Eric Scheske

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Drinking

Parliament Created the 18th-Century’s Great Gin Craze

Parliament Created the 18th-Century’s Great Gin Craze

“[N]oe sort of Brandy Aqua vite or other Spirits or distilled Waters of any Kingdome Country or place whatsoever shall after the said foure and twentyeth day of August be imported into the Kingdoms of England or Ireland . . .”. If you read the Wikipedia entries about England’s Great Gin

Night Train: An American Legend

Night Train: An American Legend

The tent city crisis continues. It was even the subject of a recent Econtalk episode, in which the guest explained that the tent cities result from fentanyl-laced meth, which makes users paranoid, so they want to be in an enclosed space (a tent), but when they’re not under the

Waiting for the Biggest Bar Night of the Year

Waiting for the Biggest Bar Night of the Year

💡BYCU from 2021 “The waiting is the hardest part.” Tom Petty #blackwednesdaysmatter It sits there. Five days away, the biggest bar night of the year, two years removed from the last one. Black Wednesday. I will have the traditional BYCU Special Edition next Wednesday. Today, I wait. I’m itching

Hand Me a Gallon of that Vodka and Mountain Dew

Hand Me a Gallon of that Vodka and Mountain Dew

Here’s something obvious that I never brought to the surface of full consciousness: a cocktail must, you know, taste like alcohol: A cocktail “must have sufficient alcoholic flavor.” Even the simplest of cocktails like a vermouth cassis must taste of alcohol. If you don’t like the taste of

Drunk and Driven

Drunk and Driven

My pursuit of drunken perfection (humor) I’m thinking about becoming an alcoholic. Beer and wine are my favorites, so I’ll drink a lot of them. I don’t like hard liquor, but I’ll drink it if that what it takes to realize my ambition. Unlike some people

I Spent Wednesday Evening with a Bottle of Gin and a Pile of Old Magazines, Wasting Time on a Stupid Task

I Spent Wednesday Evening with a Bottle of Gin and a Pile of Old Magazines, Wasting Time on a Stupid Task

It was a delightful waste of time.

Neo-Prohibitionists Now to Turn to Science

The Anti-Neo-ProhibitionistsActually, I don't believe my own title, but the entire flip-floppy nature of scientific research regarding the effects of alcohol should discredit science in general. One study says a little alcohol helps; another says it hurts. One says small amounts help the heart; others say that'

These May Be The World's Most Unusual Booze Brands

Arkhi Vodka Once upon a time in ancient Mongolia, the nomadic horse tribes began fermenting mares' milk to make a drink called airag, a product similar to the drink we know as kefir. At some point, they started taking this fermented mares' milk and distilling it to make

Dorothy Parker was a Brilliant Slut and Four Other Sundries to Entertain Your Friends at the Bar Tonight

Dorothy Parker was a Brilliant Slut and Four Other Sundries to Entertain Your Friends at the Bar Tonight

The godfather of modern libertarianism, Albert Nock, was in his prime during Prohibition. Needless to say, he railed against it, noting once that it’s absurd to regulate something that, in nature, flows as freely as water. He’s right, of course. And the fact that it flows as freely

English Drunks, Both Fictional and Not

English Drunks, Both Fictional and Not

I linked to The Guardian’s obituary of Wilfrid Sheed (1940-2011) yesterday. Sheed’s first book was A Middle Class Education (1960), which was apparently semi-autobiographical, much like Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited. The Guardian notes that there’s a lot of drinking in Middle Class: Owing more to Kingsley