5 ms·

Getting Drunk in Colonial America (2013)

33 points by benbreen 12y ago

eastbayjake 12y ago
For those interested, I highly recommend The Alcoholic Republic (1979) which had an honored place on my college bookshelf[1]. The colonists' drink of choice was cider -- 18 gallons per year per person during the Revolution. I've made available his table on alcohol consumption from 1770-1970, showing that pure alcohol consumption peaked at 3.9 gallons in 1830 and has been rising steadily since Prohibition[2]. [1] http://bit.ly/the-alcoholic-republic http://bit.ly/the-alcoholic-republic [2] http://imgur.com/lTeKNUA http://imgur.com/lTeKNUA
alphaoverlord 12y ago
There was a recent Washington Post article which showed the exponential distribution of drinking the US now - ie. the vast majority of drinks of a very small sliver of the population. I wonder if that was true then as well, or more uniform as it was a standard liquid of choice. [1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/09/25/think-you-drink-a-lot-this-chart-will-tell-you/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/09/25/t...
- soylentcola 12y ago
  At first that data surprised me (just assumed that I'd see a more predictable curve) but now that I think about it, it's not too big of a surprise when I think about my experience with alcohol and other recreational drugs. Many people abstain (or nearly so) and many others enjoy degrees of moderate use. It's only a smaller percentage that really takes to their drug of choice and runs into likely addiction and habituation issues. Normally on that chart I'd fall between the 7th and 8th decile depending on the week but there are exceptions. Sometimes I just don't drink for a few weeks because I don't meet friends for a beer or whatever. Then other weeks like the one between Christmas and New Year's Eve I easily push into the 9th decile between a work party one evening, wine with festive family dinners, and going out for drinks until the late hours on NYE. I don't have easy access to detailed data for my own habits over the course of a year or more so it's tough to estimate where I'd end up after averaging more weeks together.
nether 12y ago
Everything was microbrew back then, plus there were no TV's. I bet taverns back then were just perfect.
noahm 12y ago
Consider also the bar tab from a party for George Washington in Philadelphia in 1787: http://teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/citytavern/ http://teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/citytavern/

33 points by benbreen 12y ago

For those interested, I highly recommend The Alcoholic Republic (1979) which had an honored place on my college bookshelf[1]. The colonists' drink of choice was cider -- 18 gallons per year per person during the Revolution. I've made available his table on alcohol consumption from 1770-1970, showing that pure alcohol consumption peaked at 3.9 gallons in 1830 and has been rising steadily since Prohibition[2]. [1] http://bit.ly/the-alcoholic-republic http://bit.ly/the-alcoholic-republic [2] http://imgur.com/lTeKNUA http://imgur.com/lTeKNUA

alphaoverlord 12y ago

There was a recent Washington Post article which showed the exponential distribution of drinking the US now - ie. the vast majority of drinks of a very small sliver of the population. I wonder if that was true then as well, or more uniform as it was a standard liquid of choice. [1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/09/25/think-you-drink-a-lot-this-chart-will-tell-you/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/09/25/t...

soylentcola 12y ago
At first that data surprised me (just assumed that I'd see a more predictable curve) but now that I think about it, it's not too big of a surprise when I think about my experience with alcohol and other recreational drugs. Many people abstain (or nearly so) and many others enjoy degrees of moderate use. It's only a smaller percentage that really takes to their drug of choice and runs into likely addiction and habituation issues. Normally on that chart I'd fall between the 7th and 8th decile depending on the week but there are exceptions. Sometimes I just don't drink for a few weeks because I don't meet friends for a beer or whatever. Then other weeks like the one between Christmas and New Year's Eve I easily push into the 9th decile between a work party one evening, wine with festive family dinners, and going out for drinks until the late hours on NYE. I don't have easy access to detailed data for my own habits over the course of a year or more so it's tough to estimate where I'd end up after averaging more weeks together.

nether 12y ago

Everything was microbrew back then, plus there were no TV's. I bet taverns back then were just perfect.

noahm 12y ago

Consider also the bar tab from a party for George Washington in Philadelphia in 1787: http://teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/citytavern/ http://teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/citytavern/