Publisher's Synopsis
How much do you know about booze? Not just those unusual craft beers with odd names, but the real history of alcohol. It's a wild world filled with pirates, bootleggers, prohibition agents, writers who never turn down a cocktail, drunk monks, and so much more. Told from a humorous perspective, this book helps to separate the lore from the facts. It's a fun and historical look at the history of alcohol and some of the many peculiar people who played a role.If you've ever wanted to have a bevy of booze-related stories to toss out to friends or strangers while sipping on a drink at a bar or party, well, you're in luck. Inside these pages, you'll find a wealth of weird and interesting information. Colorfully written, the book covers several periods in time when people drank way too much alcohol and did some rather strange things.Have you ever heard of the man who sold alcohol to most of Congress during Prohibition? Do you know about the illegal alcohol operation on the isle of Inishmurray? Have you heard about the weird antics and drinking games of the Song Dynasty poet Shi Manqing? Got an inkling about why pirates were reported to drink so much? You'll find out all of this information and more when you grab a copy of this book and take a jaunt through history.This book spans several periods of history to help give you a better understanding of just how pervasive alcohol has been throughout humanity. You'll learn more about the origins of alcohol in ancient China and how it was used as medicine. You'll learn about the moonshiners from the American South (co-written by Maxim Sorokopud), the pirates who controlled the rum trade in the 1700s, and just how important alcohol was during the Black Plague.
