How (and why) to destroy Big Alcohol
A transcription of The Fingers Podcast with James Wilt, author of 'Drinking Up the Revolution'
Something you realize when you read a lot of books about booze is that there are really only three books about booze. There are business histories like Bitter Brew and Last Call; cultural histories like A Short History of Drunkenness and Girly Drinks; and memoirs from industry pros and colorfully drunken amateurs alike. Also cocktail recipe books, but you don’t really read those. Or at least, I don’t. Whatever. My point is: as an independent journalist who’s been covering the drinks business—or “beverage alcohol,” in the jargon—for going on a dozen years now, I’ve read plenty of books about the hard stuff, and while some are truly terrific, they all more or less fit into one of those three categories. Drinking Up the Revolution: How to Smash Big Alcohol and Reclaim Working-Class Joy, on the other hand, does not.
Published earlier this year by Repeater, Jam…