Alcohol and Drugs History Society

Brazilian rum or cachaça

In the United States cachaça is sold as Brazilian rum.  In fact, cachaça and (Caribbean) rum are different alcoholic drinks.  While rum is made from molasses, cachaça is made directly from sugarcane juice. Virtuoso Life, March/April 2010, offers a brief account of cachaça.  It began as a drink for slaves, but now is the most popular alcoholic beverage in Brazil where it is the basis for caipirinha, the national cocktail. The magazine points out that cachaça is the world's third largest-selling spirit.  It also will be a surprise to most of us that number one is Korea's soju, traditionally made from rice (and now made from all sorts of things).  Not surprising is that number two is vodka, the basis for most Euro-American cocktails in our post-gin era.

Books from WHO and PAHO on Alcohol and Harm

Unhappy Hours: Alcohol and Partner Aggression in the Americas, by (Editors) Kahryn Graham; Sharon Bernards; Myriam Munne; Sharon Wilsnack, June, 2009, The Pan American Health Organization, "brings to light evidence of alcohol's impact on partner aggression from 10 countries in the Americas (Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Uruguay, and the United States)"

Alcohol and Injuries, Emergency Department Studies in an International Perspective, May, 2010, The World Health Organization "synthesizes the results of studies from a number of hospital emergency departments conducted in different cultural settings, including the World Health Organization s Collaborative Study on Alcohol and Injuries."

Alcohol, native peoples, and missionaries in early colonial Brazil (article)

Joao Azevedo Fernandes, "Feast and Sin: Catholic Missionaries and Native Celebrations in Early Colonial Brazil," Social History of Alcohol and Drugs 23/2 (Spring 2009): 111-127.

Latin American theme for Social History of Alcohol and Drugs (Spring 2009)

The Social History of Alcohol and Drugs 23/2 (Spring 2009) focuses on Latin America with articles on Brazil, the Andean countries, and Mexico.  The book reviews cover many parts of the world. Details later.

7 New Emerging Wine Regions

Global warming is partly responsible for emerging grape growing regions according to an article by Simon Majumdar at AskMen.com - here is the link.

Ecstasy and Brazilian teenagers

Brazilian police have reacted harshly against a new kind of drug-dealer, middle and upper-class youths peddling ecstasy.  For the New York Times story, see here.

Brazil's 2009 coffee crop to decline up to 20%

Bad weather and limited investment may reduce Brazil's coffee crop in 2009 to fall by up to 20%.  For details, see here.

Brazilians drinking more coffee

Brazil is known as a coffee producer.  It also is a major coffee consumer.  It is estimated that by 2010 Brazil will consume as much coffee as the USA (now the world's largest coffee market).  For more, see here.  Brazilian per capita consumption is much larger than that in the USA.  Brazil's population is less than two-thirds that of the United States.

Beer-loving Brazilians adapt to strict drunk-driving laws

In June 2008 Brazil adopted strict drunk-driving laws, but it is unclear whether they have changed the behavior of beer-loving Brazilians.  For more, see here.

Chinese beer brand called Snow now the world's second largest by volume

The leading beer brands by volume are:

Bud Light (USA/InBev)

Snow (China)

Budweiser (USA/InBev)

Skol (Brazil)

Corona (Mexico)

Heineken (Netherlands)

Brahma (Brazil/InBev)

Coors Light (USA/owned by a Canadianfirm)

Miller Lite (USA/owned by SABMiller, based in London)

Tsingtao (China)

The largest beer markets are China, USA, Russia, Brazil, and Germany.

For more, see here.