The percent alcohols for various beers in [1] seem really high. Wikipedia claims a "small beer" is typically 0.5-1% alcohol, and the Strong Ale article says 5-11%. I wonder if the direct sugar conversion equation the authors are using isn't accurate (maybe the beer doesn't ferment entirely, doesn't ferment exclusively into alcohol, or something happens to some of the alcohol?).
I think this is correct - historically it is unlikely that brewers achieved a malt extraction rate of 80%, as that requires precise temperature controls to activate various enzymes that maximize extraction of the sugars. Plus prior to Pasteur's isolation of yeast and the subsequent cultivation of purer strains of brewing yeast, yeast were less hardy and would die before reaching such high ABVs. Even today, brewers must use specialty distiller's yeasts and highly refined sugars to obtain 15%+ ABV in their brews.
In my region it used to be cider (apple/pear). Not sure if that would show up in many statistics, it was and still is completely unregulated. Old farmhouses still have press rooms and storage cellars. Straight after pressing it was drunk "sweet", but for the rest of the year "sour" (after controlled fermentation to about the same alcohol content as beer). During field work, etc. there's always a jug close by where you can go and have a drink, if you need to.
But the reason is: you basically could not drink water - far too dangerous. Either boil it (hence tea in Asia) or drink something else, and the only thing that kept was alcoholic. So even kids grew up drinking sour cider, with all the development problems that come with that. After people learned some basic hygiene and principles of sewage etc., especially in the cities, I guess it was just a generational thing. Since everyone was basically a chronic alcoholic, you couldn't just stop, and tradition is strong.
When I grew up the adults still had apple cider during field work, but at least no more for the children (sweet cider with preservatives mostly). But it's very rare nowadays. Construction workers still used to drink enormous quantities of beer, 4, 5 litres a day, but that's basically over - it took laws and strict controls to achieve that. Traditions are strong - start construction work as an apprentice (15 years old!) and you were basically forced/bullied into drinking. If you get some of the older workers to moonlight building your house, you still better provide a few cases of beer or they walk away, though.
How do the trends observed conpare to the introduction of modern water treatment techniques? Did water becoming safe to drink decrease the amount of drunkenness?
I think the decline is still in progress. Watching "Perry Mason" last night, we all commented that despite prohibition, everybody seems to have a flask...and be nipping from it all day, like that Mads Mikkelsen movie about staying a little drunk all the time.
But arguably the Industrial Revolution made things worse for a while because, per Clay Shirky, everybody was drinking gin to get over the shock - https://livinginliminality.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/gin.pdf - which he then likens to sitcoms in post-WW2 America.
Liters per capita in all graphs, this includes children who regularly drank during the family meal. To add to this, One of the early things the temperance movement advocated was what was positively described by the Bristol Herald in 1837 as "Teetotalism in Youth" , Underage drinking would only be legally restricted by the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and in fact, private consumption of alcohol by children was never made illegal in many European countries, Just sale of alcohol (Same as in U.S Prohibition)
The percent alcohols for various beers in [1] seem really high. Wikipedia claims a "small beer" is typically 0.5-1% alcohol, and the Strong Ale article says 5-11%. I wonder if the direct sugar conversion equation the authors are using isn't accurate (maybe the beer doesn't ferment entirely, doesn't ferment exclusively into alcohol, or something happens to some of the alcohol?).
I think this is correct - historically it is unlikely that brewers achieved a malt extraction rate of 80%, as that requires precise temperature controls to activate various enzymes that maximize extraction of the sugars. Plus prior to Pasteur's isolation of yeast and the subsequent cultivation of purer strains of brewing yeast, yeast were less hardy and would die before reaching such high ABVs. Even today, brewers must use specialty distiller's yeasts and highly refined sugars to obtain 15%+ ABV in their brews.
"Work is the curse of the drinking classes"-
attributed to Oscar Wilde by Frank Harris
In my region it used to be cider (apple/pear). Not sure if that would show up in many statistics, it was and still is completely unregulated. Old farmhouses still have press rooms and storage cellars. Straight after pressing it was drunk "sweet", but for the rest of the year "sour" (after controlled fermentation to about the same alcohol content as beer). During field work, etc. there's always a jug close by where you can go and have a drink, if you need to.
But the reason is: you basically could not drink water - far too dangerous. Either boil it (hence tea in Asia) or drink something else, and the only thing that kept was alcoholic. So even kids grew up drinking sour cider, with all the development problems that come with that. After people learned some basic hygiene and principles of sewage etc., especially in the cities, I guess it was just a generational thing. Since everyone was basically a chronic alcoholic, you couldn't just stop, and tradition is strong.
When I grew up the adults still had apple cider during field work, but at least no more for the children (sweet cider with preservatives mostly). But it's very rare nowadays. Construction workers still used to drink enormous quantities of beer, 4, 5 litres a day, but that's basically over - it took laws and strict controls to achieve that. Traditions are strong - start construction work as an apprentice (15 years old!) and you were basically forced/bullied into drinking. If you get some of the older workers to moonlight building your house, you still better provide a few cases of beer or they walk away, though.
I'd like to see coffee consumption introduced into the dataset
How do the trends observed conpare to the introduction of modern water treatment techniques? Did water becoming safe to drink decrease the amount of drunkenness?
I think the decline is still in progress. Watching "Perry Mason" last night, we all commented that despite prohibition, everybody seems to have a flask...and be nipping from it all day, like that Mads Mikkelsen movie about staying a little drunk all the time.
Where does data from alcohol that is not beer or wine come into play? Does beer and wine consumption drop as whisky and rum consumption increases?
Tom Standage in his excellent History of the World in Six Glasses - https://tomstandage.wordpress.com/books/a-history-of-the-world-in-six-glasses/ - puts this down to the advent of tea and coffee in around 1700, which were explicitly marketed as “maybe don’t feel half-drunk all the time?”
But arguably the Industrial Revolution made things worse for a while because, per Clay Shirky, everybody was drinking gin to get over the shock - https://livinginliminality.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/gin.pdf - which he then likens to sitcoms in post-WW2 America.
Thanks for sharing!
Are liters per household being measured in all 3 of the topmost historical consumption graphs?
Thanks for this work, made my day
Liters per capita in all graphs, this includes children who regularly drank during the family meal. To add to this, One of the early things the temperance movement advocated was what was positively described by the Bristol Herald in 1837 as "Teetotalism in Youth" , Underage drinking would only be legally restricted by the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and in fact, private consumption of alcohol by children was never made illegal in many European countries, Just sale of alcohol (Same as in U.S Prohibition)
Bristol Herald:
https://books.google.co.il/books?id=NMAEAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA2-PA39&lpg=RA2-PA39&dq=%22Teetotalism+in+Youth%22&source=bl&ots=ceiJZSx2nQ&sig=ACfU3U3OCe5tSh9MN3cjxR7oN0b1cUW2Jg&hl=iw&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi2lt-Kv6yAAxXU_7sIHW1BATgQ6AF6BAgHEAI#v=onepage&q=%22Teetotalism%20in%20Youth%22&f=false
The table is wrong in footnote 1.
% alcohol is different to alcohol content
Thanks for the comment, I've clarified and extended the footnote.
Some things never change.