Alcohol and Drugs History Society

Cow urine as a soft drink

According to the (London) Times, the Cow Protection Department of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) will soon market cow urine as a soft drink.  It will be called gau jal, the Sanskrit for "cow water." For more, see here.

Mountain Dew softdrink (book)

Dick Bridgforth, Mountain Dew: The History (North Charleston: Booksurge, 2007).

Revival of root beer, cola drinks' older brother

Aided by a few craft brewers, root beer is enjoying a revival.  As there is no standard recipe, it may or may not have caffeine.  For more, see here.

Diet colas and economic crisis

In an article on the current economic crisis, the New York Times reports how the leading figures shaping the Federal response cope: secretary of the treasury Henry Paulson drinks Diet Coke while Federal Reserve Board president Ben Bernanke drinks Diet Dr. Pepper. For more, see here.

Rajasthan limits government expenditures on tea, coffee, and cold beverages

The Indian state of Rajasthan has put restrictions (depending on the rank of the government official) for consuming tea, coffee or cold drinks at government expense. Tea can't be served at meetings of less than two hours. For more, see here.

Coke, Illy, and the ready-to-drink coffee market

The soft drinks giant Coca-Cola is partnering with the up-market Italian coffee roaster Illycaffe for a big gulp at the nearly ten billion dollar and rapidly growing global ready-to-drink coffee market. For more, see here.

Jim Crow and southern origins of drug prohibition (article)

Michael M. Cohen, "Jim Crow's Drug War Race, Coca Cola, and the Southern Origins of Drug Prohibition," Southern Cultures 12/3 (Fall 2006): 55-79.

Political uses of alcohol in Latin America (conference session)

The Alcohol and Drugs History Society will sponsor a session, "Political Uses of Alcohol: The State and the Lower Classes in Colonial and Modern Latin America," in conjunction with the American Historical Association, Atlanta, Saturday, 6 January 2007, 9-11 am.  Douglas Yarrington will chair and session and Scott Martin will provide the comment.  There will be four papers.  (Apology for lack of Spanish accent marks.)

Sharon Bailey Glasco, "Elites, Plebeians, Drinking, and Space: Alcohol and Ideas about Urban Space in Late Colonial Mexico City"

Marcos Fernandez Labbe, "Clientelismo, Taxes, and Proletarian Opposition: The Political Uses of Chile's Taverns, 1870-1930"

Gretchen Pierce, "'Se prohibe la cerveza y en cambio se tolera la menta de vino': Popular Temperance Leagues, Corruption, and State-Building in Sonora, Mexico, 1929-40"

Joes Orozco, "Disgust and Creation of a Nationalist Tequila Discourse in Pre-Revolutionary Mexico"

Among other AHA sessions at Atlanta relevant to the ADHS is a joint session with the Labor and Working-Class History Association, "Labor, Migration, and Global Trade, Part !: Coca-Cola in Guatemala, Colombia, and India.

"Cocaine" as energy soft drink

"Cocaine," the controversially named new energy soft drink, has aroused threats of boycotts. Critics argue that the name glamorizes drugs. The drink is produced by Redux Beverages in California which claims that "Cocaine" has three times as much caffeine per ounce as does Red Bull and offers recipes for mixing the new beverage with alcohol. See the drink's website. For the New York Times article, see here.

Southern origins of drug prohibition (article)

Michael M. Cohen, "Jim Crow's Drug War Race, Coca Cola, and the Southern Origins of Drug Prohibition," Southern Cultures 12/3  (Fall 2006): 55-79.