Doctors and Distillers: The Remarkable Medicinal History of Beer, Wine, Spirits, and Cocktails

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Synopsis
&“At last, a definitive guide to the medicinal origins of every bottle behind the bar! This is the cocktail book of the year, if not the decade.&” —Amy Stewart, author of The Drunken Botanist and Wicked Plants&“A fascinating book that makes a brilliant historical case for what I&’ve been saying all along: alcohol is good for you…okay maybe it&’s not technically good for you, but [English] shows that through most of human history, it&’s sure beat the heck out of water.&” —Alton Brown, creator of Good EatsBeer-based wound care, deworming with wine, whiskey for snakebites, and medicinal mixers to defeat malaria, scurvy, and plague: how today's tipples were the tonics of old.Alcohol and Medicine have an inextricably intertwined history, with innovations in each altering the path of the other. The story stretches back to ancient times, when beer and wine were used to provide nutrition and hydration, and were employed as solvents for healing botanicals. Over time, alchemists distilled elixirs designed to cure all diseases, monastic apothecaries developed mystical botanical liqueurs, traveling physicians concocted dubious intoxicating nostrums, and the drinks we&’re familiar with today began to take form. In turn, scientists studied fermentation and formed the germ theory of disease, and developed an understanding of elemental gases and anesthetics. Modern cocktails like the Old-Fashioned, Gimlet, and Gin and Tonic were born as delicious remedies for diseases and discomforts. In Doctors and Distillers, cocktails and spirits expert Camper English reveals how and why the contents of our medicine and liquor cabinets were, until surprisingly recently, one and the same.
Copyright:
2022

Book Details

Book Quality:
Publisher Quality
Book Size:
368 Pages
ISBN-13:
9780525506591
Related ISBNs:
9780143134923
Publisher:
Penguin Publishing Group
Date of Addition:
Copyrighted By:
Camper English
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Has Image Descriptions:
No
Categories:
History, Nonfiction, Cooking, Food and Wine
Submitted By:
Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:
This is a copyrighted book.

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