onsider the Negroni. The bittersweet cocktail dating to the early 1900s is made of equal parts gin, sweet vermouth, and Campari. Gin takes its name and flavor from a berry-shaped cone of a tree once used to ward off bubonic plague. “Vermouth” comes from the German word for wormwood, famous for its ability to rid the body of intestinal parasites. Campari is a brand of liqueur dating to 1860 with a secret recipe probably containing gentian (proven effective against indigestion) and rhubarb root (used in traditional Chinese medicine as a laxative), and until recently colored red with cochineal insects once thought to cure depression. The cocktail is often consumed as an aperitif, specifically to stimulate the appetite in preparation for a meal.

Early on, alcohol and medicine were interchangeable: distilled spirits were called “eau-de-vie,” meaning “water of life,” speaking to their healing (or at least invigorating) powers. Before modern sanitation, alcoholic beverages were usually safer to drink than water, and low-ABV beer was served to laborers for hydration the way Gatorade is to football players today. Alcohol is an analgesic and disinfectant (whiskey would simultaneously numb the pain and sterilize the wound), as well as a preservative, employed to extend the useful life of medicinal herbs.

Spirits were used to regulate body temperature in both hot and cold climates, to treat gout and arthritis, and to awaken someone suffering from shock. During US Prohibition, one could procure a prescription for medicinal whiskey or cognac that was just regular whiskey or cognac sold by the pharmacist rather than served by the bartender.

A spoonful of sugar added to a bitter-tasting medicine can transform it into a palatable liqueur. A large number of liqueur brands sold today have their roots as cures for cholera, dysentery, fevers, indigestion, constipation, or as all-purpose health elixirs and pain relievers. Some were (and still are) used like a daily multivitamin, taken in small doses every morning or evening to prevent illness. Others were used to buy time during any sort of injury or illness until the doctor could be fetched from the village.

Mixers were medicines too. Fizzy, mineral-rich bottled soda waters were first created to mimic natural spa waters believed to cure everything from leprosy to optical disorders. Fresh citrus juice makes for a nice Daiquiri and also contains the vitamin C necessary to stave off scurvy. Favorite rum-mixer Coca-Cola has its origins in coca (as in cocaine) wine, once considered so good for you that it was endorsed by two popes.

Even alcohol not meant to cure serious diseases was designed to ease everyday discomfort: rock and rye was cough medicine, bitters were designed to soothe stomach ailments and seasickness, and the mighty cocktail itself was not originally an evening beverage but a morning pick-me-up, particularly recommended the day after a big night of drinking.

By studying alcohol, scientists made discoveries in medicine as well as in microbiology, biochemistry, and other disciplines. Alchemy, the proto-science that gave us alcoholic distillation, is a root of modern chemistry. The study of carbonation and fermentation led to the understanding and identification of elements, gases, and the germ theory of disease. The search for a quinine alternative led to the development of chemotherapy.

There were a few bumps along the way. In the days before the regulation of food, alcohol, and medicine, all three were often mislabeled and infused with unsafe botanicals, (other) addictive drugs like cocaine and morphine, toxic dyes, and preservatives, including embalming fluid.

Only relatively recently have alcohol and medicine became uncoupled. We think of the 1950s soda fountain as a wholesome milkshake shop, but a few decades earlier you could buy your laudanum there and chase it with a wine spritzer. In Ireland, the practice of giving blood donors a free pint of Guinness ended only in 2009. Alcohol is an important part of modern herbal medicine, used as a solvent with which to extract the active properties of botanicals. And as part of family traditions around the globe, parents still rub a little whiskey (or rum or the local spirit) on their babies’ gums to soothe the pain from teething.

The idea for this book began to take shape several years ago. I was writing an article about the Gin and Tonic and wanted to cite the creation date of the drink. I couldn’t find any specific date, just the general information that the cocktail was first consumed in 1800s India by Brits who loved gin and needed the quinine in the tonic water to ward off malaria. A few years and about twenty books read later, I didn’t learn anything much about the cocktail, but I did learn a great deal about malaria in particular and medicine in general. Unlike the history of cocktails, the history of medicine is well documented. As I continued to research, I learned more about the antimalarial properties of tonic water, juniper in gin as a diuretic, absinthe as a water purifier, brandy to revive a patient from shock, ferro china to treat anemia, and how root beer’s sarsaparilla was once used to soothe syphilis. Pretty soon, I could trace the medicinal origins of so many of today’s drinks I realized they could fill a book, so here we are.

What you are (hopefully) about to read is the interconnected history of alcohol and medicine, and not even close to the complete history of one or the other. Luckily, a lot of those books exist already; have at it. This book is also not an exhaustive study of the medicinal uses for alcohol. I have probably neglected to mention your favorite family folk medicine, and no doubt soju and slivovitz found their way into medicinal use just as sherry and soda water did. Some alcoholic cures I missed, others I passed over, and surely there were many more that I never discovered. Some wines, beers, and spirits have a more direct medicinal lineage than others, but it should be clear by the end of the book that all alcohol and many mixers were used as medicine or with medicine at some point.

Most of the time, a drink is just a drink, to sip and enjoy with friends. As it turns out, there can be health benefits to that, but this book isn’t trying to be prescriptive. Alcoholic beverages are not health drinks, despite what modern electrolyte-added beers and herb-infused vodka brands might try to imply. This book is merely meant to give the reader an appreciation of alcohol’s long and lush medicinal history.

CONTENTS

Preface

Disclaimer

1 | FERMENTATION

GREEKS, GALEN, AND GUINNESS

Better Than Water

Early Medicinal Use of Beer and Wine

Ancient Greece and Wine

Galen and the Four Humors

Spice as Medicine

Theriac and Mithridate

Guinness Is Good for You

2 | QUINTESSENCE

ALCHEMY AND AQUA VITAE

The Theory and Practice of Alchemy

Alchemy in China and India

The Islamic Golden Age

Aqua Vitae

Spirit as Quintessence

The Small Book of Distillation

Paracelsus

Corpse Medicine

Unending Alchemy

Modern Metallic Drinks

3 | MONKS

MONASTIC LIQUEURS AND THE MIDDLE AGES

A History of Monastic Orders

The Black Death

Monastic Improvements

Chartreuse

Other Monastic Liqueurs

Bénédictine

Buckfast

4 | SCIENCE

PHLOGISTON, PYRMONT, PASTEUR, AND PATHOGENS

Gas and Phlogiston

Lavoisier

Taking the Waters

Scaling Up Fizzy Water

Bugs and Beer

Lister

5 | BITTERSWEET

APERITIF, ABSINTHE, AND AMARO

Sugar and Caffeine

Vermouth

Absinthe

Gentian

Aperitifs and Digestifs

Fernet-Branca

Rhubarb and Angelica

6 | SPIRITS

GRAPES, GRAIN, AGAVE, AND CANE

Armagnac and Cognac

Pisco Punch

Genever and Gin

Vodka

Rum

Scurvy

Whiskey

Whiskey in America

Baijiu

Agave

7 | POISON

PHOSPHATES, PATENT MEDICINES, PURE FOOD, AND PROHIBITION

The Wholesome Soda Fountain

Syphilis and Root Beer

Cocaine Drinks

Patent Medicines

The Pure Food and Drug Act

Prohibition

Moonshine

8 | TONIC

MALARIA, MOSQUITOES, AND MAUVE

The Fever Tree

Drinking Bark

Tonic Water

Mosquito Discovery and Eradication

Mauve

Coming to America

Cinchonism

9 | MIXOLOGY

MIXED DRINKS AND MODERN MEDICINE

Bitters

Evolution of the Cocktail

American and Other Iced Drinks

Modern Medicine

Notes and Further Reading

Bibliography

Image Credits

Index