3 ms·

Previously: "Were Early Modern People Perpetually Drunk? (2016) (hypotheses.org)" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13535868 https://news.ycombinator.com/i

• EA-3167 3y ago
  The first comment is on point, pre-Prohibition the US was basically run on good old constitution juice. Turning excess grain into a storage-friendly form that also fetched a good price was a huge economic reality at all levels, from individual farmers to large land-owners. The side effect of that was that where people used to mostly drink cider and ale, applejack and the like, now it was cheaper and acceptable to just stay perpetually lit on whiskey.