Alcohol and Drugs History Society

Starbucks' painful problem: location, location, location

According to a story in the New York Times, faulty location decisions have hurt Starbucks (which recently announced plans to close 600 underperforming stores in the USA and to slow the addition of new stores in America). Part of the problem has been the eagerness to add stores Starbucks prompted poor choices. Significantly, 70% of the stores targeted for closing were opened in 2006 or more recently. Sometimes this rush to expand has meant putting new company stores too close to existing ones, sometimes it has meant putting company stores too near franchise stores (such as in bookstores and supermarkets). Sometimes it has meant putting too many stores in parts of the country recently hit especially hard by the bursting of the real estate bubble and with a large retired population (southern California, Florida are prime examples). For more, see here. Of course, the overall American economic decline has reduced the number of people able and willing to pay top dollar for coffee drinks.

Starbucks to close 500 more US stores

Starbucks has announced that it will close 500 more underperforming US stores (for a total of 600) and eliminate up to 12,000 jobs, full-time and part-time. For more, see here.

Varied reactions to Pike Place Roast

The Wall Street Journal, 1 July 2008, includes an article "New Starbucks Brew Attracts Customers, [and] Flak: Fans of Bold Coffee Bemoan the Rise of Pike Place Roast." According to the article, the new standard brewed coffee is directed at the masses. Those who consider themselves coffee experts prefer the old, bolder brews.

Why the boom in coffee shops in India where few people outside the south drink coffee?

The average Indian drinks only ten cups of coffee in a year and most of that is consumed in the southern part of the country. So, why the enthusiasm for opening new coffee shops? Life style changes for the Indian middle class make it likely that the market for selling coffee will grow. For more, see here.

Celebrating beer in Oregon

The McMenamin family, owners of a small empire of pubs, taverns and other places where drink can be found, celebrated the 25th anniversary of its enterprise with the brewing of a special ale (with 79 ingredients, a figure that would make Bavarians blush). Fred Eckhardt, "Portland's Godfather of good beer," led invited guests in the temperance song, "Away with Rum by Gum." For more, see here.

Socialists and saloons in Wisconsin (article)

Elizabeth Jozwiak, "Bottoms Up: The Socialist Fight for the Workingman's Saloon," Wisconsin Magazine of History 90/2 (2006-2007): 12-23.

Supermarket beer undermines British pubs

According to Mitchells & Butler, owners of the Harvester pub chain, cheap beer sold at supermarkets is destroying the financial viability of the once iconic English (and British) public house. Currently four UK pubs go out of business each day. As recently as 1979 pubs sold 37 million barrels of beer. In 2008 it is expected that pub sales will be 17 million barrels. Mitchells & Butler sadly predict that this figure will fall to 10 million barrels in 2018. Obviously, the decline in the number of pubs will speed up drastically. See the story 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.

Austrian beer garden etiquette

For advice on Austrian beer garden etiquette, see here.

Chicago coffee shops (for more than coffee)

For examples of specialized coffee shops in Chicago (such as teen, music), see here. For a longer list with fewer details, see here.

McDonald's "speciality" coffee making Starbucks jittery

Starbucks has cut prices at some shops competing with McDonald's outlets that offer "speciality" coffee (only 1300 stores or less than 10% of all McDonald's at this point). In the long run, McDonald's has the advantage of many more drive-through outlets. Experts give McDonald's "speciality" coffee high marks for quality. 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.

Starbucks enters Argentina

Starbucks will open its first Argentine coffee shop in the country's capital Buenos Aires. For more, see here.

Beryl Cook, painter of pub life, dies at 81

Beryl Cook, known for her paintings of fat women in colorful clothing, died at 81. She took her inspiration from the Dolphin, a pub in Plymouth, and cartoons. For more, see here.

Slow start for McDonald's upscale coffees

McDonald's has experienced a frustratingly slow start in the districts where it has introduced so-called speciality coffee, upscale beverages meant to compete with Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, and other coffee shops. For more, see here.

Liverpool pubs in the 19th century (article)

Alistair Mutch, "The Design of Liverpool Pubs in the Nineteenth Century," Brewery History: The Journal of the Brewery History Society 127 (2008): 2-26.  Unlike previous articles in the publication, Mutch's went through peer review.

Britain's best tea shop is Japanese-owned and managed

Britain's Tea Guild has honored Juri's--the Old Bakery Tea Shoppe in the Cotswolds town of Winchcombe as the country's best tea room. Interestingly, the couple who own Juri's and their daughter who manages it were born in another country with a tea heritage, Japan. Manager Juri Miyawaki, the woman after whom the tea shop has been named, is Cordon Bleu trained. For more, see here. For details about Juri's, see here.

Scantily clad baristas in Pacific Northwest

Some coffee shops compete on the basis of the quality and variety of their coffees and food or on access to Wi-Fi or their comfortable furniture and friendly, skilled staff. In the Pacific Northwest a few coffee shops instead offer scantily clad baristas. For instance, Cowgirls Espresso has 14 locations in Washington State. Presumably the clientale is male. For details, see here. A comparison has been made to Hooters but with fewer clothes.

Beer in Butte, Montana (article)

Steve Lozar, "1,000,000 Glasses a Day: Butte's Beer History on Tap," Montana: the Magazine of Western History 56/4 (2006): 46-55.

Taverns in early modern Lyon, France

Susanne Rau, "Public Order in Public Space: Tavern Conflict in Early Modern Lyon," Urban History 34/1 (2007): 102-113.

Asquith's licensing bill of 1908 (article)

Luci Gosling, "Trouble Brewing," History Today 58/3 (March 2008): 21-23. For part of the article (including comparisons with our own early 21st century concern over binge drinking), see here.

Café Coffee Day, a leading Indian chain, attracts customers in Vienna

Café Coffee Day opened its first coffee shop at Bangalore in 1996 and now has 952 shops in India. In 2005 it opened its first coffee house in Vienna, home of a distinctive European coffee shop culture (where melange, the Austrian cousin of Italy's cappuccino, is popular). Café Coffee Day now has three shops in Vienna and expects to add another five by the end of the current fiscal year. For more, see here.

Mutch on public house managers (articles)

Alistair Mutch, "Trends and Tensions in UK Public House Management," International Journal of Hospitality Management 19 (2000): 361-374); "Where do Public House Managers Come From? Some Survey Evidence," International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management 13 (2001): 86-92.

Interview with Paul Jennings, English public house historian

For a BBC interview with English public house historian Paul Jennings, see here.

Dispersal of former Allied Breweries archives (article)

The present whereabouts of materials in the former Allied Breweries archive are listed in the Pub History Society Newsletter, Summer 2004.  This reference courtesy of Paul Jennings, The Local: A History of the English Pub (Stroud: Tempus, 2007).

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.

Second Cup Coffee

Founded in 1975, Second Cup Coffee is the largest Canadian-owned speciality coffee chain. Nearly all of its coffee shops are located in Canada.

British pub licensing and knowledges of urban disorder (article)

Mariana Valverde, "Police science, British style: pub licensing and knowledges of urban disorder," Economy and Society 32/2 (2003): 234–252.

Tim Hortons: Coffee, Crullers and Canadiana

Memories of Tim Hortons appear here. Founded in 1964, the company named after Canadian hockey star Tim Horton was purchased by Wendys in 1995 but re-emerged as an independent company again in 2006. (Ironically, in 2008 Arbys took over Wendys.) Knowing expressions from Tim Hortons such as Timbits and double-double have become part of a Canadian identity.

Decline of Ireland's rural pubs

Prosperity is killing Ireland's rural pubs. Three years ago there were 6000 but now 5000 (and it is predicted that only 3500 pubs outside Dublin will survive). The decline of the rural pub is part of the remaking of the affluent new Ireland. For instance, in the 1970s about 90% of the people in the Irish Republic attended Sunday Mass, now about half that. For more, see here.

High rents forcing San Francisco bars to close

High rents and slow business have forced many San Francisco neighborhood bars to close (but San Francisco remains among the cities with the most bars per capita in California).  Source: USA Today, 24 April 2008, citing Los Angeles Times.

Publican memoir (book)

Chris Pitts, 'Last orders': life as a pub landlord (London: Athena Press, 2007).

Two Clovers in Ohio (and neither at a Starbucks)

Now that Starbucks has purchased the company that makes the Clover, few independents are likely to buy one. At the moment, however, the only two Clovers in Ohio are at independents, Staufs Coffee Roasters in Columbus and Rohs Street Cafe in Cincinnati. The Cincinnati Enquirer article focuses on Rohs Street, a non-profit, fair trade only coffee shop owned by the Espresso Guild which helps non-profit coffee shops. For more, see here.

Carlisle state management scheme (book)

Olive Seabury, The Carlisle State Management Scheme: Its Ethos and Architecture (Bookcase Carlisle, 2007). Special attention to the public houses designed by Henry Redfern.

Lavazza, the world's largest independent coffee company

Mark Baker interviews Guiseppe Lavazza in the (London) Independent, April 20, 2008. The Turin-based company produces nearly half of the coffee consumed in Italy. Although it is mostly a firm that sells coffee brands, Lavazza (founded in 1895) has begun to acquire some retailers, such as the the Baristra coffee house chain in India and the Fresh & Honest vending chain, also in India. For more, see here. According to Wikipedia, sixteen of the twenty million coffee-buying families in Italy purchase Lavazza brands.

Historic coffeehouses of Budapest

Few of the historic coffeehouses of Budapest have survived World War II and Communism. The exceptions are Gerbeaud (founded, 1858) and Belle Epoque Central Kavehaz (1887), and the latter has not been a coffeehouse continuously. There are new ones such as Kavehaz Miró that have attained similar stature. Hungarian coffee drinks sometimes differ from those elsewhere, as you can see here. Obviously, Kavehaz means coffeehouse!

O'Neill's saloon trilogy (article)

Brenda Murphy, "The Iceman Cometh in Context: An American Saloon Trilogy," Eugene O'Neill Review 26 (2004): 215-25.

UK government partly to blame for pub closures?

According to CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) 56 pubs close in Britain every month. The British Beer and Pub Association reports even more dire figures: four pubs close very day. Against this news, Carla Carlisle, writing as "Spectator" in Country Life, April 17, 2008, argues that the British government bears a share of the blame for not helping pubs deal with the aftermath of the smoking ban. By the way, Carla Carlisle and her husband are brewers in a small way: brewing only a few times a year, they produce 30,000 bottles of Good Dog Ale annually. For more, see here.

Japanese like new McDonald's coffee

Pollsters report that Japanese coffee-drinkers now prefer McDonald's new 100-yen coffee over that of competitors Doutor Coffee (Japan's biggest coffee chain with 1479 outlets), Mos Burger, Starbucks (in Japan since 1996), and Mister Donut. For details, see here.

A few words about Doutor Coffee. Beginning in 1962 as a wholesaler of roasted coffee beans, it opened its first self-service Doutor Coffee shop in 1980. Under a variety of names, the company offers coffee to different categories of customers (for instance, espresso).

Pubs of Oxford

An Anglophile journalist writes movingly about the pubs of Oxford in the New York Times. For more, see here.

"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).

Bar food

from Bob Skilnik's post to the ADHS listserv, republished here with his permission:

Many big city municipalities demanded that Repeal-era taverns serve food with their products. What constituted "food" seems to have often been left to the interpretation and imagination of tavern owners, drink trade organizations and their lawyers. This brought about a new industry of tavern snack foods. Like the pre-Prohibition offerings of the "free lunch," they were most often salty, pickled, cheap and abundant, and if done right, bypassed the need for a kitchen in the back of neighborhood bars.

I touch upon this in Beer & Food: An American History, (Jefferson Press, February 28, 2007, ISBN-10: 0977808610), a book that demonstrates how American beer and food came together, beginning with an examination of receipt books of the 18th and 19th centuries. Upon Repeal, small food recipe booklets were put together by the United States Brewers Association with templated food recipes that allowed breweries to substitute the name of their flagship products when a food recipe simple called for "beer," and later by the breweries themselves as they too began to publish numerous beer-in-food cookbooks.

The heart of this movement was to get the consumption of beer into the house and to nuture the growing trend of women as beer consumers. Pre-Prohibition saloons frowned upon women as customers. From the rise of saloons and through the Prohibition-era speakeasies, the consumption of beer at home was a rarity. It's amusing to look back at brewery-sponsored booklets of early Repeal years that describe how to hold a "beer party" or even a "Lager Lunch." Before the development of food recipes that used beer as an ingredient, Repeal-era brewery booklets were simply composed of tips on the chilling and serving beer, proper glasses for different beer styles, beer party themes and appropriate party decor, and suggestions of appropriate beer snacks to accompany beer.

It took until a short time before WWII to expand the concept of consuming beer and food together, to include more elaborate food recipes that used beer as an ingredient, not just setting out bowls of nuts, pretzels and potato chips and chilled beer. As the portability of beer increased with canning (1935) and improvements in bottling machinery and pushed draft beer sales down (if I recall, 1941 was the first year that packaged beer beat draft sales), it also slowed down tavern sales, and as a result, the sale of tavern snack foods too. This would explain the peaking and then slipping sales of beer of tavern snack foods during the period of late 1933 to the opening of WW II. Beer had become a household staple.

The concept of presenting beer and food together has been somewhat resurrected by the craft beer industry, more so by writers like myself.

Bob Skilnik
www.beerinfood.com
www.beerinfood.wordpress.com

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).

Drinking place architecture (bibliographical booklet)

Anthony G. White, "Watering-Hole" Architecture: Bars, Taverns, and Saloons: A Selected Bibliography (Monticello, IL: Vance, 1982). Old and only 12 pages but apparently unique.

Social transformation of the American saloon (research in progress)

Harvard sociologist Jason Kaufman plans a study of the social transformation of the American saloon before, during, and after prohibition. For details, see here.

Limited interest in the Clover among Starbucks customers

Recently Starbucks purchased the company that makes the Clover and began installing the expensive coffee-making machine in its stores. Supposedly the Clover makes a perfect cup of brewed coffee one cup at a time. A New York Times reporter visited a Clover-equipped Starbucks for an hour. Even with encouragement from employees, few customers chose to order "plain" coffee, even when made by the Clover. For more, see here.

Café culture redefining U.S. senior centers

Chicago offers models for the café culture that is redefining U.S. senior centers. For more, see here.

Idaho prohibition

For an article about Idaho prohibition, including the temperance fight for it and resistance to it after it became law, see here.

"Last orders" for many Preston pubs

Preston is known as the home of the English temperance reformer Joseph Livesey. During the Victorian era its thirsty cotton textile workers also made it the home for 460 public houses and beer houses within the old borough boundaries. A small brewery empire was created by Preston's own Matthew Brown in the mid-nineteenth-century beginning with his Anglers Inn. Nowadays the pubs are disappearing. Every month it is "last orders" for another pub. For more, see here.

Tea in Manhattan

The focus in this New York Times article is on places to drink tea, mostly what the article calls European-style tea--what others might call English-style--with scones, finger-sandwiches and the like, but there also is mention of Asian-style tea places including those that serve the faddishly popular bubble-tea. For more, see here. The article cheerfully looks down upon mere coffee drinkers, somewhat uncouth folk always in search of a caffeine high. By the way, worldwide more people drink tea than coffee, a statistic helped by East Asia, South Asia, Russia, and the countries that made up the British Empire.

Drinking and working in California's post-Prohibition public drinking establishments (dissertation)

Stephen Freund, "Keeping the promises of repeal: Drinking and working in California's post-Prohibition public drinking establishments" (Ph.D. dissertation, Wayne State University, 2006).

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

Clubs and pubs in Glasgow, Scotland (article)

Bill Findlay, "Intimate strangers: Clubs, pubs and the forging of Glasgow's corporate identity," in Recherches anglaises et nord-américaines 40 (2007): 149-62.

Saloon on a barge provided basis for novel

Scott Weeden's short novel, High Times and Low Lifes at the Sand Bar Town Saloons, is based in part on family stories. Weeden's great grandfather ran a saloon on a barge in the middle of the South Canadian River (Oklahoma), called the Heaven's Gate Saloon and founded in 1889. For more, see here.

Social history of the American tavern, 1750-1820s (book in progress)

Nancy L. Struna, professor of American studies, University of Maryland, research in progress tentatively entitled, "Transforming the Ordinary: A Social History of Taverns, 1750-1820s." For details, see here.

Tea in Seattle

Tea has begun to challenge coffee in Seattle or at least has begun to begin to challenge coffee in the headquarters for coffee giants like Starbucks and Tully's (both of which recently have encountered a spot of trouble). Ritual is part of the appeal for the rival hot drink. Although most of Seattle's tea shops are Asian, a few British-styles ones are well established too. 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.

Rural drinking place in 18th-cent. Newfoundland (thesis)

Barbara Leskovec, "A rural drinking establishment in Ferryland: Life in eighteenth-century Newfoundland"
(M.A. thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2007).

Clover in Wisconsin coffee shop (and the even more expensive siphon in San Francisco)

For a detailed description of the Clover machine at a Wisconsin coffee shop, see here. For the even more expensive Japanese-made siphon machine, as well as the Clover, in San Francisco, see here. It is more than costly machines; baristas need extensive training to use them effectively. And the beans still matter.

Judi Bevan reviews Taylor Clark's Starbucked (book review)

In the (London) Telegraph, Judi Becan reviews Taylor Clark's Starbucked here. The (London) Sunday Times counters with an excerpt from the Clark book here. Howard Schultz fell in love with the coffee bars at Milan in 1983 and wanted to bring the espresso experience back to Seattle and the rest of the USA. Interestingly his company did not become profitable until 1991. His controversial strategy was to place stores near one another. By the way, Bryant Simon's book on Starbucks has yet to appear. The Starbucks research by the Temple University history professor was the subject of a substantial article in the New Yorker a couple of years ago. It will be interesting to compare his academic book with that by Taylor Clark who is a Portland, Oregon-based journalist.

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

South African taverns robbed repeatedly

Tavern owners in Madantsane township, South Africa, complain about criminals targeting their businesses. For more, see here.

Kansas City (MO)'s Broadway Cafe outlasts neighboring Starbucks

The story of the victory of the Broadway Cafe over Starbucks in Kansas City, Missouri, is the hook for a discussion of Starbucks' problems. For details, see here.

Do big British chains offer inferior coffee at inflated price?

According to a British consumer magazine, the place to get a cup of good coffee is an independent coffee shop. Allegedly, the big British chains--Costa, Starbucks, Caffe Nero--advertise a lifestyle while serving mostly high-priced milky drinks and not first-rate coffee. The controversy continues! For more, including some comments by coffee drinkers around the world, see here. The BBC summary points out that it is hard for independent coffee shops to cut prices more than marginally when competing with the big chains. The coffee house business is labor intensive, and rents for the best sites are high.

Hanoi's coffee culture

For an article about Hanoi's coffee retailers, see here. There are hundreds of coffee shops in the Vietnam capital, deep in alleyways, on sidewalks, in posh hotels. The article provides pictures of a sample. Curiously, the article says nothing about the coffee itself, only that it is typically drunk with sweet milk and a little sugar. Apparently it is brewed, locally grown coffee. Except perhaps at the fancy hotels, there isn't the variety of espresso-based drinks common elsewhere.

Starbucks experiments in a climate of competition and economically squeezed customers

Starbucks is experimenting at its Seattle outlets: a smaller, one-dollar cup for brewed coffee, plus free refills. A darkening economy and more intense competition provide context for the experiment. For more, see here.

Brewery History, no. 126 (2007)

In addition to its Newsletter (most recently, Christmas 2007, no. 40), the Brewery History Society publishes a journal with illustrated and footnoted articles and book reviews that today is called Brewery History. It most recent issue is no. 126 (2007)

TOC

Rob Woolley, "Sidney Milnes Hawkes and the Swan Brewery, Walham Green, c. 1850"

Humphrey Jackson, "An Account of the Discovery of the Manner of Making Isinglass in Russia; with a Particular Description of its Manufacture in England, from the Produce of British Fisheries"

Frank Pike, Hall and Woodhouse Limited: The War Years, 1939-1945"

Peter Dyer, "Randle Holmes and 17th Century Brewing, Malting and Coopering Terminology"

Mary Miles, review of Somerset Pubs by Andrew Swift and Kirsten Elliott (Bath: Akeman Press, 2007)

John Greenaway, review of The Local: A History of the English Pub by Paul Jennings (Stroud: Tempus, 2007)

David W . Gutzke, JBHS Bibliography. It includes such publications as Victor F. Gammon, Desire, Drink and Death on English Folk and Vernacular Song, 1600-1900 (Ashgare: Aldershot, 2007), notably the essay titled "Nothing Like Drinking: English Spectacular Song and Strong Drink."

Despite its name, frappuccino not part of Italian coffee house culture

Sarah Allen, editor of Barista Magazine, hopes that the return of Howard Schultz as CEO of Starbucks will stop it from becoming a high-class McDonald's. As she points out, the most profitable item on the Starbucks menu, the frappuccino, owes nothing to the Italian coffee house culture that Schultz wanted to bring to the USA. For more, see here.

Drip Grind: Taylor Clark's Weak Case against Starbucks (book review)

Doron Taussig unfavorably reviews Taylor Clark's Starbucked in Washington Monthly here. By the way, Taussig is a non-coffee drinker but read the second half of the book in a couple of Starbucks.

Starbucks helps independent coffee shops

Taylor Clark, author of Starbucked (2007) argues that Starbucks unintentionally helps independent coffee shops by making expensive coffee drinks popular.

Unlike the impact of price-cutting Walmart on small businesses, Starbucks typically offers more costly coffee beverages and a more limited food menu, as well as fewer special promotions. The real problem that Starbucks presents is its efficiency in gaining control over the most attractive real estate sites. In the USA today 57% of coffee shops remain independents. (Of course, defining a coffee shop is a bit arbitrary.) During 2000-2005, the number of American independent coffee shops grew by 40%. Admittedly, Starbucks tripled its outlets during this period. Another point: nearly all new coffee shops survive, a sharp contrast with new restaurants. If coffee costs 16 cents a cup to make, profit margins can be enormous. It is hard to weep for Starbucks and others who complain that the price of milk is climbing. For more, see here.

Local coffee house chains: Boston Stoker (Dayton, Ohio)

Discussion of American coffee house chains focuses on the national and regional coffee shops, including ones in the fast food business. In fact, there are innumerable local coffee house chains, some of them with a distinctive feature or two. For instance, Boston Stoker in Dayton, Ohio, and its suburbs offers about ten locations. Distinctively, it provides a separate part of most of its stores to sell (but not smoke) cigars. For more, see here.

Starbucks and McDonalds

Howard Schulz has returned as Starbucks CEO to fight challenges to the popular coffee house chain. For instance, McDonalds has improved its coffee (and increased its US coffee sales 39% in the first nine months of 2007). McDonalds may add espresso counters to as many as 14,000 of its retail shops. For more, see here.

Dunkin' Donuts expands in greater Cincinnati

As part of its expansion from the northeastern states, Dunkin' Donuts plans to open thirty new stores in the greater Cincinnati (Ohio) area over the next three years. The New England-based chain claims too sell almost a billion cups of coffee a year. It is particularly known for its iced coffee, a New England favorite. For more, see here.

British beer mats (book)

British beer mats began in the 1920s, with Quarmby's being the largest mat printer. There now is A Guide to Collecting Beermats, by Ian Calvert (apparently published by the author in 2007). It includes a chapter on the Mat Collectors Society.

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.

Controversy and acceptance over French smoking ban

The European anti-tobacco movement achieved another success with the ban on almost all smoking in French commercial establishments. Outdoor cafe tables are an exception, as are sealed indoor rooms with a sophisticated and expensive ventilation system. Although generally accepted, the ban is resisted by some of the 20% of the French population that smokes. There also is anger that the ban is the result of an executive decree and not parliamentary legislation. Special groups are hurt badly and perhaps accidentally such as North Africans who operate water-pipe smoking establishments. Ironically the new French president is openly a cigar smoker. For the New York Times discussion, see here.

Smoking ban for French cafes now the law

Although France's new ban on smoking in cafes goes into effect today (New Year's Day, 2008), it won't be enforced until tomorrow. For more, see here.

Saloon supplies catalog, ca. 1918

The Museum of the American Cocktail offers online images of the saloon on the eve of National Prohibition from the Albert Pick Company's catalog of saloon supplies, ca. 1918. For the images, see here.

Massimo Zanetti coffee

Although Massimo Zanetti began roasting coffee only thirty-five years ago, the Bologna, Italy-based company that he founded is now an international giant. In the USA it owns Hills Brothers, MSJ Premium, Chock Full O'Nuts, and Chase & Sanborn. It owns or franchises many coffee shops including those of Chock Full O'Nuts, Segafreda Zanetti expresso cafes, and Puccino's. For more, 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.

Starbucks vs. Dunkin' Donuts

The USA Today, 20 December 2007, compares Starbucks vs. Dunkin' Donuts in their competition in the $10 billion premium coffee market. The much larger company, Starbucks, has begun to buy television advertising time. Dunkin' Donuts has secured as its TV spokeswoman, Rachael Ray, a TV chef who appeals to ordinary women, part of an anti-elite strategy. For more, see here.

Will the smoking ban in France mean the end of café society?

Jon Frosch (International Herald Tribune, 18 December 2007) discusses the consequences of the ban of smoking inside cafés, effective in France beginning New Year's Day 2008. Smoking at outside tables will remain legal (but in January perhaps uncomfortable). The article is followed by comments posted by readers. For more, see here.

Starbucked (book review)

In the New York Times, 16 December 2007, P.J. O'Rourke provides a mostly unenthusiastic review of Taylor Clark, Starbucked: A Double Tall Tale of Caffeine, Commerce, and Culture (Little, Brown, 2007) here. In his "Venti Capitalists" O'Rourke prefers Clark's attack on Starbucks as a capitalist villain more than Clark's explanation for Starbucks' success. A few details in the book cited by the reviewer seem arguable: for instance, the book says that there were only 585 coffee houses in the USA in 1987 as compared with more than 24,000 today. Such statistics depend on the definition of a coffee house, not provided in the review and don't know whether it is in the book. For the first chapter of Clark's book, see here. For another review, see Adelle Waldman in the New York Observer here. By the way, New York City acquired its first Starbucks in 1994.

Coffee, music, and "lifestyle"

Based in Glasgow, Scotland, the coffeehouse chain called Beanscene began with a combination of coffee and music. Beanscene now seeks to be a "lifestyle" center for customers 25 to 50. Recently it has started a magazine for these demographics. Predictably it is called the Scene. For more, see here.

International coffee shop chain enters Ukraine

In November 2007 the first international coffee shop chain established itself in Ukraine. It was Australian-owned Gloria Jean's. For more, see here.

Teahouses come and go

The New York Times, 9 December 2007, reviews and recommends several suburban teahouses near New York City and speculates a bit about this kind of restaurant (sometimes an aftenoon service at a hotel). Teahouses can be British-style or Asian-style. A sense of ritual makes afternoon tea (often miscalled "high tea") important. Unfortunately, even with sandwiches and sweets, teahouses seldom are as profitable as restaurants that serve alcohol and entrees. As a result, teahouses come and go, the victim of high hopes and low profit margins. For more, see here.

Chicago's taverns, 1833-1871 (article)

Adam Criblez, "A 'Motley Array': Changing Perceptions of Chicago's Taverns, 1833-1871," Journal of Illinois History 8/4 (2005): 262-280.

Alcohol culture in post-war South Carolina (article)

Darren E. Grem, "All in Good Fun: Alcohol Culture and Recreational Space in Post-War Upstate South Carolina," Southern Historian 27 (2006): 59-70.

Taverns and innkeepers in northern Delaware (article)

Heather A. Wholey, "The Socioeconomic Landscape of Northern Delaware's Taverns and Innkeepers: The Blue Ball Tavern and Vicinity," Northeast Historical Archaeology 35 (2006): 63-76.

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.

Bryant Simon on Starbucks (18-minute video lecture)

Bryant Simon, a Temple University historian who is writing a book about Starbucks, appears on the Internet presenting an 18-minute video lecture. For the talk, see here.

Colonial tavern in Virginia (thesis)

Greg Lekavich, "Serving the colonial backcountry: the Augusta County ordinary, 1745-1775" (M.A. thesis, James Madison University, 2005).

Jonathan Morris and the Cappuccino Conquests: A Transnational History of Italian Coffee

Jonathan Morris, Research Professor in Modern European History, University of Hampshire, in the United Kingdom, is a specialist on Italian history and the history of consumption. He directs a research project on espresso drinks called the Cappuccino Conquests: A Transnational History of Italian Coffee, part of the Cultures of Consumption Programme. For more, see here. And for bibliography, see here. Among the titles new to me is Philippe Boe, La magia del caffè: più di un miliardo di tazzine di caffè bevute ogni giorno in tutto il mondo. L’espresso e il rito del caffè (Milano, 2001). There is an interview with Professor Morris posted here. There is another interview with Morris and American (Temple University) historian Bryant Simon who has been studying Starbucks here.

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

Mojo coffee in New Zealand grows carefully

Lambos Gianoutsos has a distinctive strategy for growing his New Zealand chain of Mojo coffee shops. He establishes a new shop only when an experienced staff member is ready to take over the franchise. Some people argue that New Zealand has no room for more coffee shops, but Gianoutsos points out that 80% of New Zealanders who drink coffee drink only instant coffee. For more, see here.

Why are Boston's gay bars disappearing?

Robert David Sullivan asks in the Boston Globe, 2 December 2007, why are Boston's gay bars disappearing. He responds that, first of all, this trend is not unique to Boston and, second, general societal forces, affecting both gays and straights, provide the answer. Rising urban rents drive out low profit margin businesses and greater acceptance encourages gays to disperse from so-called gay ghettos. Most important, the Internet undermines the central function of gay bars by providing an alternative (electronic) place for gays to meet. Sullivan places his story in the context of changing urban life, symbolized in part by the disappearance of the Jewish neighborhood deli. For more, 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.

Arabic coffee and coffee houses decline in popularity in UAE

Arabic coffee (prepared with cardamon and presented with dates) and traditional coffee houses are declining in popularity in the United Arab Emirates in favor of American-style and Turkish-style coffee and coffee houses. The reason seems to be as much the coffee houses as the coffee. The traditional Arabic coffee houses are perceived as noisy and unfashionable. For more, see here.

Researching the history of pubs, inns and hotels in the British Isles

For a brief essay, supplemented by bibliographies of primary and secondary sources, see here. The perspective in that of the history of the buildings.

Ballard Avenue (Washington State) saloons

A Seattle-based historian, Kay F. Reinartz, wrote about the old-time saloons on Ballard Avenue in Ballard, Washington, here. The local beer was Claussen. Dr. Reinartz pointed out that single men had little alternative to the saloon after their long workday. Typically they lived two or more to a small room, crowded with beds. Belatedly, the WCTU offered an alternative in the late 1890s, a reading room or library. Dr. Reinartz discussed the formation of the library here.

We may not be BIG ...but we aren't BITTER!

According to the New York Times, this is part of the billboard message of a Little Falls, New Jersey coffee shop, the Fine Grind, urging people to get their coffee at a local business and not at Starbucks. For more, see here.

New York City beers

Seth Kugel (New York Times, 25 November 2007) urges New Yorkers and visitors to sample local beers, brewed in New York City and elsewhere in New York State, that often are unavailable elsewhere and sometimes are hard to find even in Manhattan. For more, see here.

Dunkin' Donuts expands in Texas

Dunkin' Donuts began in New England in 1946 and adopted its name in 1948. Since the mid-1990s, its focus has been coffee and not donuts or other pastries. It strength has remained in New England where there is a Dunkin' Donuts shop for every 6000 people. Currently it has 5300 shops in the USA and 1900 elsewhere. It now is trying to expand beyond the East Coast. For instance, it now has three shops in Houston but plans soon to have 175 (and 125 in Dallas and 63 in Austin). It also is making a priority of establishing itself in the Las Vegas suburbs. Dunkin' Donuts hopes to have 15,000 shops in the USA by 2020. For more, see here.

African-themed coffee shops

Sasini Tea and Coffee hopes to promote Kenyan-grown coffee around the world through a chain of African-themed Savannah Coffee Lounges. The first coffee shop is in Nairobi, Kenya's capital, with additional ones in Dubai and London planned for the near future. For more, see here. In the crowded world of coffee shops, Sasini sees a niche for African-themed lounges that sell African coffee.

McDonald's to move beyond drip-coffee (and undercut Starbucks prices)

Following up on success with upgraded drip-coffee, McDonald's has announced that it will serve lattes, mochas, cappuccinos, and espressos (with a choice of flavorings and milks). Drinks probably will cost half a US dollar less than Starbucks. McDonald's wants to be a destination for coffee and not simply for coffee to accompany a meal. Many franchise owners resist such an expensive shift in strategy (cost of perhaps $100,000 per store), but analysts say that it was virtually inevitable. For instance, Dunkin' Donuts began serving espresso drinks several years ago. Starbucks has created a business model that is too profitable to resist. For more, see here.