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Profs & Pints presents: “A Nation of Drunkards,” with Matthew R. Pembleton, adjunct professorial lecturer at American University and author of Containing Addiction: The Federal Bureau of Narcotics and the Origins of America’s Global Drug War.
[Under current District of Columbia regulations attendees will be required to wear a mask except while eating or drinking. The Bier Baron will be requiring proof of Covid-19 vaccination or a negative Covid-19 test from the previous 72 hours for entry. It also will be requiring ticketed event attendees to purchase a minimum of two items, which can be food or beverages, including soft drinks.]
The United States is sometimes described as a “nation of drunkards.” The (often excessive) consumption of alcohol is as American as apple pie, but so, too, are intense arguments about the harm and impact of drink on American life.
Drinking patterns and public attitudes toward alcohol and intoxication have changed dramatically over time, in ways that can teach us a lot about American culture and society. The same nation that once consumed an average of five to seven gallons of liquor per person per year also embarked on the hopeless quest of Prohibition and launched a War on Drugs.
How do we make sense of these contradictions in the American character? Let Profs and Pints show you American history through the saloon door and the bottom of a bottle, and learn about the rise, fall, and return of alcohol in America.
The talk will take you from the Whiskey Rebellion to the Craft Beer Revolution. You’ll revisit George Washington and the rise of the distilling industry, Johnny Appleseed and the ubiquity of hard cider, the Market Revolution and the Great Whiskey Binge, nativism and the Lager Beer Riots, Temperance and the women’s movement, Prohibition, and the renaissance of American brewing. (Advance tickets: $12. Doors: $15, save $2 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later. Please arrive in plenty of time to place any order and be seated and settled before the talk begins.)
