Empire of Booze: British History Through the Bottom of a Glass

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Widow Burning, an account of the the Hindu custom. An uncommon original article from The Quarterly Review, 1851.

Well argued and full of fascinating booze-related facts . . . it's an ambitious undertaking, but [Jeffreys] achieves it with a sharp eye and an understated humorous touch I rather liked. * Daily Mail * What I liketo drink at Christmas is burgundy, burgundy andmore burgundy followed by a little port with my stilton. Good burgundy costs money which I don't have so I'm always on the look out for burgundy substitutes. I've discovered two such wines this year and at the moment they're on offer at Tesco. They also started the fashion for corking bottles – before then they had been sealed with paper and wax – facilitated by Britain’s close diplomatic relationship with Portugal, where most cork trees grow. Alcohol Quality – Allows you to produce higher-quality liquor. This is important if you want to meet the required demand in a neighborhood.Read about how we owe the champagne we drink today to seventeenth-century methods for making sparkling cider; how madeira and India Pale Ale became legendary for their ability to withstand the long, hot journeys to Britain's burgeoning overseas territories; and why whisky became the familiar choice for weary empire builders who longed for home. I suppose I would have liked to read more about booze in America. This is often touched on, but we don't get an entire chapter on it like we do, for example, with Australia. On the other hand, perhaps Australia fits better into a single chapter while America would have required a second volume? No offense to the Aussies. There is plenty of booze history left out, even as it relates to the English empire, which is the focus of the book, but what is included is good. Production – Determines how much alcohol is produced each week. This helps keep the booze flowing when you’ve got a lot of businesses and patrons.

fortune. Later colonists would attempt to ape the classic European wines in parts of the Empire with grape-growing climates.

How did this small archipelago exert such influence on drinks? Like most cold countries, we have a fondness for alcohol. The Russians have vodka, the Here's something I wrote recently for the Spectator. Be warned, it contains references to my misspent youth: The book is full of interesting vignettes and factoids (if history is your thing), such as how techniques for adding bubbles to Champagne were actually developed in England for making bubbly cider. I did this slightly odd interview with Bluffer's Guides. I couldn't think of proper answers to most of the questions so I just made something up.