Social drinking has always been one of the most opportune times to do a bit of human bonding. To speed up the process, many resort to drinking games, which add an extra layer of competition to the proceedings in order to make them more fun. As it turns out, our ancestors did the same thing. Although drinking games have been around for thousands of years, today, we’re generally only familiar with beer pong and a few other recent inventions. However, history is here to provide you with inspiration for your next social outing.

10 The Wager Cup

Originally known as the jungfrauenbecher (“maiden’s cup”), this silver cup originated in 16th-century Germany and was predominantly used at weddings. The cup took the shape of a woman with a wide skirt that formed a cup when inverted. The woman also carried a pail or a bowl above her head which swiveled to remain upright, effectively creating two cups in one. During the wedding feast, the groom had to toast by drinking from the skirt cup without spilling any wine from the pivoting bowl, from which the bride then had to drink.

Eventually, the usage of the maiden or bridal cup made it to the Netherlands and England. By then, however, the cup had lost its connection with wedding toasts and was simply used for social activities. In England, the wager cup, as it was now known, became a popular drinking game. Participants had to drink all of the wine in the skirt cup without spilling any from the pail, and if they succeeded, they got to drink the pail wine, as well. The production of wager cups continued well into the 19th century. Even today, you can find modern replicas online, as well as expensive, original antiques.

9 Kottabos

Kottabos was an ancient pastime developed in the fifth century BC and was popular at Greek symposiums (aka drinking parties). This kind of game probably wouldn’t be as successful today unless you had servants to clean up after you, as a typical game of kottabos left quite a mess. The game involved players drinking a lot of wine and throwing the dregs at various targets. Sometimes, the name of a loved one would be shouted during the throw.

The drinking cup used for kottabos was called a kylix. It had a wide but shallow body, more similar to a bowl, and handles on each side. The thrower would hold the kylix by one handle and use an overhand technique to cast the dregs. The kylix also featured an almost flat, circular center called a tondo. This area was often decorated with vulgar or humorous drawings that became more visible as the wine disappeared. One well-preserved example shows a man wiping his butt.

There were several variations on the rules of kottabos, but we know of two popular games from ancient art and texts. In one of them, the players had to knock off a disc balanced on a metal stand. In the other, there was a large bowl of water with dishes floating inside. The players had to throw enough dregs onto a dish in order to sink it.

8 Sumbel

Technically, sumbel was more of a drinking ritual than a game, but it featured heavily in Nordic tradition and was regarded as a good way to bond with those around you. There is a sumbel in Beowulf and in Heimskringla, the saga of Nordic kings. In essence, a sumbel is a social occasion where everyone would toast and take a drink before passing the cup to the next person. An authentic sumbel would feature mead drank from a horn. However, a cup was also acceptable, as were other drinks like wine or beer. The drinks had to be alcoholic, though.

It was important for each person to share a passionate toast before drinking. Thus, according to tradition, they would then swallow the words that they said. A typical format for a sumbel was three rounds preempted by a short introduction from the host. The first round was dedicated to the gods, and everybody who drank would hail and praise them. The second round was dedicated to heroes of old from history or legend, and the third was dedicated to personal ancestors or friends who had passed on. It was also possible to replace the toast with a poem, story, or song of personal significance.

7 Buffalo

Unlike all the other drinking games, Buffalo requires a serious commitment because, technically, you play it for the rest of your life. Once you agree to the Buffalo lifestyle, you become a member of the Buffalo Club. The American branch of the Buffalo Club has dozens of chapters in over 30 states, and many more have developed in Europe as well as Central and South America. For many, the biggest appeal of Buffalo is the feeling of belonging to a secret society, with fewer of the cloak-and-dagger aspects and more drinking.

As far as the game goes, Buffalo is fairly simplistic. Buffalo Club members must drink all alcoholic beverages with their nondominant hand. If they violate this rule, other members shout “buffalo,” and the offender has to chug their alcoholic beverage of choice. Although only other official members are allowed to take part, a true buffalo should not hesitate to “buffalo” himself if he is alone and breaks the code.

Although the origins of this game are blurry, and there are many stories out there, the most popular legend claims that Buffalo originated in the Wild West. Allegedly, gunslingers would prefer to do social activities like drinking and playing cards with their nondominant hand to keep their shooting hand free. If you want to become part of the Buffalo Club, be advised that only a current member is allowed to induct new ones.

6 Jiuling

Jiuling is a drinking game that has its origins sometime during China’s Zhou Dynasty between the 11th and 8th centuries BC. Although it started as a way of regulating people’s drinking, jiuling became a popular pastime on its own, and naturally, many variations of the concept arose.

Most types of jiuling were grouped into two categories—common and literary. Common jiuling was the most popular, since it was the most accessible to the masses. It was a simple game that involved each player taking a turn and then taking a drink. What exactly the players did during their turns varied wildly. They could tell a story or a joke or have some sort of contest where the loser would drink. Rolling dice and guessing fingers were popular contests.

Literary jiuling was more popular with the upper classes, as it required a higher education. This game was similar to the common version, but participants had to share riddles, poems, idioms, and so on. It was typically practiced by intellectuals who considered common jiuling to be vulgar.

5 Sconcing

Originally, “sconcing” was a term developed at Oxford University during the 17th century, referring to a fine levied against students for a misdemeanor. However, over the years, the students adopted the concept of sconcing themselves. Someone could be sconced for a breach of etiquette, but instead of a fine, the offender had to down a beer in one go. This was done at the challenger’s expense unless the offender couldn’t finish the drink, in which case he had to pay for it. Common offenses that were considered a breach of etiquette included topics such as religion, politics, and women.

There was a time when only the senior scholar at the table could impose a sconce. Other members could bring offenses to their attention only if they spoke in ancient Greek or Latin. Nowadays, sconcing is nowhere near as formal, and it’s more of a party game. Today, someone stands up and claims that they sconce anyone who has done a certain activity. Anyone to whom the sconce applies has to drink. If the sconce applies to no one, everyone else starts crying “shoe” until the wannabe sconcer takes off their footwear, fills it with beer, and chugs from it.

4 Pitch-Pot

Pitch-pot, known as touhu in Chinese, originated in ancient China sometime during the Warring States period. It later spread to Japan, where it was known as toko, and Korea, where it was called tuho.

The basics of pitch-pot involve throwing arrows into a pot. Players stand a set distance away from the pot (typically the length of two and a half arrows) and take turns trying to throw the arrows straight into the pot. When a player scores a point (an entry), the victor presents the vanquished with a cup to drink. After the arrows are finished, both players kneel and the victor will once again refill the cup of the loser. If you want to stick to strict pitch-pot etiquette, it is also considered polite to refuse to play the first time you are offered the arrows, as well as the second. It’s okay to accept the third time.

We know from ancient texts that tuho became very popular in Korea during the 12th century, when the Sung Dynasty ruled in China. It was seen as part of Confucian culture and was heavily promoted. It became a favorite pastime of Korean royalty, but more importantly, it also became a game accessible to women who were forbidden to participate in most sports like archery.

3 The Fuddling Cup

The fuddling cup was more of a puzzle than a game where, just like the wager cup, you had to find a way to drink without spilling any liquid on you. First appearing in 17th-century England, the fuddling cup was made out of three or more cups clustered together and connected through various hidden holes and tubes. In order for someone to drink successfully from the fuddling cup, they would have to use all cups in a specific order so that they wouldn’t spill the contents.

Although simplistic in concept and design, the fuddling cup proved to be popular and paved the way for more complex puzzle vessels, specifically the puzzle jugs. These became a common occurrence in England during the 18th and 19th centuries. Even though puzzle jugs had more intricate designs and decorations, they still relied on the same concept as fuddling cups. A standard puzzle jug would spill if it was used as a regular jug. Instead, the drinker had to find a way to suck up the liquid through holes at the top using a tube hidden in the jug’s handle.

2 Pennying

The origins of pennying are a bit murky, as both Cambridge and Oxford lay claim to its creation, providing yet another thing for the two universities to argue over. At first glance, pennying appears to be a simple concept where all you have to do is sneak a penny into someone’s drink. That person is then obliged to finish the drink in one go in order to “save the drowning queen,” since British pennies have the queen’s face on them.

In spite of its simple premise, pennying comes with a complex set of rules that must be adhered to in order to maintain tradition. For starters, would-be penniers are not allowed to participate unless they also have an alcoholic drink. Double pennying is not permitted, and if it happens, the second pennier must be the one to drink the beer. Alternatively, only one penny may be put in play in order to avoid people double pennying on purpose to get a drink.

There was a time when people didn’t have to consent to playing the game in order to participate. Just by attending Cambridge or Oxford you implicitly agreed to pennying, and if you refused, you encountered the scorn of the student body. That is why pennying has now been outlawed at several colleges at Oxford and Cambridge, since forcing people to drink was ruled a breach of conduct.

1 Passatella

As drinking games progress and people get drunker, the chances of violence increase. In passatella, this was not only expected, but was considered an integral part of the game. The game originated in ancient Rome and remained a popular pastime for Italians over the centuries. It was played with a minimum of four players, although it could accommodate a lot more. The more players involved, the higher the chances of violence.

The concept of passatella was to expose the inequality of life. That is why the first thing to do was to play a game in order to determine a boss and an underboss. Any game could be played as long as it had a winner and a runner-up, but card games or boccie were preferred.

Once there was a boss and an underboss, everybody chipped in to buy a round of drinks. The boss drank his and then offered the underboss a drink. Afterward, the boss offered drinks to all the other players that he wished, but before they could drink, they also had to get permission from the underboss. Both the boss and underboss could deny players the drinks that they paid for. Sometimes, they would also have to say why they denied a player his drink, which was usually done in the form of an expletive-filled rant (that only got more insulting as people got drunker). Naturally, certain players felt cheated, and more than one game of passatella ended in a fight.

Radu is a history/science buff with an interest in all things bizarre and obscure. Share the knowledge on Twitter or check out his website.

We all love a good cup of coffee to start off the morning, but this beverage can be used in several other ways. Just like coffee is good for our bodies, it has other benefits that can make our lives easier.

Next time you think about throwing those used coffee grounds away, think again. They can be recycled and used throughout your home or garden. Here are 10 creative ways to enjoy coffee besides drinking it.

10 Insect Repellent

Mosquitoes are pesky and annoying. The little bloodsuckers can ruin a relaxing night outdoors. You will find yourself busy swatting them away instead of enjoying the time with friends and family.

Coffee grounds are an unusual solution to this annoying little problem. According to the EPA, coffee grounds are a safe and effective way to repel mosquitoes and other troublesome insects. A study also showed that coffee grounds and caffeine could kill larvae by preventing the development of adult mosquitoes. The insects were not able to build a resistance to coffee.

To burn coffee grounds to use as a repellent, start by grabbing your used grounds and placing them in a bowl covered in foil. Once the grounds have dried, burn them like incense. It is best to choose a spot upwind of your location, and you can add fresh bay leaves to the fire for extra repellent.^[1]

This is a cheap and effective way to prevent those bothersome insects from ruining your night.

9 Stain Wood Furniture

Everyone is always looking for DIY projects around their house. Staining wood furniture is one of the many projects that people attempt to tackle. There are a lot of manufactured wood stain products on the market, but you won’t need to buy any of them if you have coffee at home. The method of staining wood with coffee is natural and chemical-free, and the finish is exceptional. The coat will also get darker as it becomes older.

To stain wood with coffee, simply start by brewing a pot of coffee. Then allow it to cool. The stronger you brew, the darker the stain will be. Use fine sandpaper to sand the surface that you plan to stain. Pour the cool coffee into a plastic container along with alum to help it adhere to the wood.

Use your sponge, rag, or cloth to spread the coffee over the wood surface. Don’t worry about using too much because it will absorb. Let the wood sit for 10–15 minutes, and you can repeat if you would like the wood to be darker.^[2]

How satisfying is it to know that you stained your wood furniture with a natural and nonchemical substance found in your home!

8 Create Air Freshener

We are always coming into contact with unpleasant smells, whether it is from the kitchen, bathroom, living room, or even your vehicle. Sometimes, you have to freshen up those areas with an air freshener.

Don’t have one handy? Make it yourself from coffee found in your home. Most air fresheners only cover up the odor, but an air freshener made from coffee can absorb the odor to keep it away.

Coffee beans act like baking soda does in a fridge. They help to absorb the smell and eliminate it. An air freshener can be easily made from coffee grounds to help any area smell better. All you need is a pair of old socks, your favorite brew, and a tall glass or cup.

Stick the sock down in the glass, and roll the excess over the outside of the glass. Then pour some coffee grounds or beans into the sock, pull the sock out, and tie it in a knot. Stick the air freshener anywhere that needs some help. For those who want to get fancy, you can stick the sock in a decorative bowl to hide it.^[3]

7 Dry Rubs For Steak Or Chili

We all love to consume our favorite coffee in drink form, but did you know that it is also delicious to eat? If you have extra brewed joe or grounds lying around, you can spice up almost any food. Coffee is a spice that brings rich, deep, and earthy flavors to food. You’ll mostly find it on red meats and desserts to add an espresso-like taste.

Coffee can be added to a marinade for roast meat, braising liquid for beef short ribs, barbecue sauce for grilled chicken, a sauce for fried eggs, or a pancake topper. You can even mix it with your favorite spices to create an amazing dry rub for burgers, spice-crusted pork, or lamb.

Using coffee while cooking can really add the extra flavor to make many dishes pop. There are several recipes available if you are looking to experiment with cooking with coffee.^[4]

6 Exfoliate Your Skin

Not only does coffee have some great benefits for the inside of your body, but it is also valuable for your skin. The grounds can help balance the pH of the skin. Coffee is loaded with antioxidants that battle free radicals and is a great product to exfoliate the skin. It helps you to shed dead and dry skin to reveal a glow, and it adds extra shine to your hair.^[5]

Many of the ingredients you need to make a face mask or exfoliating face scrub are found in your home. Making a scrub with natural properties will be beneficial to your skin as it eliminates lines and dry skin. Coffee can also be mixed to create body scrubs, hair masks, and foot scrubs.

Try making a homemade mask or scrub one day, and you will be amazed at how well it treats your skin.

5 Compost And Fertilizer

Instead of letting your old coffee grounds end up in a landfill, use them in your garden and compost pile. Using coffee grounds in your garden helps to add nitrogen to your compost pile.

You can simply throw the grounds into your compost pile, or they can be used as a fertilizer. Using grounds as a fertilizer adds an organic material to your soil, which improves drainage, water retention, and aeration in the soil.

Coffee grounds can even repel slugs and snails in the garden. If you want to add coffee grounds to your compost or fertilizer, stop by your local Starbucks. Participating stores give out free bags of used coffee grounds as part of their Grounds For Your Garden program.^[6]

The company does this to recycle and help reduce waste. Use this organic resource in your garden to help reduce the amount of products going to a landfill.

4 Clean Out Garbage Disposal

Since coffee is a great deodorizer like baking soda, it can be used to freshen up garbage disposals. They often start to release an unpleasant smell, and coffee grounds are an excellent solution to this problem. You don’t have to waste good coffee for this little DIY trick. Used grounds are just fine.

To make a garbage disposal cleaning pad, you will need coffee grounds, Epsom salts, baking soda, and vinegar.^[7] Once you properly mix the ingredients, you will use a measuring spoon to create the small cleaners and allow them to dry overnight. Then you can drop one in your garbage disposal when needed. Turn on the disposal and water to enjoy a wonderful new smell coming from your kitchen sink.

3 Coat Sidewalks During Winter

If you live in areas that experience a lot of snow during the winter, then you probably know all about using salt on your sidewalks. Salt is effective in melting the ice to prevent slipping, but it can be destructive to the environment. Salt can also restrict plants from absorbing the proper amount of water and nutrition. If you are looking for a safer alternative to salt, try using coffee.^[8]

You probably had a hot cup of brew to help keep you warm on those winter days. Save the coffee grounds, and generously sprinkle them across the snowy sidewalk as you would salt. The grounds work just as sand or salt would and give you the opportunity to walk across the sidewalk. The acid of the coffee even helps to melt away the snow more quickly.

Save those coffee grounds to stay environmentally friendly during those snowy days!

2 Wash Your Hair

Instead of drinking coffee, try throwing it on your hair during a shower. There are many advantages to washing your hair with coffee because it has a lower pH than water. The rough grounds exfoliate the scalp and stimulate hair follicles to help growth. Coffee is found in many shampoos now because of the benefits it provides.

The caffeine in the coffee is great for your hair, too. It helps stimulate the hair roots and may deter baldness and hair loss. The caffeine will block the effects of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) and enables hair shafts to grow faster.

It also has a way of making your hair shine more. You can use coffee to make a hair rinse to enhance hair color and texture, a hair mask to make it softer and shinier, and a hair oil to stimulate the roots of the hair.^[9]

1 Protect Dog From Fleas

Everybody loves a good cup of coffee, except fleas. They hate coffee, but they do love your dog. If you notice that your dog is itching from those pesky fleas, then save your coffee grounds from that cup of joe you had this morning. The grounds can help to get rid of the fleas when mixed with the dog’s shampoo.

Start by giving your dog a bath as usual. After you have shampooed Spot, generously rub the coffee grounds through the dog’s hair. Then rinse the grounds from the animal’s hair and be sure to look for those loose grounds that haven’t shaken off. The coffee will act as a natural repellent and help remove the fleas that were annoying your dog.^[10]

I’m just another bearded guy trying to write my way through life. Visit me at www.MDavidScott.com

Some people drink regularly, and others don’t, but just about everyone has a story about going out and getting loaded with friends, either at a party or at the bar, and of the wild things you did and the crazy things you said. Hopefully, you made it home in one piece, and if you didn’t, hopefully, you learned your lesson.

But either way, you’re not alone, as accounts of revelrous partying spurred on by beer, wine, and/or spirits have been historically documented all across the world. And as far back as prehistoric times, drinking most likely went on at least within the vicinity of wild grapevines (or apple trees and berry bushes), which naturally ferment.

So let’s take a look at some high-spirited, party-hardy moments and themes throughout history that have made an impact on the ongoing, popular pastime of group inebriation.

Related: 10 Quenching Legends, Myths, And Stories Involving Alcohol

10 Tipsy Birds and Bees

Alcoholic fermentation occurs when certain microorganisms (yeast, for the most part) break down glucose and fructose in natural, sugar-rich substrates such as fruit and berries, producing ethanol and carbon dioxide. This is a natural process that has gone on since, well, before the advent of man. However, while plants love the carbon dioxide, the animal kingdom seems to prefer the ethanol—hands down!

The Bohemian waxwing birds of northern forests in Eurasia and North America fill their bellies the best they can while flying south for the winter. They sometimes feast together in great flocks on fallen fruits and berries upon the ground, which, if they’ve fermented, are the all-natural version of Jello shots. Though most of the birds handle their buzz pretty well, many of them choose to overindulge each year, staggering through the sky on drunken wings and slamming into buildings and each other.

And honey bees in Australia often drink from fermented nectar in the summer, which sometimes leads to large, disorganized swarms. However, when and if they make it back to the hive, they’re barred entry and usually killed by guard bees protecting the purity of the honey. Also in Australia reside the red-collared lorikeet parrots, which like to tie one on with fermented flower nectar from the Weeping Boer-bean tree each December, often falling from the branches to the ground. One should never exceed his limit while perched upon a tree limb.

Some partying critters fit in quite well in the modern world, where humans manufacture the drug ethanol in larger quantities and stronger potencies than rotting berries and tainted nectar possibly could. The vervet monkeys on the island of St. Kitts in the Caribbean have acquired a taste for alcohol. In gangs, they raid local bars along the beach for beer and colorful cocktails left unattended, after which they have their own private party drinking top-shelf among the tops of palm trees.

And back in 1974, in West Bengal, India, a herd of about one-hundred and fifty elephants drank large quantities of moonshine after breaking into a still. They became so drunk that they caroused about in a rampage, trampling twenty huts and seven concrete buildings, killing five people. Talk about a morning after full of regrets and apologies!^[1]

9 Stumbling Through Ancient History

The first apple might have gotten Adam and Eve thrown out of the Garden of Eden, but if they were anything like their descendants with the second and third apples, they likely made cider…

In 2018 archaeologists digging up a Stone Age cave in Israel came across the ruins of a prehistoric brewery 13,000 years old. Whoever owned it was probably one very popular hunter-gatherer. They feel the beer produced in this brewery was likely consumed at ritual feasts (another name for a party) held by the Natufian people, and its discovery seems to support the long-standing hypothesis that beer brewing might have been part of the reason cereal crops were initially planted in the southern Levant.

The Natufians lived during the Late Epipalaeolithic period, which saw early advances in agriculture, particularly cereal grains, and the fact that they had already achieved an understanding of beer making at this point in time suggests that one of their motivations for laying seed was to make more beer and thereby have more ritual feasts (or parties).

Moving ahead a good 10,000 years…an ancient Egyptian inscription from 2200 BC teaches “the mouth of a perfectly contented man is filled with beer.” How accommodating for men of that age that they got to celebrate the Tekh Festival each year, which pretty much mandated inebriation for its participants in honor of Hathor, the goddess of fertility, agriculture, and on a less wholesome note, drunkenness. But the Bast Festival in honor of pregnancy and childbirth was certainly one for the girls, as they were encouraged to drink, dance, and show everyone their genitals. This was an unladylike behavior that was not customary at other festivals in ancient Egypt, although it probably did encourage pregnancy and childbirth.

It seems that the ancient Greeks were the first to hold drinking parties just for the sake of drinking and not necessarily held on a day of religious observance. They were called symposia, and they were an all-male event held by aristocrats, though often young women were in attendance as entertainment. The Greek symposium was an affair of intellectual conversation and flamboyant ostentation, and as the wine flowed, the party could get pretty rowdy. A favorite drinking game was to sling wine across the floor, either trying to form specific letters or to hit target objects. And if the images depicted on Greek vases and jugs are accurate, there were a lot of erotic encounters with hired women—and sometimes men.

One of the most famous symposia was held in 416 BC, the theme of which was moderation, as most of the attendees were hungover from a symposium held the previous evening. The great philosopher Socrates attended the party, and he gave a rather long speech which concluded at sunrise amid a room full of men asleep on the floor. Historians will never know for sure if those men had chosen intemperance after all or if perhaps Socrates had been just a tad bit long-winded.^[2]

8 The Wedding at Cana Controversy

“There was a marriage in Cana of Galilee: and the mother of Jesus was there. And Jesus also was invited, and his disciples, to the marriage. And the wine failing, the mother of Jesus saith to him: They have no wine. And Jesus saith to her: Woman, what is that to me and to thee? my hour is not yet come. His mother saith to the waiters: Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye. Now there were set there six waterpots of stone…Jesus saith to them: Fill the waterpots with water…And Jesus saith to them: Draw out now, and carry to the chief steward of the feast…And when the chief steward had tasted the water made wine…the chief steward calleth the bridegroom, And saith to him: Every man at first setteth forth good wine…But thou hast kept the good wine until now. This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee…” (John 2:1-11 DR).

There are many hard-core Christians who believe Jesus would never have created such a morally destructive substance as wine from water, for after all elsewhere in the Bible, it says, “You shall not drink wine nor any thing that may make drunk, thou nor thy sons…” (Lev. 10:9 DR). Such zealots believe that the water was turned into grape juice, unfermented, and in all fairness, they make an interesting argument due to a series of translations.

The Greek word “oinos” is used in both the Old and New Testaments for the word wine (or grape juice), and though “oinos” generally does denote the alcoholic version, technically, it can mean specifically juice from freshly-stomped grapes. To further confuse things, the Greek “oinos” is a translation of two Hebrew words, “tirosh” and “yayin,” both of which have a similar ambiguity. But most historians would disagree, as, without refrigeration, it was difficult for the Hebrews to store any type of fruit juice without natural fermentation. Therefore, the primary reason grapes were stomped was to make wine.

And educated theologians would argue that even though many try to inject conservative Christian values into New Testament stories, the wedding at Cana took place very early in Jesus’ ministry, as evidenced by His words “mine hour is not yet come.” This was truly a Jewish wedding, and wine was a staple at such festivals.

Or ask any wine enthusiast what the governor of the feast (probably some sort of headwaiter) meant when he said, “Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine…but thou hast kept the good wine until now.” He was referring to the practice of offering finer vintages at the start of a party to intoxicate and numb the guests’ tongues before slipping them the crappy stuff. His comment would have made no sense if he hadn’t just tasted actual wine. And anyone with common sense would point out that Mary wouldn’t have flagged down her son just to replenish unfermented grape juice. People only panic at a party when the booze runs out, not the soft drinks!

So the votes are in—Jesus was not only a guest at a drinking party, but He also contributed to the vibe. But He grew up learning the words of the prophet Isaiah, after all, who once preached “let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we shall die” (Isa. 22:13 DR).^[3]

7 The Romans Threw One Hell of a Party

The Roman banquet parties, called convivia, were adapted from the Greek symposia, but they were much less philosophical and tended to be more politically driven. Unlike the symposium, respectable women were allowed at these banquets, though they were not allowed to recline as the men. Also, unlike the Greek parties, where heavy drinking generally started after the meal, the convivium offered wine from start to finish.

The Roman Empire extended from Northern Africa throughout the Mediterranean and included parts of Western Asia, so they had quite the assortment of vittles at these banquets. Naked waiters would walk about with trays of wild sow’s udders, African ostrich, and tongue of peacock. Wine was generously served to reclining men in togas who gorged themselves on delicacies and drink without any notion of moderation, often up until they vomited, after which they’d continue gorging.

And conspiratorial intrigue was widespread at these affairs. For example, at a banquet in 375 BC, a drunken Cleitus the Black called out his commanding officer, a likewise drunk Alexander the Great, who threw an apple at him in return. Unfortunately for Cleitus, who wouldn’t shut up, the apple was followed by a javelin through the heart. And when in 54 AD Emperor Claudius died the day after presiding over a banquet, it was rumored that his fourth wife, Agrippina, poisoned him with tainted mushrooms due to political motivations for her son, Nero. He would later show his thanks by having her assassinated five years later.

But the wildest of convivia didn’t hold a candle to the Bacchanalia festivals in honor of Bacchus, the god of wine, ecstasy, and fertility (often in that order). These wild parties under the guise of fertility festivals hit Rome about 200 BC. They included not just drinking and dancing but also violent escapades such as sexual initiation, buggery, and the occasional murder to keep things jumping. And women outnumbered men at these carnal carnivals three to one! But these celebrants, which numbered in the thousands, were considered to be a cult, and they were looked down upon by many of the more conservative citizens of Rome.

The wild antics of this crazy cult worsened, and in 186 BC, just a few short years after its inception into Rome, the Senate launched an investigation into Bacchanalia, fearing insurrection. According to the Roman historian Livy, the Senate took control of the cult, dismantling the existing chapters and mandating strict guidelines for future gatherings. In the process, 7,000 participants were arrested, most of them executed. Now, you know a party might have gotten a tad bit out of hand when thousands of attendees end up in the clink!^[4]

6 When Fermentation Meets Distillation

The origin of distillation is uncertain, but historians agree it predates written history. The technique was initially used to produce perfumes and medicinals, and early “stills” even purified seawater. Then some ancient entrepreneur decided to throw in some wine to see what happened—and he got brandy! Then someone threw in some grain mash to see what might pop out…and the fine art of partying was significantly upgraded.

That’s a very condensed (no pun intended) explanation of distillation, and much of the wheres and whens of its arrival unto society is based upon assumption. It’s believed that traveling monks brought into Ireland the art of distilling perfumes around 1000 AD, and within a hundred years or so, the good ol’ Irish boys had figured out how to morph the procedure into making spirits. Early versions of their whiskey were unaged and flavored with herbs, but over the centuries, the technique further morphed into what is known today extendedly as Irish whiskey.

Public houses, or pubs (the opposite of “private” houses which sold memberships to the elite), have also been around in Ireland for about a thousand years, and they were meeting places where the working class could sit together and converse—and to drink! Irish pubs have been a source of suds and songs for centuries, and some existing establishments are absolutely ancient!

Take Sean’s Bar, for instance, in the town of Athlone in County Westmeath, which reportedly has been in operation since 900 AD. Though the building has been renovated many times, still the customers can feel a sense of history when they walk in upon a floor covered with woodchips. It’s intimidating to imagine the extent of partying that went on in this pub for the past 1,100 years and how many overworked laborers sat back at the end of the day and relaxed with a glass of mead, beer, wine, or fine Irish whiskey. If only the walls of Sean’s Bar—made of wattle, wicker, horsehair, and clay—could talk.

And jumping a bit to the east…the British got their hands on gin for the first time while in Holland (its birthplace) fighting the Thirty Years’ War against the Spanish in the seventeenth century. During the reign of King William III (1650-1702), the popularity of gin became more popular than beer for the working class—mainly because it was mass-produced and cheaper. Commoners took to drinking it ravenously, and public “gin and gingerbread” festivals began to pop up in 1731 along the River Thames whenever the weather turned inclement.

These “London Frost Fairs” consisted of tents and stalls peddling hot gin, and the parties were so popular many Londoners welcomed bad weather, often bringing the revelry upon the frozen river. But public behavior was getting so out of hand, and gin-related deaths were so much on the rise that the government stepped in five years later and imposed a distiller’s license at the exorbitant price of 50 pounds. And it worked like a charm, as only two licenses had been purchased a full seven years later.

And over in North and Eastern Europe, distillation took a different turn, as Russia, Poland, and Sweden each developed the concept of vodka separately during the Middle Ages. Vodka mainly consists of ethanol and water, though trace elements often linger in the taste, and “little water,” which is what vodka means in Russian, can be made from a large variety of sources, including cereal grains, potatoes, rice, grapes, sugar beets, honey, maple sap or just plain sugar water.

As such, the Russians have embraced it as their national drink, and today, it is served at every type of celebration, commemoration, and festive function you could possibly think of, which explains one of their favorite toasts: May we always have a reason for a party! However, the stalwart Russians have stringent rules for drinking vodka at parties: the drink is best served with bread; one should always down their glass in one gulp; and when the host opens a new bottle, he should throw away the cap. He won’t be needing it again.^[5]

5 Pre-Columbian Socials

There is a common misconception that alcoholic beverages were nonexistent in the Americas before Europeans arrived, and though it wasn’t universal, there was definitely some pre-1492 imbibing among the Indigenous people. Due to their isolation from the rest of the world, the technique of distillation was mostly unheard of before the white man brought it with him. Still, many pre-Columbian cultures certainly took note of natural fermentation…

As a matter of fact, the ancient Mesoamericans seemed to ferment anything they could get their hands on that was fermentable. However, the beverages they produced were generally used communally in spiritual ceremonies rather than individually. For thousands of years, the Mayans made alcoholic drinks from honey, corn, pineapples, cacti, and both tree bark and sap, among other local plants.

One of their favorite drinks, balché, made from tree bark, was doubly ingested during rituals for maximum effect—both down the throat as a beverage and up the backside as an enema. This was a bit extreme for the conquering conquistadors, who put a stop to such ribald revelry. And the Olmec people (1100-900 BC) produced a weak alcoholic drink called cacao wine for their ceremonies, which was probably the earliest consumption of the same tree from which we make chocolate. And to this day, chocolate and wine make for the start of a mighty fine party.

And to the north, the Native Americans inhabiting what would someday become the United States also indulged in fermented beverages, although usage varied from tribe to tribe and was generally more common in regions where agriculture had developed. The Yuman-speaking tribes located south of the Grand Canyon would host parties with neighboring villages where they served wine made from the saguaro fruit, which would encourage dancing, the celebration of alliances, and the formation of plans to attack their enemies.

The Pueblo Indians along the Rio Grande made a drink from fermented grain to celebrate the end of winter in their yearly “bringing-the-buds-to-life” ceremony—sort of a very early spring break gathering. Likewise, the woodland Huron tribe of the Northeast took great pains to incur beer for their tribal feasts, leaving unripe corn in a pool of stagnant water for several months before declaring the resulting gruel ready for consumption. Mouth-watering!

Historians have also noted that many tribes across North America had traditionally forbidden the consumption of alcohol, but that only proves that they had sampled it at one time and found it to be corrupting.^[6]

4 Pilgrims and Patriots Raising Their Glasses

The first Puritan ship, the Arabella, set sail to America in 1630, carrying 10,000 gallons of both beer and wine compared to only 3,500 gallons of water. But really, they were only following in the footsteps of the humble Pilgrims who’d set sail ten years earlier…

Contrary to popular belief, the Pilgrims who arrived at Cape Cod in 1620 were actually pretty heavy-drinking people, each of them consuming about a gallon of beer daily. By the time they reached America on the Mayflower, they’d run out of their favorite drink and had to get creative with whatever they could find. Soon after, they’d developed the technique of making beer from corn, spruce branches, and pumpkins, plus also hard cider from apples, among other concoctions.

In 1621, they held a three-day autumn feast with the Wampanoag Indians in honor of the harvest, and though it was reported in the written record of the event that they ate wild turkeys and venison, there is no mention of what they drank. Most historians would agree alcoholic beverages were served as the Pilgrims had no reason to skip the hard stuff at this particular celebration. As a matter of fact, they probably drank twice as much, being that it was a big, long party (which the Wampanoags might have found interesting as they were one of the tribes clueless about fermentation). And being that the time of year was autumn, they would have been washing down their meal with pumpkin beer and hard cider. History repeats itself as four hundred years later, these drinks are making quite the comeback, from fine pumpkin ale (or just about anything pumpkin-tasting from coffee to Gatorade) to delicious craft cider.

Both the Pilgrims and the Puritans were suspicious of drinking plain water, having emigrated from England, where water was often contaminated and unsafe. But fermented beverages, even low in alcohol content, kill harmful bacteria, so that was what they preferred to drink. And they mainly drank beer (which is actually full of nutrients) to the point that each and every meal was practically a kegger!

These were definitely not times when alcohol was solely a 21+ indulgence, and children also had their ration of beer—breakfast, dinner, and supper depending on availability. Of course, when supply was low, they had to drink water, which was actually crystal clear though they still held their suspicions, and milk was for making cheese and butter—not for drinking. This was a time when, if the church elder could smell beer on the breaths of children on the morning of the Sabbath, he knew all was good and well.

And now, moving forward a good hundred and fifty years to the Boston Tea Party on December 16, 1773, which was dubbed as such fifty-odd years later in a series of newspaper articles, the word “party” meaning “party of men.” But apparently, there had been one hell of a pre-party beforehand, as there were reports of men throwing back pints and singing rebellious songs at the Green Dragon Tavern shortly before storming toward the Boston Harbor around midnight.

The unruly mob had refused to listen to Samuel Adams, the protest leader, when he’d ordered them to stop, and they rampaged onto Griffin’s Wharf dressed like Mohawk Indians with blackened faces and deafening war whoops—a group of rowdy dissenters fueled by alcohol and fury! And in their attempt to decry the unfairness of British taxation, they raided three ships privately owned by Americans while vandalizing property owned by the East India Tea company and exported from China. Have a few more, boys… ^[7]

3 Forbidden Fruit

John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed, traveled back and forth from Pennsylvania through Illinois in the late eighteenth through early nineteenth centuries planting cider apple trees and the medicinal herb dogfennel. It turns out dogfennel is a very invasive, unpleasant weed that is also poisonous. Many of the evangelicals urging temperance in the nineteenth century felt the same about his apple trees.

Alcohol consumption in the U.S. during the 1820s was at an all-time high. While the temperance movement that had formed was already attacking whiskey and other spirits, by the end of the decade, they were going for absolute abstinence and targeting the apple, as hard cider was a popular and affordable drink for the working class. Fanatical activists declared cider to be more dangerous than whiskey as it was weaker in alcohol content, thereby giving the imbiber more time to make mischief and wreak havoc before passing out.

This fervor took a maniacal stance when evangelicals suggested good Christian farmers should burn their orchards rather than inflict their ungodly fruits upon society, and one orchard owner in New Haven, CT, cut down all the trees so that his apples could not “promote intemperance.” And while most apple farmers didn’t actually go so far, this was a time in history when orchards across New England started to become abandoned, the wilderness swallowing them up into obscurity. But inside bars and taverns across the country, people still raised mugs of cool, sweetly-bitter, amber delight to each other, secure (and inebriated) in their right to do so!^[8]

It would take over one hundred years of activism, debate, and crazed evangelism before they lost that right.

2 Prohibition Was a Blast!

The Eighteenth Amendment was approved by Congress in 1919, and on January 17, 1920, the United States went dry. Shortly afterward, underground drinking clubs popped up everywhere across the country, mostly in urban areas, and they were called speakeasies because patrons were encouraged to whisper a secret password to gain entry, to speak softly once inside so as not to draw attention from the coppers, and to speak carefully of the establishment when in public.

These clubs had a party atmosphere, using music and dancing to lure people in, and for the most part, the men weren’t dancing with each other. Women started going to bars for the first time, and how sophisticated they must have felt, having just been granted to right to vote, as they sipped on their drinks amongst the wild and forbidden feel of the speakeasy!

Color lines were also crossed in many clubs for the first time as blacks and whites both partied together to the lively sound of jazz music. The bathtub gin was supplied by bootleggers whose product often tasted horrible, so bartenders took to mixing it in drink glasses with juice or soda, something new in the country since men customarily had always used shot glasses—and the cocktail was born.

It is estimated that New York had between 30,000 to 100,000 speakeasies that operated during Prohibition. While many of them were backroom joints that left no paper trail, many others made a big impression on the city’s history. For instance, take Chumley’s, a historic pub and one-time speakeasy that opened in Greenwich Village in 1922. The original owner was a socialist activist. It was rumored that the property was once part of the underground railroad, which might explain the secret stairs and trapdoors that helped keep the bootlegged liquor hidden in case of a search by the authorities.

In its heyday, Chumley’s was the stomping grounds for the prominent literary community, with patrons such as Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. And the term “86’d” is said to have originated there, as 86 is the street number of the back entrance through which people would flee when the police were coming through the front door. But all good things come to an end, and in 2020, almost a full hundred years after opening as a speakeasy, Chumley’s closed its doors for good, a victim of the pandemic.

And way across the country, hundreds of speakeasies in San Francisco served fine spirits smuggled in from Canada by sea, rather than solely relying on homemade bathtub gin. That was actually quite fitting as the liberal city officials took the concept of Prohibition with a grain of salt, only going through the motions with their enforcement of the new law. The police department basically turned a blind eye to the illegal drinking, thinking it to be a problem for the feds, and when corrupt officers started demanding unnecessary bribes from proprietors, the federal government did indeed step in—although it was the sheriff’s office and the police they were investigating.

The partying patrons, however, didn’t hold much fear of law enforcement, and they looked at the occasional raids as mere inconveniences, often going right back to drinking as soon as the cops left. Even if they spent the night in jail, it made for a colorful anecdote to share with their drinking friends the following evening. Often these clubs had front areas masquerading as soda or candy shops and backrooms for getting plastered, not to mention basement barrooms, secret getaway doors, and even underground tunnels—no two speakeasies were the same! In 1933 Prohibition was repealed, and most of the speakeasies closed, but many are still in operation with historic furnishings and secret passwords for entry. And why not? Prohibition in San Francisco was a blast!^[9]

1 Boozing It Up Over the Holidays, and There Are Lots of Holidays

Many Americans start the new year, each year, at a party, already half sloshed by the time the ball drops, but hey—there’s always room for champagne. And they’ve got an entire month to recover before the next major holiday—Super Bowl Sunday! While the Big Game isn’t technically a holiday, many people think it should be at least a three-day weekend, as many folks are pretty hungover the Monday after. Football fans spend over a billion dollars on beer each year planning the perfect indoor tailgate party (or kegger in the garage), and often these bashes start the night before. Certainly sounds like a three-day weekend holiday!

And in March, Americans raise their glasses to the Irish (or at least toward Irish whiskey) with enthusiasm that, interestingly enough, surpasses the actual Irish, as St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland is an official church holiday and festive drinking is much more moderate. And come May, we celebrate Mexican heritage with tequila and cerveza in large Cinco de Mayo festivals all across the country. However, in Mexico, the observance is regional and, for the most part, contained to the states of Puebla and Veracruz.

We often fly the flag during the summer months while soaking up the sun and the suds, and both Uncle Sam and the extended brewing industry are thankful. On Memorial Day, we drink ice-cold beer at our barbecues, or we sneak it onto the beach. And on the Fourth of July, colorful cocktails go rather well with fireworks. Of course, by the time Labor Day rolls around in September, we’re so grateful for another day off from work we’ll drink whatever we can get our hands on.

And anyone who truly appreciates hard cider, pumpkin ale, or any type of cranberry cocktail knows that Halloween parties are not just for kids, though often they’re disguised as casual, autumn soirees with a pumpkin or two but no costumes. These types of drinks carry over rather well for formal gatherings also, though if that’s the case, it might not be just the turkey that makes you feel like napping.

Of course, the Christmas parties start while there’s still leftover stuffing in the fridge. Whether it’s a tedious office party, a warm family gathering, or a festive game of dirty Santa, the odds are libations will be served to keep the occasion jolly. In December of 2020, Americans bought 16.3 billion dollars worth of booze; the following month’s sales dropped to 11.3 billion—that makes for 5 billion dollars worth of holiday cheer. And soon enough, another New Year’s Eve comes around. We raise our champagne glasses to toast one another yet again, waiting for that darn ball to drop…and life is good when you’ve got a buzz with your friends.^[10]