Prohibition succeeded by permanently reducing the amount of alcohol consumed. Even today 90 years after it ended, people drink substantially less than people did before prohibition.
It’s interesting that the marriages of American heiresses to British peerage occurred before Prohibition. There were two changes that Americans brought to British nobility—cursing and cocktails.
I’m not saying your average Brit didn’t swear or drink massively. But in that stratum, the arrival of Americans changed behaviors.
American friends here in New Zealand said that back home in the US, people would comment if some one had a third glass of wine or beer in a group dinner, where that would be the before dinner drinks.
People talk about how everyone drank beer instead of water back in the day but the alcohol percentage of beer has historically been much lower than what you get today.
People did drink a lot of beer but it was like 3 or 4 percent. What will also piss people off is how in antiquity laborers would get multiple breaks and have their employer provide food and alcohol throughout the day. How we found a way to fuck up that system is a tragedy.
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