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Alcoholic beverages have been produced already in a remote past. The recipe for distillated wine dates about 1100 A.D. Up to 1990 and longer, wine and alcoholic spirits were taken as an universal medicine. Alcohol has, moreover, socially integrative elements. Individual problems of alcohol abuse are as old as the production, but have become an epidemic problem with the pauperisation of the industrial proletarians in the 18th and 19th century, where private and government actions have been taken.

In light of the recent controversy concerning the applicability of the household economy model to early American history, this study examines the case of alcoholic beverages produced in the households of early-eighteenth-century Connecticut. All probate inventories from Hartford, New London and Fairfield counties for 1700, 1710, 1720, 1730 and 1740 (a total of 274 inventories) were examined with a checklist of items (e.g., hops, malt, cider presses and stills) crucial to the production of alcoholic beverages during that period. The presence of these beverages themselves was also noted. Of the inventories read, 133 (49%) suggested that beverage making took place in the household. The three counties sampled showed surprisingly little deviation in the percentages of inventories suggesting alcohol production and in the preferences for specific types of drinks. Of all inventories bearing references to alcohol production, beer brewing was indicated in 83% and cider in only 55%--despite the traditional opinion of cider's predominance. The independence of cider entries from the seasonal bias of the inventories was also demonstrated. These findings, insofar as they show the pervasiveness of alcohol production within the households inventoried, thus argue strongly for the validity of the household economy model. Some implications of this model for alcohol studies are also discussed.

In the Aztec culture of pre-Columbian Mexico the rules for the use of alcoholic beverages were clearly defined and strictly enforced. Drinking was permitted only on religious occasions and the amount drunk was restricted.

During his last two years Vincent van Gogh experienced fits with hallucinations that have been attributed to a congenital psychosis. But the artist admitted to episodes of heavy drinking that were amply confirmed by colleagues and there is good evidence to indicate that addiction to absinthe exacerbated his illness. Absinthe was distilled from an alcoholic steep of herbs. Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) was the most significant constituent because it contributed thujone. This terpene can cause excitation, convulsions that mimic epilepsy, and even permanent brain damage. Statements in van Gogh's letters and from his friends indicate that he had an affinity for substances with a chemical connection to thujone; the documented examples are camphor and pinene. Perhaps he developed an abnormal craving for terpenes, a sort of pica, that would explain his attempts to eat paints and so on, which were previously regarded as unrelated absurdities.

Alcoholic drinks were consumed in larger quantities in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries than in the twentieth century, although there has been a recent increase from the historical low of 1930-60. Beer, spirits and wines once provided at least 2 MJ (nearly 500 kcal) per person per day compared with 0.67 MJ (160 kcal) in 1975, towards an average energy requirement of the total population little different from that needed now. Beer has always contributed most to the alcohol, energy and nutrient content of the diet, although its importance relative to spirits and wine has declined.

From 1790 to 1830 American consumption of alcoholic beverages generally rose, with an increased use of spirits, a high but declining consumption of hard cider, and a negligible intake of wine and beer. Intake of absolute alcohol peaked in 1830, at a rate twice that estimated for 1970. From 1830 to 1860 consumption fell sharply, but since 1860 consumption has fluctuated much less.