Cocked and Boozy: An Intoxicating History of the American Revolution

“A jaunty survey of 18th-century drinking and its ramifications for resistance, rebellion and economic resilience. . . . Barbier’s observations about alcohol’s influence provide a shot of national self-awareness, especially as America celebrates its 250th year.” ― New York Times

America’s founding generation drank a staggering amount of alcohol by today’s standards.

It influenced their politics, built and sustained their relationships, and drove the economy. Booze was not a small part of colonial society, nor covertly consumed in private spaces―it was integral to American life.

Historians have been reluctant to discuss the influence of alcohol on the founding of the United States, but it is necessary if we want to gain a full picture of the movement―it’s time to reveal the drunken side of the American Revolution.

In Cocked and Boozy ―two of Benjamin Franklin’s two hundred terms for drunkenness―public historian Brooke Barbier examines the role that alcohol played in spurring, binding, and winning the American Revolution and how it shaped the nascent United States. Every chapter concludes with an eighteenth-century cocktail recipe made for modern tastes, so readers can participate in their own historic tippling.

The intoxicating story begins in 1763 after the end of the French and Indian War and spans until 1800, with the presidential election of Thomas Jefferson. During these nearly four decades, Americans witnessed unprecedented disorder and prodigious growth, and through it all―powering it, in fact―was alcohol. Put simply, drink helped transform British subjects into Americans.