Celebrating July 4th: A Toast to American History and Alcohol

American Flag in a Field

This week, we are celebrating the 284th birthday of one of the greatest experiments the world has ever seen: the United States of America! The Founding Fathers risked everything so that we could become self-governed, by the people and for the people. So, what’s a beer enthusiast writing about the 4th of July for? To give you a brief rundown of the relationship between American History and Alcohol, of course!

For those who might have dozed off in history class, this one's for you! Throughout every societal shift, we encounter ideas, principles, and inevitable mistakes. The Sons of Liberty famously demonstrated “no taxation without representation” by boarding East India Trading Company tea ships on December 16, 1773, and dumping their product into Boston Harbor—a protest known as the Boston Tea Party.

One might think that this demonstration and the subsequent three years leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War would have reminded the Founding Fathers that the colonies disliked taxes. Wrong! Unfortunately, our young federal government, led by President Washington and Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, decided to impose an excise tax on distilled spirits to fund the budding federal government. It's ironic considering George Washington’s bar bill from City Tavern on September 15, 1787, which still makes frat boys say “hell yeah!” (Check out the link to the bar bill!)

One issue with this tax was that Continental soldiers were partially paid with daily rations of whiskey and rum, which became part of the “spirit” of the new nation, leading farmers to focus their crops on these productions. The Whiskey Rebellion of 1791-1794 became one of the first tests of centralization versus decentralization in the new United States Government. The rebellion was eventually squashed, but the founders took notice and refrained from implementing the excise tax thereafter.

Did you also know that alcohol helped to fund the war effort for the emancipation of slaves? That’s correct! The Union Army, needing funds to fight the South, implemented the Internal Revenue Act of 1862, which was the first federal excise tax in U.S. history. General Ulysses S. Grant, despite his reputation for heavy drinking, supported this measure, which dissipated when he became the 18th President of the United States.

Throughout the 1800s, the temperance movement sought to reduce alcohol consumption, culminating in the 18th Amendment in 1919, leading to the 13 dark years of Prohibition. The general public, frustrated by the inability to purchase alcohol, took it underground. Prohibition led to the rise of speakeasies, organized crime, and bootlegging, bringing us figures like Al Capone, the National Firearms Act of 1934, and even NASCAR! While I won’t delve into all of these, feel free to explore their impact on society.

From post-WWII to today, alcohol has had many formative changes in American society. The 1950s brought us the “three-martini lunch,” epitomized by Matthew McConaughey’s character in The Wolf of Wall Street. The 1990s introduced the craft beer revolution, with consumers opting for hard IPAs over traditional Budweiser. The 2000s saw a surge in American wine exploration, with one movie even damaging Merlot sales nationwide with the infamous line, “I’m not drinking f-ing Merlot!”

In conclusion, alcohol has significantly shaped how the United States has developed throughout its relatively short history. No matter how you celebrate the 4th of July—whether with sparkling water, bubbly wine, a Bloody Mary, or the Champagne of Beers—I hope you do so with friends and family you love. As always, if you’re drinking alcohol, please do so responsibly!

Happy Birthday, America! Cheers to 248 more years!