Beer, a Cure for Gin Addiction?

Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said William Wilberforce, a late 18th century British politician, “pushed the sale of beer” to successfully combat “drunkenness related to gin” in England. But Wilberforce wasn’t even born until after the so-called gin epidemic had ended in the early 1750s, and its conclusion wasn’t due to beer. 

The gin epidemic’s end eventually came at the hand of multiple factors, including the rising price of grain, reduced wages and legislation that raised taxes on gin. Beer consumption also remained stagnant during the 18th century, which experts say suggests people were drinking gin, or cheap spirits generally, in addition to beer, not substituting one for the other.

Cassidy, also a doctor, made his claims on April 5 during the confirmation hearing of Scott Gottlieb, President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Food and Drug Administration.

One of my favorite historical figures is William Wilberforce. Many reasons why, but among them is that he realized that there’s a lot of problems with drunkenness related to gin. And so the way he mitigated that was he pushed the sale of beer. And the idea is that you’d get so bloated, you’d have to urinate, etc., etc., that you could only drink so much beer as opposed to drinking