Buzz
Throughout history, humans have shared a deep bond with alcohol, to the extent that the United States has even established a holiday to mark the end of Prohibition. Alcohol has significantly influenced our history, culture, and biology—often in unexpected ways.
10. We Evolved to Process Alcohol
Our bodies have adapted over time to process alcohol, thanks to an enzyme called ADH4. While other primates possess this enzyme, its function differs in many species—and several are unable to metabolize alcohol as we do.
Chemist Steven Benner, in his efforts to recreate enzymes from our ancient ancestors, discovered distinct types of ADH4 across the evolutionary tree. He traced the origins of our version back to a divergence that occurred around 10 million years ago, when gorillas and the ancestors of chimpanzees separated from other primates like lemurs and orangutans. One branch—our branch—developed the ability to metabolize alcohol. Our primate ancestors likely spent more time on the ground consuming fermented fruit, as opposed to picking fresh fruit from trees.
While we lack direct fossil evidence from our common ancestor with the gorilla, we do know one thing for sure: They probably threw the first legendary holiday parties.
9. The Face of Political Power
Politicians have always made promises—it's part of the job. But in the past, they offered something more tangible: Candidates used to give away alcohol in exchange for votes.
This tradition dates back to ancient Greece and Rome and has been noted throughout Europe’s history. Surprisingly, it lingered much longer than expected. When George Washington first ran for office in the Virginia House of Burgesses, he lost. However, on his second attempt, he won after distributing nearly half a gallon of alcohol per vote. A century later, the Republican Party took it a step further, hosting an alcohol-filled picnic for 50,000 people in Brooklyn.
Some political efforts, however, didn’t go as planned, offering valuable lessons to 19th-century candidates. Stephen Douglas learned the hard way that if you expect 20,000 to 30,000 people at your party, you better have enough booze to keep them satisfied. When alcohol and food ran out at his New York rally, things turned into a chaotic brawl. Voters left hungry and thirsty, only to cast their votes for a man named Abraham Lincoln.
8. The Flourishing Cork Industry
In addition to brewing and distilling, the alcohol industry also supports a thriving $2 billion cork business.
To maintain the flavor and quality of wine, high-quality cork is essential. However, cork bark needs to reach a specific thickness to be effective, and global warming is affecting the trees that provide this material. As a result, cork has become thinner and lower in quality due to the trees lacking the vital proteins they need.
Wine lovers are voicing their concerns about the decreasing quality of corks. Many are now considering alternatives like metal screw caps or rubber stoppers, casting uncertainty over the future of the cork industry.
7. American Rum and the Revolutionary Spirit
History lessons often tell us that the American colonists rebelled due to unfair taxes, and that's largely true. We're also taught that it was a tax on tea that sparked the colonists' outrage, leading to the famous Boston Tea Party in 1773. But the story actually began earlier—with a tax on molasses, which was used to make rum.
Rum was a staple drink in the American colonies, with numerous distilleries churning out their own versions of the Caribbean beverage. Since North America’s climate wasn’t ideal for growing sugar, it was mostly imported, with around six million gallons of molasses brought in during 1770.
Molasses and sugar were sourced from British and French territories. To secure their trade, the British implemented the Molasses Act of 1733, which imposed hefty taxes on molasses that didn’t come from their colonies. This law was revised in 1764 to include both sugar and molasses, giving authorities the right to seize any contraband shipments.
The burden of these taxes began to affect the profitability of a key colonial industry, sparking the first major protests against the principle of taxation without representation.
6. Pasteurization And Alcohol
Louis Pasteur didn’t invent pasteurization to make milk safer. His initial goal was to address the challenges faced by local wineries, distilleries, and breweries.
Pasteur, a chemistry professor and the Dean of the Faculty of Sciences in France, began his research into bacteria and fermentation after a local beet sugar distiller approached him with a problem. At times, his product was fine, but other times it turned into sour lactic acid.
Upon studying the process, Pasteur discovered that the product was being contaminated by airborne germs. For the first time, he demonstrated that a living organism—bacteria—was responsible for the reaction. In response, he introduced methods for heating, boiling, and cultivating pure yeast cultures, which not only revolutionized the wine and beer industries but also made many other foods safer to consume.
5. Christianity And Alcohol
The New Testament is quite clear in its approval of alcohol. Both Jesus and the Apostles drank wine, and according to St. Paul, wine is a gift from God. Paul also emphasized that wine should be enjoyed in moderation, but warned that abstinence is preferable to alcoholism.
While this may seem to settle the matter, some Christians argue that the wine referenced in the New Testament was actually non-alcoholic grape juice. They make this claim even though the same Hebrew terms describe both the wine that Jesus drank and the wine that made Noah drunk and exposed.
When the Puritans arrived in the New World, one of their first acts was to establish breweries. However, some Baptist and Methodist groups label drinking and alcohol as evil. For Mormons, abstaining from alcohol is a central tenet of their belief system. Recently, some Evangelical groups have begun to relax bans on alcohol consumption, particularly for instructors at their schools.
4. The Ancient Drinking Age Debate
In ancient Egypt, around 4000 B.C., there were reminders for mothers to send their children off to school with a good portion of beer. The notion of limiting alcohol for younger generations, however, didn’t arise until later, with Plato.
In his *Laws*, written circa 360 B.C., Plato described a soul that had tasted alcohol as being forged from fire and iron. He believed anyone under 18 was not yet mature enough to responsibly enjoy such a divine pleasure. Plato also set guidelines on how much one should drink—after the age of 18, drinking was acceptable, but moderation was key. By the age of 40, however, one could freely honor Dionysus above all gods, using alcohol to forget sorrow, renew youth, and ease the harshness of aging.
In his *Republic*, Plato went further, advising that young men should be taught the art of drinking responsibly. They were to be trained at formal dinners, learning how to behave while drinking and understanding their limits.
3. No Alcohol? No Utopia.
In 1732, the American colonies included English-controlled land to the north, Spanish-occupied Florida, and a gap between their borders. To establish a buffer zone between the two, King George gave his approval to a bold plan presented by General James Oglethorpe.
Oglethorpe proposed to the king that many poor English citizens, who were stuck in debtors' prison, be granted freedom and transported to the New World. There, they would be given a chance to start anew in his envisioned Province of Georgia. Oglethorpe aimed to avoid the errors he had witnessed in other colonies. His ideal society would have no concentration of wealth among landowners; instead, settlers would each receive 50 acres of land, which could not be sold. Additionally, slavery was to be prohibited. Oglethorpe envisioned a community where equality was the foundation.
He also introduced a ban on alcohol, believing that many of the debtors in prison had ended up there due to their addiction to drink.
While the buffer zone succeeded in preventing Spanish expansion northward, it had little else to show for its efforts. The 2,800 settlers brought slaves from nearby farms, disregarded the land they had been allocated, and grew frustrated when their hopes for a successful silk industry crumbled. Most of all, they resented the alcohol ban. Despite Oglethorpe’s efforts, settlers drank openly, and he found himself powerless to stop them.
Oglethorpe's vision of a self-sustaining, equal society ultimately collapsed, and in 1752, England revoked Georgia's semi-independence. It’s said that the settlers likely celebrated the news with a drink or two of their own.
2. The Beginning of the Gay Rights Movement
Taverns and bars have always served as social hubs, but during the late 1960s, America's drinking culture was quite different. In New York State, bars catering to a gay clientele frequently found themselves denied alcohol licenses. Many of these establishments continued to operate, often striking informal agreements with local authorities to stay open.
On June 27, 1969, police raided one of these establishments, the Stonewall Inn, arresting 13 individuals. In the following days, protests erupted across the city. With many other gay bars already shuttered, the raid on Stonewall became the breaking point. Stonewall was not just a bar; it was a sanctuary for young people, often those rejected by their families due to their sexual orientation, offering a sense of belonging. The assault on Stonewall was seen as an attack on the community.
Soon after, riot police were sent to control the growing crowds, which swelled into the thousands. In the wake of the Stonewall Inn arrests came the rise of LGBT rights organizations, along with the first gay pride parade—held just one year after the confrontation between the bar’s patrons and the police.
1. The Tavern Shaped America’s Political Landscape
When taverns first appeared in American colonial cities, they were places where people from all walks of life gathered to drink and share ideas. As the nation grew, so did social divides, and these divisions started to show up in tavern culture. In places like Boston's Green Dragon, plans were made to establish a new nation. By this time, taverns had become predominantly male spaces, meaning many important decisions were made without the input of women.
Taverns also became segregated by ethnicity. There were Irish pubs, German taverns, and various other drinking spots tailored to specific immigrant groups. As a result, these establishments became prime targets for those looking to make a political statement against a particular group. In the 1850s, cities began closing taverns on Sundays, effectively eliminating the only public meeting space for the immigrant community on their day off. Authorities often used taverns as a way to send messages, closing down establishments frequented by one group or another.
