Alcohol and Drugs History Society

"I Drink Therefore i Am" (book review)

Antony Gottlieb reviews "I Drink Therefore I Am: A Philosopher's Guide to Wine" (Continuum), by Roger Scruton here.

Wine adulteration in 19th-cent. France (article)

Alessandro Stanziani, "Information, Quality and Legal Rules: Wine Adulteration in Nineteenth-Century France," Business History 51/2 (2009): 268-291. 

La Cave de Josephine (or the Empress Josephine's Cellar), an exhibition

Before the French Revolution the elite drank white wines, mostly sweet, and wines from Burgundy and Champagne.  The wines from Bordeaux were popular only with the British (as claret).  The carefully documented wine cellar of the Empress Josephine illustrates the change in the early 1800s when French wine drinkers began to enjoy Bordeaux.  For more about the traveling exhibition based on her wine cellar, see here. This is an article by John Lichfield in the (London) Independent, Dec. 10, 2009.

Australian wine (book)

Nicholas Faith, Australia's Liquid Gold (Mitchell Beazley, 2003).

From claret to port in 18th-cent. England (article)

Charles Ludington, "'Claret is the Liquor for Boys; Port for Men': How Port Became the 'Englishman's Wine,' 1750s to 1800," Journal of British Studies 48/2 (April 2009): 364-390.

Low prices hurt Australian wine makers

Australian wine makers are suffering from over-production, low prices, and an image problem.  For too long, Australian wine has been identified with shiraz from South Australia which now has gone out of fashion.  For more, see here.

Le sandwich versus French cafe (with wine and espresso)

The new French habit of eating a sandwich at lunch (sometimes at one's desk) is another blow at the French cafe and a slow-paced lunch there, complete with wine and espresso.  Compared with a half million cafes fifty years ago, France now has only 38,600.  For more, see here.

Kentucky's bourbon trail hopes to attract tourists as Napa valley wineries do

Kentucky hopes that its bourbon trail will attract tourists as successfully as do Napa valley wineries, the second leading tourist attracts (after Disneyworld) in California.  For more, see here.

Whiskey and wine (books)

Elizabeth Downer briefly reviews Kate Hopkins, 99 Drams of Whiskey:The Accidental Hedonist's Quest for a Perfect Shot and the History of the Drink (St. Martin's) and Vivienne Sosnowski, When the River Ran Red: An Angry Story of Courage and Triumph in America's Wine Country (Palgrave Macmillan). The latter book deals with northern California winemakers during National Prohibition.  For more, see here.

History of wine words (book)

Charles Hodgson, History of Wine Words: An Intoxicating Dictionary of Etymology and Word Histories from the Vineyard, Glass, and Bottle (Ottawa: P2Peak Press, 2009).