Joe

Like most, I nurture a long and convivial addiction. Perfect mix of ritual, fragrance, flavor, habit, and stimulant. I could easier give up beer than java, and that’s saying something. I have been told that the precaffeinated Gar is somewhat less than (ahem) amicable. Feck ‘em. If anyone wishes social intercourse, I must be sufficiently aroused, or sedated …

Beer and smokes with the guys. A martini in the early evening with my wife while she makes dinner (that’s one sweet deal). Seems like this drug-and-conversation shtick isn’t just me, but I’m surprised how powerful it is. The atmosphere is so essential, and much of that is the drink. We can communicate without it (one would hope), but there is some sort of distraction about it that brings the guard down, apart from the physiological effect.

I was watching a History Channel program about moonshining during the prohibition, and they observed that if government attempts to remove booze from a culture, it finds it’s way back almost immediately and with remarkable efficiency. Been that way for 7000 years. They also pointed out how during the early colonial period more alcohol was consumed per person (including children!) than at any other time in US history: something like a whopping 50 gallons of beer per person per year. I almost choked on a chip: that don’t seem like much … perhaps it was the Golden Monkey? Those puritans knew how to party.