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58 votes

What would have been the typical drinks for a US farmer in the late 18th/early 19th century?

The time period of interest is entirely prior to the rise of the railways, and even to the construction of such infrastructure as the Erie Canal (completed 1825). Thus anything regarded as a typical ...
Pieter Geerkens's user avatar
49 votes
Accepted

Were there any drunk driving laws before the automobile?

In the UK, the 1872 Licencing Act made it an offence to be: ... drunk while in charge on any highway or other public place of any carriage, horse, cattle, or steam engine, or who is drunk when in ...
sempaiscuba's user avatar
  • 77.3k
34 votes
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Did early northern Europeans drink alcohol?

Yes. Residue analysis has found chemical signatures consistent with the presence of honey, and organic compounds associated with fermentation suggesting that mead was being drunk by the late ...
sempaiscuba's user avatar
  • 77.3k
24 votes

Were there any drunk driving laws before the automobile?

"Causing bodily harm by wanton or furious driving" (whether drunk or not) was made illegal by the Offences against the Person Act 1861. It is interpreted as applying to: drivers of horse-drawn ...
Steve Melnikoff's user avatar
19 votes
Accepted

Why is rum naval?

Interesting question, you could've found the answer just like I did from a search. Rum took its place in the ships due to its availability, shelf life, and cost. Check the links for detailed ...
Andrew's user avatar
  • 558
19 votes
Accepted

How alcoholic were ancient Greek and Roman wines, before and after dilution?

That is very difficult to put a single number on. Like today, ethanol content in wines ranges from 5–25%, but usually between 9–16%. It depends a bit on how strong one prefers, or how the Greeks ...
LаngLаngС's user avatar
  • 80.8k
11 votes
Accepted

What's the earliest evidence of drug abuse?

The way that the question is framed is laced with quite modern conceptions of "abuse" and "drugs" that would be completely incomprehensible for earlier people. Yet the word 'drug' ...
LаngLаngС's user avatar
  • 80.8k
10 votes

Did early northern Europeans drink alcohol?

Mead was the alcoholic drink of northern Europe, particularly "Celtic" northern Europe, e.g. the British Isles and northern France. It also figures prominently in the literature of the Scandinavians. ...
Tom Au's user avatar
  • 104k
9 votes
Accepted

Are there examples of battles fought under the influence (of alcohol)?

One example, which I heard about in Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcast (disclaimer, he's not a historian and sometimes prefers good story telling to historical accuracy and uncertainty), is from ...
PhillS's user avatar
  • 3,205
9 votes

What exactly happened with beer and Leeuwarden in 1487?

I came across this question today, and saw that JMVanPelt in his answer mentioned a Dutch book for which no English translation was available. I have translated the relevant parts of it below. I have ...
Marc's user avatar
  • 187
8 votes

Why is rum naval?

Rum was an important article of trade in the Caribbean because of the sugar trade. Rum is the fermented distillate of molasses. During the age of exploration, molasses was normal product of sugar cane ...
Tyler Durden's user avatar
  • 37.8k
8 votes

Are there examples of battles fought under the influence (of alcohol)?

It is well known that Russian front line troops were given 100 gram of vodka daily. Sometimes this norm was doubled. This was introduced by Stalin's personal order during the Finnish war 1940, and the ...
Alex's user avatar
  • 38.5k
8 votes
Accepted

What is the earliest known reference to the phrase 'water of life'?

I believe there's two questions here: what is the earliest use of "aqua vitae" and when did it become synonymous with "distilled spirits". I'm going to answer the latter, when did "aqua vitae" become ...
Schwern's user avatar
  • 54.8k
8 votes

When did we stop diluting wine?

Ancient Macedonians were known to drink wine undiluted with water ― a trait which their southern neighbors in Greek city-states like Athens considered barbaric. Other groups that liked to drink their ...
Jess's user avatar
  • 279
8 votes
Accepted

What would have been on the menu in an Ancient Egyptian tavern?

The underlying assumptions informing this question are not totally invalid, but present a very practical challenge. We do know pretty well what they ate, but we not know enough about what and/or how ...
LаngLаngС's user avatar
  • 80.8k
7 votes
Accepted

What is the strongest alcoholic drink that existed during the Middle Ages in Europe?

While chemical distiallation as a process was known since Aristotle's time in the Mediterranean world and Middle East, the process was not generallay applied to alcoholic beverages until much later. ...
Pieter Geerkens's user avatar
7 votes

Are there examples of battles fought under the influence (of alcohol)?

It is rumoured that on the evening of June 15, 1815, Marechal Ney may have enjoyed too much of M. Dumont's Burgundy in Gosselies, and that his late start to Quatre Bras the following morning may be in ...
Pieter Geerkens's user avatar
7 votes
Accepted

Which material did the Vikings drink Mead from?

Horn. The drinking horn, known for centuries , was documented in use in several Viking era sagas such as the Prose Edda and Beowulf. from wikipedia: Horn fragments of Viking Age drinking horns ...
justCal's user avatar
  • 38.6k
6 votes

Price of a shot and a bottle of whiskey in 1870s American West

There is a terrific site, Legends Of America. It goes into pretty good detail about the history of the Old West, including noted people and vices. In its discussion about the real Gem Saloon of ...
CGCampbell's user avatar
  • 3,606
6 votes

How exactly were beer/bread made in Ancient Egypt?

No ancient recipe has been found, however Dr. Delwen Samuel has chemically analyzed beer residues on ancient pottery. She suggests ancient Egyptians used malted emmer (emmet which had already been ...
Itamar G's user avatar
  • 161
6 votes

How did the maximum strengths of alcoholic beverages in Western Europe increase from wine which Romans watered to 80 proof to absinthe?

Strength of drink was always a matter of choice. All distilled beverages are produced by taking distilled alcohol and adding more things - usually water, sugar, and/or herbs. The technology to produce ...
SPavel's user avatar
  • 8,859
5 votes

Who made wine from poisonous Heracleum?

“The northern group of nationalities, especially the Itelmen of Kamchatka, had had another stimulant - wine from 'sweet herb'. The secret of its production passed from them to Russian Cossacks and ...
Nemo's user avatar
  • 51
5 votes

Are there examples of battles fought under the influence (of alcohol)?

Liquor (sake) was an important ingredient of preparing Japanese soldiers for suicidal Banzai Attacks. The most important of these took place in June 1944 on Saipan, which contained supplies, ...
Tom Au's user avatar
  • 104k
5 votes

Why did Greeks and Romans dilute their wine?

Whist adding wine to water even in small quantities does help to purify it, I don't believe that this was a primary motivation. The water used would most probably have been finest spring water anyway ...
Tim's user avatar
  • 51
4 votes

Why is rum naval?

Rum is "associated with naval practice" mainly because it was issued to the sailors of the Royal navy. Earlier they used beer and/or wine as a part of daily ration. When the operations in Caribbean ...
Alex's user avatar
  • 38.5k
4 votes

Did alcohol consumption increase in the U.S. after 1933?

Consumption appeared to rise enormously after Prohibition was ended. After looking at several graphs, this one seems to agree with most: As always, pick sources with care.
Smith's user avatar
  • 2,042
3 votes
Accepted

Did the Russian alcohol monopoly in the 1700s cover the whole Russian territory?

Did the alcohol monopoly of Krasheninnikov's time cover the whole Russian territory? Were measures and prices standardized? The word "monopoly" can be misleading. For example, the alcohol retail was ...
Matt's user avatar
  • 4,308
3 votes

Why did Greeks and Romans dilute their wine?

It was done because the very best wines came from Greece where dried grapes were used instead of the normal harvest. This produced a much sweeter wine that required dilution to make it drinkable. It ...
Randy the Atheist's user avatar
3 votes

Price of a shot and a bottle of whiskey in 1870s American West

Western nineteenth-century saloons were traditionally identified as single bit or two bit saloons: i.e. they either charged a single bit (12.5 cents) for a beer, a glass of whiskey, or a cigar; or ...
itsallfolklore's user avatar
3 votes
Accepted

Were ice buckets used to chill wine in Victorian England?

Ice is quite old. The Romans already used it to chill drinks. It was hugely expensive, and remained so until mass production of ice became industrially possible. Ice was gathered in wintertime and ...
Jos's user avatar
  • 20.9k

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