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>It's hard to reduce the US to a single culture. The US had a very particular set of economic conditions in respect of infrastructure quality, volume of arable
by ABCLAW 5y ago
>It's hard to reduce the US to a single culture.
The US had a very particular set of economic conditions in respect of infrastructure quality, volume of arable land for corn production, and corn vs corn mash distillate transport costs.
The result? "[In the 1790s], the settlement of the so-called “corn belt” in the Midwest created large new supplies of corn, which was cheaper and more profitable to convert into whiskey than it was to transport great distances without spoiling. Thus, as Rorabaugh notes: “Western farmers could make no profit shipping corn overland to eastern markets, so they distilled corn into ‘liquid assets.’ By the 1820s, whiskey sold for twenty-five cents a gallon, making it cheaper than beer, wine, coffee, tea, or milk.”
https://www.pastemagazine.com/drink/alcohol-history/the-1800s-when-americans-drank-whiskey-like-it-was/#america-s-colonial-thirst- https://www.pastemagazine.com/drink/alcohol-history/the-1800...
Given the price, Americans drank an absurdly, mind-bendingly large amount of booze. While not uniform, the US has a consistently different relationship with alcohol than most other countries as a result of the impact of these events and responses to them upon it's food culture.
- jdc 5y agoThis is a very interesting point, however it does stand in contradiction to GP's claim that Europeans broadly drink more than Americans in absolute terms.
- ekidd 5y ago> Given the price, Americans drank an absurdly, mind-bendingly large amount of booze. I once skimmed Prohibition-era academic text that described US drinking culture of the pre-Prohibition period in detail. It was fairly disturbing, as you suggest—whiskey in serving sizes that would work better with beer, and things like that. But even though Prohibition failed to stop people from drinking, it apparently _did_ disrupt the earlier drinking culture in many ways. So I would be careful about using pre-Prohibition behavior to make inferences about post-Prohibition behavior. (I'd love to find that book again, but sadly the library which had it got rid of a substantial number of rarely-used older books at some point.)
- ABCLAW 5y agoMy statement isn't that Americans are still drowning in cheaper than milk corn-booze. It's that there's a shared history regarding alcohol consumption which is uniquely American in nature. Prohibition is part of that unique experience, and very much a part of the explanation for the compression of the consumption distribution.
- zwp 5y agoA slight tangent but Hogarth's "Beer Street and Gin Lane" (1751) documents a similar example of low grain prices resulting in massive, country-wide alcohol consumption in England. The subsequent government reaction and legislation did not go as far as American prohibition though. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_Street_and_Gin_Lane https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_Street_and_Gin_Lane
- gnat 5y agoGreat book to read about the history of American drinking is "Drink: A Social History of America" by Andrew Barr <https://www.amazon.com/Drink-History-America-Andrew-Barr/dp/0786707437 https://www.amazon.com/Drink-History-America-Andrew-Barr/dp/...>. It covers the historical forces behind the current state of drinking, why the drinks are what they are, and more. Fascinating, and full of anecdotes. This is a parallel book to his "Drink: A Social History" which was about the British social history of alcohol. Also fascinating.
- snovv_crash 5y agoI visited a castle in Switzerland (Chateau de Chillon) and they had a presentation on medieval eating and drinking habits. Apparently it was absolutely normal for everyone who could afford it to be drunk all of the time, from seamstresses to soldiers. I don't think our modern efficiency-conscious society can really understand what it was like back then.
- mantas 5y agoTwo key bits - how drunk and who could afford it. Safe drinking water was a pain in the ass. So mild alcoholic drinks was the norm. That that'd give you a little buzz at best. Very few people could have afforded to be truly shitfaced 24/7.
- offa 5y agoFrom what I understand, the "safe drinking water was a pain in the ass" thing is largely a myth. Some good information available in this r/AskHistorians Reddit thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1svj1q/how_did_people_esp_european_townsmen_get_fresh/ce1r5xw/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1svj1q/how_d...
- mantas 5y agoI believe it varies from region to region. In my country natural springs are all around so fresh water is not a problem. But I remember reading medieval era memoirs how people get surprised traveling when others don't have as much access to springs.
- frankzinger 5y agoThe article says that the bad water theory is unlikely because it's easier and cheaper to boil water than to make alcoholic beverages.