Questions tagged [history]
The study of the past as it is described in written documents.
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Traditional drinks mentioned in well known literature from 1900 or earlier?
Traditional drinks mentioned in well known literature?
Does anyone know of any drinking traditions of a popular drink that is mentioned in popular historical literature.
I am not limiting to English ...
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1answer
121 views
What kind of alcoholic beverages would've been common in a 1950s-1960s USA home?
I've watched many episodes of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" from the 1950s and early 1960s. In numerous episodes, they are in a fancy room in some house/mansion with a bunch of bottles on a ...
2
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1answer
133 views
Why would wine sellers need to broach the cask?
I don't know if wine merchants still broach the cask in 2021, but why would they? Aren't casks manufactured with a spigot that a seller can just turn on, as shown below? I embolded the phrase below.
...
2
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1answer
230 views
Why does the Saaz hop have a German name?
As I understand the famous Saaz hop is grown in a region called Žatec in modern day Czech Republic. Why is this hop not called the Žatec hop? And why exactly is a Czech hop known by a German name? Is ...
2
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1answer
281 views
What is a “Boston Particular?"
What is a “Boston Particular?"
When I read a book review (NY Times paywalled, unfortunately) on a history called 'America and Iran’, the review quoted the book saying:
Iranians were and still ...
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2answers
83 views
Are there examples of "Trappist" beers that lost that label (or ceased to exist)?
For a pubquiz, I am looking for a "Trappist" beer that lost that label (preferably), or ceased to exist. All I can find are the current 12 Trappists, nothing about old ones.
5
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1answer
643 views
Is Budweiser really the most expensive beer to brew?
On bottles of Budweiser it claims that:
We know of no brand produced by any other brewer which costs so much to brew and age.
Photo
This seems implausible both from the point of view of ...
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1answer
187 views
Busch Bavarian Beer can
I cannot find any information on this can. I believe it is from the 1950s.
Busch Bavarian Beer
The words BUSCH BAVARIAN BEER is on the front and back. It is printed over mountains with 2 black ...
4
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1answer
246 views
Alcohol sales dropping due to name similarity with other things
Corona beer sales are dropping due to the coronavirus-19 because of a possible similarity in name?
Are there any other know sales of some wine, beer or other alcoholic drinks that have plummeted due ...
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2answers
1k views
When was non alcoholic wine first invented?
I am trying to find out when in history grape juice or non-alcoholic wine was first used?
Any ideas?
2
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1answer
713 views
How did the phrase "beer me" originate?
The question says it all: where does the phrase "beer me" come from? And, is it widely used other than in the United States?
The phrase 'beer me' meaning, "give me a beer!"
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0answers
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Noah’s wine what is it?Healthy [duplicate]
You mention that there is a wine similar yet you do not give it a name. Please give the name of a wine that resembles the wine Noah made
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1answer
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Why is alcohol so expensive in Australia?
How is it that alcohol is so expensive in Australia? Is it just because of taxation?
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3answers
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What is "Five Fruits" in this 1920s cocktail recipe?
From Shake 'Em Up! A Handbook of Polite Drinking (1930), page 46:
GIN PUNCH NUMBER ONE
2 quarts of grapefruit juice
2 quarts of gin
and one quarter cup of Five Fruits or Grenadine
Keep the punch in ...
3
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0answers
89 views
Is there an online and/or English-language version of the "Jiǔmíngjì" 酒名記?
I was reading Peter Kupfer's scholarly piece Amber Shine and Black Dragon Pearls: The History of Chinese Wine Culture (June 2018). During the Song Dynasty (960–1279), it says,
large amounts of ...
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1answer
1k views
Origin of the "lick, sip, suck" tequila shot technique
I was browsing through Here's How (1928), a Prohibition-era collection of cocktail recipes, and found something surprisingly familiar on page 48.
The Swiss Itch
Invented by one James Norton of ...
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2answers
100 views
Who started pruning grape vines?
Does anyone know when pruning the leaves from vine first started or who by? I know it wasn't practiced until recent (last 500 years or so) but haven't been able to pinpoint who and when?
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1answer
332 views
Are there any historical cases where actual POWs made some form of alcohol while being held in a POW camp?
Are there any historical cases where actual POWs made some form of alcohol while being held prisoner by belligerent forces in a POW camp?
While watching the classic movie The Great Escape (1963), I ...
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2answers
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Is there a modern wine that is designed to resemble Noah's wine?
After seeing this question once again on this site (Is there a modern wine that is designed to resemble ancient Roman winemaking?) sometime back and I became interested in knowing if there is a modern ...
5
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3answers
231 views
Can wine be made from all edible fruits?
I am an amateur in the topic, so I was wondering, can all edible fruits be turned into a fruit wine? Why have grapes historically become the main fruit for wine making over other fruits?
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1answer
393 views
What wine did people drink during the Roman empire?
What was the wine like that people drank during the times of the Roman empire? How alcoholic was it? I heard they diluted their wine with water, but why would they do that?
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1answer
419 views
When and why did wineries start diluting wine?
Commercial wineries sometimes (often?) dilute the grape juice with water before fermentation. This is done (according to that page) because the grapes have too much sugar and can kill off the yeast ...
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1answer
494 views
When, where and why did the tradition of clinking glasses and saying "cheers" or "to your health" first start?
Is it possible to know where, when and how the custom of clinking glasses (usually filled with beer or wine) originated, while saying "cheers" or "to your health"? Do any historical documents support ...
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2answers
202 views
Has alcoholism increased? [closed]
Has alcoholism increased since prohibition days? I've seen the sales outlets for alcohol availability rise since the days of the state liquor stores.
I checked the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse ...
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3answers
268 views
Other than beer are there any fictional drinks that eventually became real?
While reading this question (What other beer brands began as fictional but eventually became real?), I became interested in knowing if there are any fictional alcoholic drinks other than beer that ...
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0answers
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When and how was the Estonian cocktail the Hammer and Sickle invented?
I know it's made from 1/4 Vana Tallinn and 3/4 Sparkling Wine (or Champaign) but I've spent ages trying to find out where and how it started. Does anyone claim to have invented it? What is the ...
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5answers
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What was the most common hard liquor of the Late Middle Ages?
Is it possible to know what was the most common hard liquor of the Late Middle Ages?
I am not asking for the strongest drink in the Middle Ages, but which hard liquor was the most common during the ...
6
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3answers
9k views
What beers or other drinks did Native Indians brew in the Americas prior to the arrival of Europeans in 1492?
What beers and other drinks did Native Indians brew in the Americas prior to the arrival of Europeans, with Christopher Columbus in 1492? The fact that alcohol was unknown in the Americas is only a ...
2
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1answer
81 views
What drinks can be paired to a particular legend or myth?
What drinks can be paired to a particular legend or myth?
We all know that that many people drink to the legendary person of St Patrick. But what I am interested in is in knowing if there are any ...
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2answers
4k views
What is the strongest alcoholic drink that existed during the Middle Ages in Europe?
What is the strongest alcoholic drink that was drank within the European nations during the Middle Ages (5th to the 15th century)?
4
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1answer
172 views
How prominent were drinking (alcohol) establishments in the Middle Ages?
I am interested in knowing how popular were drinking establishments (or more commonly known as taverns) in Europe during the Middle Ages (5th-15th century)?
Did they exist during the entire Middle ...
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3answers
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Strong drink at the time of St John the Baptist
For those who are familiar with the New Testament, we know the St John the Baptist never drank wine or strong drink.
For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor ...
6
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1answer
471 views
Do wines from grafted vine stock taste different from non-grafted?
The Phylloxera plague of the 19th century devastated the grape stocks of Europe. However, Charles Valentine Riley and J. E. Planchon grafted the vines (Vitis vinifera) onto rootstock of an American ...
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1answer
168 views
Japanese beers historic evolution
I read yet this on Wikipedia and some small articles.
The articles didn't satisfy my curiosity.
My question is:
What is the history of brewing in Japan?
Please, take in mind following sub-...
7
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1answer
517 views
What are some of the historical ways that people have employed to conceal alcohol on their person?
What are some of the historical ways that people have employed to conceal alcohol on their person?
We have all heard of the prohibition of 1920 to 1933 in the United States and other countries. How ...
8
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1answer
156 views
Who made or makes spirits from poisonous Heracleum?
Heracleum or cow parsnips are high-latitude plants that can produce severe inflammation in humans. They seem like the last thing someone would want to ingest. However:
Flora on Kamchatka: flowers and ...
14
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4answers
544 views
Has Prohibition ever worked?
Historically, is there any case in which prohibition of alcohol has actually dissuaded its consumption?
It failed miserably in the United States, for example...
7
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2answers
476 views
Is the saying true that drinking absinthe drives a person insane?
Absinthe has been said to cause insanity, permanent brain-damage and/or hallucinatory state.
Is this accurate?
7
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2answers
516 views
Traditional drinks for celebrating the Feast of the Epiphany?
Most places celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6.
Are there any local, traditional drinks that exist that people have as a way celebrating this feast in a local and traditional manner?
...
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10answers
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Does anyone here still use bitters as medicine? Which ones do you use and for what ailments?
Bitters are known to have medicinal qualities.
I've never used them beyond making killer cocktails... But, I've noticed that orange bitters, in particular, will imbue me with an added vigor or gusto, ...
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2answers
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Burned volume to alcohol percentage
In ancient Russia the way to measure "proper" strong spirits was to burn it - if the volume decreased by half than it was considered right one. How can I convert this into modern days alcohol ...
5
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3answers
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The King's Shilling
I recently purchased a new pewter Tankard with a glass bottom and a silver shilling encased between the two bits of glass.
After a little bit of research, I discovered that this was one of the ways ...
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2answers
3k views
What is the difference between historical beer and 'modern' beer?
This question might be a bit broad, but what I'm trying to understand is generally how the brewing process and the subsequent end result differed before the early-modern to modern era.
I had asked a ...
10
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1answer
195 views
When the Trappist foundation was founded in 1997, were there breweries which didn't get the label although they succeeded to the conditions?
So from a previous question I learned that the Trappist foundation was founded in 1997 by 6 Belgian breweries one from the Netherlands and one from Germany. But were there other breweries which ...
5
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2answers
314 views
Why are there so few "real" trappists and why are six from them from belgium
I was wondering why there are so few trappists and how is it that from the eleven trappists 6 of them are from Belgium. Why aren't the breweries more spread over the world? Does it have something do ...
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1answer
541 views
Beer that's slightly out of date [duplicate]
I've got a case of beer, which is Rivet Beer. Each can is 330 mL, & 4.7%/1.2 standard drinks. They ran out of date on 13 November 2015, & it's been in a cupboard the entire time, room ...
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2answers
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Did Henry VIII really outlaw hops?
I recently read Stephen Buhner's "Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers" wherein he claimed that hops were a fairly new way to bitter beer in the renaissance and that in England Henry VIII outlawed them. ...
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3answers
360 views
Was beer conceived to be a bitter drink?
In all the years of my life (except when I was a minor), I've never tasted beer that's not bitter. So was beer conceived to be a bitter drink? What factors in the bitter taste of beer?
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6answers
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Why do France and Italy have so much lower beer consumption than their neighbors?
Consider the map of per capita beer consumption by county from Wikipedia:
Zooming in on Europe, something that jumps out is that France and Italy consume much less beer than their neighbors:
What ...
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1answer
304 views
Why and when did the interest for micro breweries and craft beers arise?
During the past couple of years, the variety of beers found in supermarkets in Germany has vastly increased.
There is a number of beers that I remember having always been there, and a few have been ...
