurate).

Several of the papers appear in full in Robert Dare, ed. Food, Power and Community (Wakefield Press), namely those of Andrea Cast, Brett J. Stubbs, and Anna E. Blainey (and can be read via Google)

Anna Blainey, Wowserism Reconsidered: The Ethos of the Total Abstinence and Prohibition Movements in Australia, 1880-1910
Unlike the US anti-alcohol movement, little has been written on the movement in Australia. The one widely read work on this subject, Keith Dunstan'sWowsers, draws largely from the words of the anti-drink movement's opponents who attributed to the teetotallers largely imaginary motives and obscured their true agenda. The so-called "wowsers" themselves, however, did not see drink in terms of the spiritual evils of pleasure as their enemies insisted. Rather, they presented drinking and especially moderate drinking as an unethical act - an act which impacted on and harmed others in various and complex ways. Their anger, however, was directed not at drinking but rather at drink selling which they saw in terms of the infliction of damage on others - comparable to crimes of violence against the person. The anti-drink movement saw alcohol as the expression of the ethos of individualism and the profit motive at the expense of social responsibility and community protection.
Anna Blainey is currently completing a PhD at La Trobe University. She has taught and written teaching texts for History and Women's Studies subjects at Deakin University.

PO Box 257, East Melbourne VIC 3002
hisaeb@lure.latrobe.edu.au

George Bretherton, Food, Drink, Sex and The Body in the Light of Temperance Propaganda in the British Isles, 1830-60
The way temperance advocates developed their notions about what was fit or not to ingest naturally had basic and very profound effects on all sorts of attitudes towards food and drink. Alcohol, which had been regarded as a health and strength giving substance in the pre-temperance days, had to be discredited, which was done mainly in two ways. First by showing that alcohol was unhealthy, an argument put forward in medical treatises--Irish and Scottish physicians were especially important among the first generation of temperance people--and in more homely ways; Joseph Livesy's malt lecture is a good example a talk he gave to many a Mechanics' Institute audience in which he subjected a pint of beer to chemical analysis, revealing that far from deserving the appellation "liquid bread" it consisted entirely of poisons. The relation between food and drink also needed to be rethought. If drinking was healthy and the more you drank the healthier you were then a stout physique and a red face, not atypical results, were signs of health.
Dr. George Bretherton is Associate Professor of History at Montclair State University in New Jersey. He wrote his PhD dissertation on the Irish temperance movement, has published many article and given many conference papers on various aspects of the history of the temperance movement, and is currently working on the role of Theobald Matthew in the temperance movement.

Department of History, Montclair State University, Upper Montclair, New Jersey 07043

Andrea Cast, Drinking Women in Early Modern English Drinking Songs
Drinking alcohol has always been a significant event, imbued with cultural values and meanings. In early modern England everyone drank alcohol every day. What can we learn about early modern English society from looking at the public drinking of women? We do not have access to direct information about alehouse and tavern culture but we do have many of the ballads that were written, sung, sold and displayed there. From these drinking songs historians can glean information that may shed some light on how women participated in what can only be described as the national pastime.
Andrea Cast is a PhD candidate in the Department of History at The University of Adelaide. Her thesis topic is the consumption of alcohol by women in early modern England.

Department of History, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide SA 5000
acast@arts.adelaide.edu.au

Valmai Hankel, The Eager Oenographers
Unlike today, most books on wine published in Australia in the nineteenth century were written by winegrowers for winegrowers rather than for consumers. At the same time, in England wine book writers were sometimes wine merchants, whose opinions of Australian wines were often less than flattering. This paper will look at nineteenth-century Australian wine books and the portrayal of Australian wines in English books of the same period. It will draw on the resources of the State Library of South Australia, which has the largest collection of wine literature in the southern hemisphere.
Valmai Hankel is Senior Rare Books Librarian at the State Library of South Australia. She is the wine writer for The Adelaide Review and also writes a column on wine history for the national magazine Winestate. For six years she chaired the Consumer Panel of judges for the Advertiser-Hyatt Regency South Australian Wine of the Year Awards.

State Library of South Australia, North Terrace, Adelaide SA 5000
valmaih@slsa.sa.gov.au

Annie Harper, Strong Beere and Merry Lads: Drinking Culture and Popular Song in Early Modern England
This paper explores the culture of drinking in Early Modern England through the rich source of popular song. The first part of the paper examines the relationship between drinking and popular balladry. Records from the Jacobean Star Chamber offer evidence about the dissemination and composition of these songs, and indicate that the Alehouse was an important centre for the creation and dissemination of Ballads. Printed urban Broadsides were also heavily flavoured by drinking culture, and Ballad publishers, authors and performers were often associated with urban drinking establishments.
The relationship between drinking and music was symbiotic, as both the audience and the performance space of the Alehouse was reflected in the content of these songs. The second part of this paper looks at this content, examining the two main thematic motifs found in these drinking songs. One emphasises the companionship and community cohesion found in communal drinking ballads; the other represents the problems associated with drink in society, a tradition of social comment through song. In this way I shall explore some of the ambiguities associated with drinking culture at the time.
Annie Harper is a PhD candidate in the Department of History at the University of Melbourne. Her thesis topic is popular ballads in early modern England.

Department of History, University of Melbourne, Parkville VIC 3052
a.harper@pgrad.unimelb.EDU.AU

Cath Kerry, Chocolate: A History
Chocolate, as the confectionary bar we eat today, is barely 100 years old. Chocolate was used by the Aztecs and Mayans as a mainly ceremonial drink. It came to Europe and vied for popularity with coffee and tea. New technology in the 19th century set out to improve its drinkability, texture and handling qualities, and led eventually to a novelty, eating chocolate that quickly came to symbolise love, nurture, luxury and compulsion. Any interest in chocolate and why it's a part of our lives are obvious.
Cath Kerry is a chef who keeps an academic approach to food for consenting adults in private. Her interests and attitude to chocolate are influenced by her passion for knowing why we live as we do, and by her belief that eating well is one of the last affordable and safe pleasures.

Art Gallery of South Australia, North Terrace, Adelaide 5000; Fax 08 8232 7266

David K. Round, Louise Sutherland, and Anne Arnold, Going, Going, Gone: Red Wine Auction Prices in Australia
In recent years in Australia, red wine auctions have resulted in prices which have caught the attention of the public and the press, as selected labels have rocketed in price. The market for red wine in Australia is an incredibly diverse one. A given red wine from one geographic area, from the same vintage, from a particular grape variety, can vary enormously in price from other wines with identical characteristics. Why is this? Economists can explain such price discrepancies easily, at least in theory. In the formal language of economics, they depend on the underlying conditions of supply and demand. This paper presents a preliminary investigation into the operation of the red wine auction market in Australia.
We start by looking at the economic characteristics of the auction process, and then move on to describe the essential features of wine auctions in Australia. Next, we identify the major wine labels which have been driving the auction market, and consider briefly the reasons why these particular wines might be seen as so distinct by buyers. We then move on to a statistical description of the price trends for some of the most commonly auctioned red wines, and analyse the quite marked differences which appear. We conclude with some projections of future prices, and assess, from a price perspective, just what it is that makes a great wine.
David K. Round is Associate Professor in the School of Economics at the University of Adelaide, Louise Sutherland is an honours student in the School of Economics, and Anne Arnold is a Lecturer in Economics in the School of Economics. The research for this paper was funded by a grant from the University of Adelaide. Prof. Round's major research interests are in the areas of competition, policy, price fixing, and mergers.

School of Economics, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide SA 5005
dround@economics.adelaide.edu.au

Brett J. Stubbs, 'A New Drink for Young Australia': The Transition from Ale to Lager Beer in New South Wales, c. 1880 to 1930
One of the most significant twentieth century developments in the Australian brewing industry was the almost complete replacement of the traditional British top-fermented ale style by the Continental bottom-fermented lager style of beer. In the 1880s and 1890s there emerged in Australia a strong demand for lager beer which was met mainly by bottled imports from Germany and the United States of America. There were also several attempts at local manufacture. In New South Wales, at least, these all failed. During the First World War the curtailment of imports left the demand for lager unsatisfied. Perceiving this gap, Tooth & Co., the largest brewer in New South Wales, successfully launched K.B. (Kent Brewery) lager in 1918. This was a crucial turning point in NSW, providing the momentum for lager eventually to supplant the traditional ale style. This trend was paralleled in other Australian states.
Dr. Brett J. Stubbs is a lecturer in the School of Resource Science and Management at Southern Cross University. His publications include "The Revival and Decline of the Independent Breweries in New South Wales, 1946 to 1961," and his current research includes the brewing industry in Australia.

School of Resource Science and Management, Southern Cross University, P.O. Box 157, Lismore NSW 2480; Fax 02 6621 2669
bstubbs@scu.edu.au

British police to confiscate drink that under-18s consume in public

This week British police will receive power to confiscate drink whenever under-18s consume it in public. Although under-18s can't buy drink legally, there is no law against their consuming it. Under the previous policy police only could confiscate drink that under-18s consume in public when there has been drink-related crime or disorder. For more, see here.

Higher taxes to win the war on alcohol, analogous to the war on tobacco (book)

Philip J. Cook, Paying the Tab: The Costs and Benefits of Alcohol Control (Princeton UP, 2007).

Table of Contents:

List of Illustrations ix
Preface xi
CHAPTER 1: Introduction 1
PART I Rise and Fall of Alcohol Control 11
CHAPTER 2: A Brief History of the Supply Side 13
CHAPTER 3: The Alcoholism Movement 34
PART II Evidence of Effectiveness 47
CHAPTER 4: Drinking: A Primer 49
CHAPTER 5: Prices and Quantities 65
CHAPTER 6: Alcohol Control as Injury Prevention 82
CHAPTER 7: Long-Term Effects: Hearts and Minds 107
CHAPTER 8: The Drinker's Bonus 120
PART III Assessing Policy Options 131
CHAPTER 9: Evaluating Interventions 133
CHAPTER 10: Regulating Supply 148
CHAPTER 11: Taxing the Alcohol Industry 165
CHAPTER 12: Youth as a Special Case 179
CHAPTER 13: Alcohol-Control Policy for the Twenty-First Century 196
Methodological Appendix 203
Notes 207
References 221
Index 249

In UK, the more successful you are, the more you drink

According to a UK official study, senior executives and professionals drink more than other people. The English drink more than the Scots and the Welsh. Unsurprisingly, men drink more than women. For more, see here.

Drink, temperance, and transnational progressivism

David W. Gutzke, ed., Britain and Transnational Progressivism (Macmillan Palgrave, forthcoming late 2008), includes two essays explicitly about drink and temperance: Bernard Aspinwall, "Democracy and Drink," and Ian R. Tyrrell, "Transnational Progressivism in Women's Temperance and Suffrage."

Alcohol puts over a half million in hospital each year in the UK

In the United Kingdom more than a half million people go to hospital each year as the result of drinking alcohol. For more, see here.

Many young children taste alcohol in USA

Nearly half of American eight- to ten-year-olds have tasted alcoholic drinks. For more, see here.

Comparing the rise of today's anti-tobacco movement with that of yesterday's anti-alcohol movement

Today's anti-tobacco movement seems to have moved much faster than yesterday's anti-alcohol movement. A major difference is the health issue. Smoking tobacco can injure non-smokers directly while drinking alcohol can injure non-drinkers only indirectly for the most part.

Although anti-tobacco laws and attitudes vary from place to place as did anti-alcohol laws and attitudes, generally a distinction has been made between the public and the private. For instance, National Prohibition in the USA never made drinking or possession of alcoholic drink illegal, only its production and sale. In the case of tobacco, the emphasis has been on reducing the places where a smoker can smoke (and typically a smoker smokes more frequently than a drinker drinks and traditionally has smoked at work). Some anti-tobacco laws affect private smoking. For instance, in Ohio it is illegal to smoke at home, if the home employs a cleaning person or other employee. A few American communities have considered bans on parents smoking in cars when their children are passengers. As one contrast between the two anti-vice movements, in many parts of the USA and Europe one can buy a drink at a bar but not smoke there, while during American prohibition one could smoke in nearly every public place other than during church services but not buy a drink. Another contrast is that in the USA many tobacco farmers have been paid not to grow tobacco and the tobacco industry has paid huge sums to the states to offset public health costs. Prohibition was accompanied by neither a buy-out nor a financial pay-out to the states except in the form of taxes and license fees.

Carib's use of alcohol as seen by Europeans (Article)

Frederick H. Smith, "European Impressions of the Island Carib's Use of Alcohol in the Early Colonial Period,"Ethnohistory 53/3 (Summer 2006): 543-66.

Posset, mulled ale, punch

Recipes for posset, mulled ale, and punch from inhabitants of Holmbridge, Yorkshire who were born in the 1860s. Recorded in 1951 to preserve the accents of a disappearing rural generation. For the recipes, as spoken, see here.

Sack, flip, and other old drinks

For descriptions of old drinks such as sack and flip, see here.

Britain's rowdy, drunken Christmas office parties

Although excessive drinking and embarrassing behavior occur at Christmas office parties in many countries, Britain makes the problems in other countries appear almost minor. For details, see here.

How's Your Drink? (book review)

In the Weekly Standard, 24 December 2007, Christopher Hitchens reviews Eric Felten, How's Your Drink? Cocktails, Culture, and the Art of Drinking Well (Agate Surrey). For the review, see here.

Women bartenders in New Delhi

The Supreme Court of India recently overturned a 1914 law that had prevented women from working as bartenders in the national capital, New Delhi. Women previously worked as bartenders in some other Indian cities, often with rarely enforced restrictions. For more, see here.

Baghdad blast targets liquor sellers

The Baghdad blasts that targeted liquor sellers hit mostly Yazidis who recently have replaced Christians in the liquor business (as most Christians have left Iraq). The Yazidis are a small sect that live mostly in the Kurdish north. As Muslims aren't supposed to drink, they don't sell alcoholic drink. Obviously, a fair number of Iraqi Muslims buy alcohol when they can. For more, see here.

Canadians drink more

Canadians drink 11% more per capita than a decade ago. For an analysis why and with what consequences, see here.

Transnational temperance

Mark Lawrence Schrad (political science/ University of Illinois) has posted pdf files for his 2007 Wisconsin dissertation dealing with Russia, Sweden, and the USA, a forthcoming related article, and various data sets. For access to the pdf files, see here.

Drugs and alcohol go to Hollywood (article)

Michael C. Gerald, "Drugs and Alcohol Go to Hollywood," Pharmacy in History 48/3 (2006): 116-138.

Edinburgh's museum exhibit about drink

The Museum of Edinburgh has an exhibit, "Here's Tae Us," from 10 December to 8 March 2008. Edinburgh had as many as 30 breweries at the end of the nineteenth century and now only one major brewery. For more, see here.

Feminism and alcohol in New Zealand (thesis)

Dougal McLachlan, "From 'bra burners' to 'booze hags'?: gender, alcohol and feminism in New Zealand" (B.A. honors thesis, University of Otago, 2006).

Booze and gambling in Medina County, Ohio, during prohibition (book)

Sharon Lee DeWitt Kraynek, Booze and gambling: Medina County, Ohio during prohibition ([Chippewa Lake, Ohio]: author, 2007). 161 pages.

New Zealand's alcohol restrictions, 1881-2005 (dissertation)

Paul John Christoffel, "Removing temptation: New Zealand's alcohol restrictions, 1881-2005" (Ph.D. dissertation, Victorian University of Wellington, 2006).

Alcohol in Berkeley, California (booklet)

Susan Austin, Daphne Tooke, and Linda Rosen, Fermenting Berkeley: a spirited history (Berkeley, California: Berkeley Historical Society, Berkeley History Center, 2006). Based on an exhibit, 23 October 2005 to 3 June 2006.

21-30 drinkers differ from their elders

Younger drinkers (21-30) consume proportionately less beer than their elders and more of it consists of imports and craft beers. Younger drinkers also are more likely than their elders to drink premium and super-premium vodka and red wine. For more, see here.

Alamogordo (NM) and alcohol (article)

In a discussion about drinking age on the ADHS listserv Gus Seligmann mentioned an article that he published fifteen years ago. It is:

Gustav L. Seligmann, "Alamogordo and Alcohol: Monopoly or Social Control, " New Mexico Historical Review 67/2 (April 1992): 139-155. Alamogordo is located in southern New Mexico. When an "improvement" company founded the town in 1898, it required property deeds to contain a covenant prohibiting the sale of alcohol (except in one block). The covenant remained in force until 1987.

Minimum legal drinking age in the USA

Robin G. W. Room reports that the only detailed study is:

James F. Mosher, "The history of youthful drinking laws: implications for current policy," in Henry Wechsler, ed., Minimum-drinking-age Laws, pp. 11-38. (Lexington, Mass. Lexington Books, 1980). 11-38. Its focus is post-Repeal.

David Trippel reports that in 1883 the National Temperance Society and Publication House printed a paperback Liquor Laws of the United States. It's a list of all the different state's liquor laws and for those with license includes the age restrictions. It appears the restriction was to "minors" (most) or "18 years old" (NY, NJ). There are a few mentions of parents/guardians allowing children to drink. I only checked someof the states as it's dispersed within text. It may be a reprint of Henry H. Faxon's book with the same title, but his name isn't on it anywhere. Trippel also suggests that Elaine Frantz Parsons (Duquesne University in Pittsburgh) might have information.

Minimum legal drinking age in England and Wales

Minimum legal drinking age in England and Wales (courtesy of James Quan-Nicholls)

1886 Intoxicating Liquors (Sale to Children) Act

Sale of alcoholic drinks to children under thirteen banned

1901 Intoxicating Liquors (Sale to Children) Act

1886 Act repealed

Sale of alcoholic drinks to children under fourteen banned (except quantities of not less than one pint in sealed bottles)

1908 Children's Act (Section 119)

Children under fourteen banned from licensed premises

Giving alcohol to children under five banned

1910 Licensing (Consolidation) Act

'On' sale of spirits to under-sixteens banned

1923 Intoxicating Liquor (Sale to Persons Under Eighteen) Act

Under-eighteens not to be sold alcohol for consumption on licensed premises

16-18s can be served alcohol to be consumed with a meal in separate part of premises

Museum of the cocktail

For a museum of the history of the cocktail, located in New Orleans, see here.

Imbibe! (book review)

Adam Rathe reviews in the Brooklyn Paper, December 1, 2007, a book by David Wondrich, Imbibe!: From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash, a Salute in Stories and Drinks to ‘Professor’ Jerry Thomas, Pioneer of the American Bar (Perigee, 2007). For more, see here. Wondrich is now writing a book about alcoholic punch.

History of drinking age in the USA since Vietnam

Drinking age is the USA is set by individual states. Influenced by the Vietnam war and the fact that hundreds of thousands of very young men fought there, many states reduced their minimum drinking age as part of a redefinition of adulthood (for instance, 18 as a new voting age). By 1982 only 14 states kept the drinking age at 21, but in 1984 Congress passed the Uniform Drinking Age, tying the receipt of highway construction money to a minimum drinking age of 21. By 1988 all states had complied. For more, see here. The law is widely violated.

Cultural history of alcohol (book)

Iain Gately, Drink: a cultural history of alcohol (New York: Gotham, forthcoming 2008).

Irish adults third largest per capita drinkers in Europe

Irish adults drink more alcohol per capita than any other Europeans with the exception of those in Luxembourg and Hungary. Although the Irish drink less beer than in the past, beer still comprises about half of Irish alcohol consumption. Perhaps a sign of prosperity in the Irish Republic, the Irish now drink slightly more wine than whiskey. For more, see here. Per capita consumption among Irish adults who drink may be higher than even their counterparts in Luxembourg and Hungary. Traditionally many Irish Catholics are total abstainers, often members of the teetotal Pioneers of the Sacred Heart, founded at the end of the nineteenth century. Or it may be that modernization in Ireland has shrunk the Pioneers to numerical irrelevance.

Riga black balsam bitters

Except for those of Latvian descent, few Americans have tasted Riga black balsam bitters, one of several herbal drinks produced in the Baltic country. For more, see here.

Norway's aquavit

Norway's potato-based spirit akevitt (aquavit for foreigners) is seldom drunk in the USA, and few Norwegian brands are available in America. Aquavit is also produced throughout Scandinavia and northern Germany. For more, see here. According to the article, Norwegian distillers call potatoes the grapes of the North.

New editor for alcohol and drugs history series

The alcohol and drugs history series, published by Northern Illinois University Press, has a new editor. The former series editor, Melody Herr, has moved to the University of Michigan Press. As a result the director of the NIU Press, J. Alex Schwartz, will handle the drugs and alcohol history series. He can be reached by email at aschwartz@niu.edu.

Mark Edward Lender reviews Eric Burns' Spirits of America (book review)

Mark Edward Lender reviews Eric Burns, The Spirits of America: A Social History of Alcohol, in Indiana Magazine of History 102/1 (2006): 54-56

Coffee houses and alcohol bars: their architecture (book)

Christoph Grafe and Franziska Bollerey, Cafes and bars: the architecture of public display (Abingdon: Routledge, 2007).

Tavern culture in northeastern Ohio, 1796-1840 (thesis)

Adam J. Criblez, “From Grog Punch to Hard Cider: Tavern Culture on Ohio’s Western Reserve, 1796-1840" (M.A. thesis, Kent State University, 2003).