Is America a "binge and abstain" nation?
And some interesting book and drinks news you might have missed.
Kate Julian has a long yarn in the Atlantic titled, “America Has a Drinking Problem.”
She provides good history and some good insights, but I do have bones to pick with her basic take:
What’s distinctly American about this story is not alcohol’s prominent place in our history (that’s true of many societies), but the zeal with which we’ve swung between extremes. Americans tend to drink in more dysfunctional ways than people in other societies, only to become judgmental about nearly any drinking at all. Again and again, an era of overindulgence begets an era of renunciation: Binge, abstain. Binge, abstain.
Where do I start with that tendentious claim and framing?
First, the data we have on drinks consumption shows no indication of Americans careening from abstention to gross overindulgence. We see times, such as the 1970s, when per capita consumption rises, and periods of decline such as the 1980s through the early 21st century. How much we collectively drink stays within a bandwidth of 2 to 2.5 gallons of ethanol per year.
But all along you will not see consumption levels anywhere near what they were in the earliest decades of this country, when Americans drank hard cider at breakfast and other hooches at all hours of the day. And our consumption pales in comparison with countries like Russia, where they absord incredible amounts of distilled spirits, fermented beverages, and bathtub vodka. One assessment ranks the United States 35th in quantities consumed per person.
Julian is correct that drink-related deaths have risen, fueled by the pandemic and the lockdowns. (Neither of those were cultural effects, by the way.) And, yes, some Americans do drink alone—but how many do so is hard to determine, and enjoying a sip by yourself is not necessarily dysfunctional.
One fact curiously absent from the article is that lots of Americans are shifting away from alcohol and towards marijuana and THC products, a development that has drinks-makers are in a panic.
The author tacitly admits that despite the hyperblic title of her article and its ‘Americans are wack about drink’ vibe that there’s very little there there near the end of her article:
My doctor’s nagging notwithstanding, there is a big, big difference between the kind of drinking that will give you cirrhosis and the kind that a great majority of Americans do. According to an analysis in The Washington Post some years back, to break into the top 10 percent of American drinkers, you needed to drink more than two bottles of wine every night.
How many people do you know who gulp that much per night? Very few, I’d venture. And for that we should be thankful.
In ways, this article feels like projection: the author has worried that she or her friends are overindulging, so she has projected these concerns onto the whole of the country and its culture.
Nonetheles, I think the article is worth reading. It can provoke the reader to ask: what is healthy drinking? Am I doing it?
I’ve written elsewhere that for those families who do choose to drink, parents should model healthy drinking and should talk to thier kids about it. When is it proper? What’s the difference between drink types? What are the perils? And how can you develop the self-awareness to stop yourself when you are getting close to having one too many?
Whiskey in Washington State
I have reviewed books on whiskey and bootlegging in Washington, DC, but this is the first one I have seen on hooch inWashington State: Distilled in Washington: A History (The History Press, 2024) Becky Garrison, a writer who has been covering the Evergreen State’s food and drink scene for years, recounts the state’s whiskey history and describes the rise of its present day craft spirits industry. Garrison has included some great photographs in the book from times long past and the present day. She also includes a travel guide to Washington distilleries.
Drinks and Eats News You Might Have Missed
Jarrett Dieterle on the big beer vs. canned cocktails battle.
Whiskey made in Mexico? Yep! Clay Risen explains.
Wine—does it have sugar? VeroVino gives you the lowdown.
Members of Congress have written to the Secretary of Agriculture with their concerns about new dietary guidelines and alcohol.
Brewers visited Capitol Hill recently to urge legislators to enact policies to help brewers, like authorizing the U.S. Postal Service to ship beer.
On July 18, Little Miner Taco is expanding and it will open a restaurant at 39 Maryland Ave, Rockville, MD.
Gray Whale Gin is made in California and financially supports Ocean conservation.
Thanks for the mention. Much appreciated.