Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol

Don't look now, but there's another booze-related book on the shelves, and this one's got a slightly different spin than a lot of the others we've read. We love to read about booze, and instead of dry paragraphs about how liquors are made, this one focuses on the cultural impact of fermented grain and grape.

From absinthe to Jay-Z's boycott of allegedly racist Cristal, from Mayan pulque to Pilsner Urquell, he covers the history and the culture of the medicinal and mind-altering product that since at least 8000 B.C. has been part of human civilization. The book's first chapters chronicle the history of fermentation and distillation from early civilization through the late Middle Ages, before the narrative's bulk gives over to alcohol's story since the colonization of the New World.

[via Washington Post]

Read More in: Drinking Advice

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