A History Of The World In 6 Glasses Summary

1. One of the many acheivments of the arabs was a technique that gave rise to a new range in drinks(distillation). It involved vaporizing and then re-condensing a liquid in order to separate and purify its constituent parts. The Greeks became familiar with this technique, it became dominant. European explorers established colonies and then empires around the world.

History has a funny way of finding significance in what we think to be some of the more common or arbitrary things. We look for great historical events from leaders, wars, peace, and death. But what about the smaller, simpler things in life, ones that we so often ignore. It is those things that have shaped our history, from the beginning of time even until today. To truly understand history we must look at something many of us think nothing of, what we drink. What we drink is such an important part of how we live, how we act, and how we have changed as humans.

George Washington, a whiskey distiller himself, thought that distilled spirits were “the ruin of half the workmen in the country….” John Adams, whose daily breakfast included a tankard of hard cider, asked, “….is it not mortifying…. That we, Americans, should exceed all other …. People in the world in this degrading, beastly vice of intemperance?” and Thomas Jefferson, inventor of the presidential cocktail party, feared that the use of cheap, raw whisky was “spreading through the mass of our citizens (Rorabaugh 5).” Drinking was the culture of the American people. During this time “white males taught to drink as children, even as babies. “I have frequently seen fathers” wrote on traveler, “wake their Child of a year old from sleep to make it drink Rum, or Brandy (Rarabaugh 14). This is fascinating for me, because the people were crazy by allowing their teens including babies to drink alcohol. What more interesting is that fathers want their adults of 14 or more to go tavern with

Rum distillers, sensing the opportunity to make a profit, imported molasses from the West Indies and made rum themselves, instead of relying on expensive middlemen. Britain tried to get in on the profit, imposing a tax in the Molasses Act of 1733, which would have cut New England’s economic output significantly. However, the act backfired; distillers smuggled molasses to avoid the tax, laying the foundation for a boycott of British goods during the American Revolution. The British, perhaps ignoring lessons learned from the Molasses Act, passed the Sugar Act in 1764, at the end of the French and Indian War. Reasoning that America should foot the bill for most of its war costs, the British “decided to strengthen and enforce the Molasses Act” (Standage 119). Americans were unhappy, and organized the Sons of Liberty to protest the tax, decrying “taxation without representation”. The British added more and more taxes, only adding flames to the fire. Americans broke under the onslaught of taxes and decided to revolt, starting the American Revolution, which had profound effects on world history. While the tax on tea was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back, and, thusly, is “associated with the start of the revolution” (Standage 120), the simmering flames of a revolution that would create one of the most powerful countries in world history started when the British imposed a tax on sugar, used to make

A) Unlike alcohol’s intoxicating effect, which made people sleepy and dulled their minds, coffee woke people up and made scientists, clerks, merchants and other businessmen more alert throughout the long workday. Coffeehouses also became places for people to exchange and listen to new ideas and theories in areas such as natural history, chemistry,

Spirits helped build and shape America through trade. Rum played a big role in the triangular

(Devore, Lecture #3.) Even though most of the credit was issued from England, it allowed the colonists to buy more things and further strengthen and enhance the cohesiveness of the colonies. By this time the colonies had already well established external trade relationships with both the Indians and other countries. One of their major trade partners was the West Indies, where the colonists procured molasses from which they made rum. (Devore, Lecture #3.) All of these economic developments – consumerism amongst the colonies, Anglicizing of the colonies, the newfound availability and use of credit and the abundance of external trade – play a major role in the reasons that lead up to the American Revolution.

When the Americas were just beginning to form, spirits accelerated their colonialism. At first, sugarcane production was introduced to the Western Indies or Caribbean Islands by Christopher Columbus. The West Indies land was not suitable to grow wine vines or grains for beer, instead Columbus introduced sugar canes to the Indies, creating a major sugar plantation in the West

A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage is a non-fiction historical novel, whose main purpose is to show the surprisingly pervasive influence of certain drinks on the course of history. Then it takes the reader on a journey through time to show the history of mankind through the lens of beverages.

In a time of voyages and exploration there was a new atmosphere surrounding not only Europe but also the newly discovered Americas. Of course with a new era must come and new favorite drink of choice amongst the people. For the Colonial age this beverage was spirits. By popularizing a technique known as distillation a new range of drinks were on the rise. When originally cultivated spirits were primarily used for medical purposes. The appeal then turned to how easily people were intoxicated by it and how much easier it was to store. Distilled drinks then became popular mainly because of increased durability and could more compactly fit on ships. Distilled drinks were more easily traded, traders were able to fit more alcohol in the ship much

1. From which advanced civilization/culture did Europeans get the “science” of how to make spirits?

This is significant because if actually collected, the tax would have destroyed a large part of the rum industry. This was extreme compared to the Sugar Act, when passed by Parliament, because the Sugar Act cut the previous tax on molasses in half. However, the government promised stricter enforcement in 1764, and the writing of the bill made it clear that the it’s purpose was not to regulate trade but to raise revenue. Both acts were intended just for the colonies, but the Sugar Act was less justifiable to the colonists. Native English were not being taxed in the same way the colonists were. The Molasses Act was focused on trade, which was specific to the colonies because of their location. However, the Sugar Act was just to raise money after the French and Indian War. Native English were not being taxed equally. This caused outrage and strain on the relationship between the colonies and England because the colonists felt they were taxed

Because of what was going on in the colonies, the British parliament decided a reform of the Sugar and Molasses act was in need. The Sugar Act reduced the tax on molasses from six pence to three pence per gallon. Also included in the new act were more foreign goods to have a tax placed on such as sugar, wine, and coffee. It also placed strict regulations on the export of lumber and iron. This strict enforcement of the new act caused an almost immediate decline in the rum industry. The ultimate goal of the new act was to reduce the markets that the colonist could sell.

Beer also helped influence the history of some societies. The constant thirst for beer led to the creation of mash tubs made specifically for creating beer; this in turn allowed people to become more creative. By adding things such as berries, honey, spices and herbs to the tubs, the beer altered in taste and thus, became a drink used for different occasions. Egyptian records also refer to beer as “the beautiful and good” and “the heavenly”. Beer was also used in religious ceremonies and bappir or beer-bread, was created and used for food shortages.

Both alcoholic and caffeinated drinks played important roles in history, and both continue to do the same now. However, the positions they play are unsurprisingly contrasting. In this essay I will be elaborating on one similarity and two differences between alcoholic and caffeinated drinks.