A History of the World in 6 Glasses

King Ashurnasirpal II of Assyria was responsible for the introduction of wine growing into Mesopotamia. Under his rule, and that of his son, Shalmaneser III, the consumption of wine in Mesopotamia became so commonplace as to render wine unfit as a religious offering.

Plato was one of the most famous Greek philosophers, who regularly used the symposium as a template for his philosophical inquiries. Plato believed that drinking wine was a way to test oneself and revealed a person’s true character. As a result, he argued that his mentor, Socrates was the ideal drinker, and thinker, as he “uses wine in the pursuit of truth but remains in total control of himself and suffers no ill effects” (63).

Vernon was an English naval officer who ordered rum, which had replaced beer on British naval ships in the Caribbean, to be watered down to prevent drunkenness. His habit of mixing this watered sown spirit with sugar and lime juice was one of the world’s first cocktails. It was called grog, after Vernon himself, whose nickname was Old Grogram. 

When the future president of the United States of America ran for election to the Virginia’s local assembly in 1758, his campaign strategy included liberal gifts of alcohol. The political significance of spirits was to emerge again later in Washington’s career, when he sent federal forces to quash the Whiskey Rebellion in Pennsylvania in 1794. This move was an assertion of federal authority in the wake of the War of Independence.

Restored to the throne after the death of Oliver Cromwell, the king was suspicious of coffeehouses and their potential as hotspots of political dissent, partly because his own supporters had met in such places during Cromwell’s rule. However, his attempt to suppress coffeehouses was a dismal failure, resulting in public outcry. 

A Frenchman who used a cutting from the French king’s coffee tree to establish a coffee plantation in the West Indies. His success enabled Europeans to buy cheaper coffee than that provided by the Arabian producers which contributed to its growing popularity.

A celebrated Taoist poet, Lu Yu’s book, The Classic of Tea, was published in 780 and “describes the cultivation, preparation and serving of tea in great detail” (180-181). Lu Yu’s work confirmed the sophistication and ceremonial nature of tea-drinking in China.

In 1717, Twining opened a tea shop next to his coffeehouse. This new establishment was open to women and was a place where they could socialize and buy supplies of tea for their home, a job not entrusted to servants. 

An English clergyman and scientist, in 1767 Priestly discovered the method for making carbonized drinks that eventually led to the development of soda.