As given the title of "The Alcoholist" it is not an easy roll to fill! I am constantly expected to know multitudes of alcholic facts and trivia. Today, while doing some research, I came across some interesting bit of news that interested me (and much to Play's and my delight, will disgruntle Kid).
"During the eighteenth century, laws had to be brought in to curb the seemingly insatiable appetite for gin ... Their annual intake was as much as five million gallons."
This peaked my interest as to what was the annual intake these days. I then came across a study done by Time magazine in which it broke down consumption by state. I was fascinated to discover that California was not among the top of the heaviest drinkers. Neither was New York! Throughout the course of the year, Californians consumed on average 23 gallons of alcohol per person. Only 1 of which was made of Spirits. (What's a gallon of spirits? Think of that large bottle of Grey Goose you've seen at Costco). Now, knowing the readers of this blog, you might be thinking "I definitely had more than that last year." You have to remember that one third of Americans do not drink, and since this is the average, you can see how the numbers can be ummm... "watered down."
Looking at some very old statistics, drinking has dropped over 150% since the mid 1800s. So drink up people! We have some catching up to do in order to catch up with our ancestors. (And yes, Kid, drink more gin. Look! They did it!)
"During the eighteenth century, laws had to be brought in to curb the seemingly insatiable appetite for gin ... Their annual intake was as much as five million gallons."
... You never indicate who "they" are.
1) Who is this anonymous commentator!?
2) It was not mentioned in the quote, so it would be rude of my to assume on behalf of the umm quoter? But upon further research, I'm sure you could find some results yourself. Why, look at this great article I found in two seconds by doing a google search. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gin_Craze
Enjoy!