A Drinking Story copertina

A Drinking Story

A Drinking Story

Di: Melissa Huston & Sam Huston
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Alcohol has been at the center of history since the beginning. A Drinking Story reexamines the world's most pivotal moments through the lens of what was being poured — because the drink always tells the real story. This isn't Drunk History. This is something different. These are the moments in time that were directly shaped by imbibing — when beer, wine, or liquor affected the historical outcome.2026 Mondiale Scienze sociali
Episodi
  • When drinking shaped the Battle of New Orleans

    When drinking shaped the Battle of New Orleans
    Jun 8 2026

    The Battle of New Orleans was planned in a bar between a pirate and a general, and over drinks, an unlikely alliance was formed. The British outnumbered the Americans, but they weren't prepared for the combined forces of militia, smugglers, pirates, frontiersmen, free men of color, and Choctaw warriors. Spoiler alert: General Pakenham went home in a barrel of rum, and the Americans went home legends.

    Melissa and Sam trace the full story: Jean Laffite's smuggling empire, the myth of the blacksmith shop bar, the whiskey-for-a-sniper deal, and the coffee houses of the French Quarter that were really bars all along. Plus - what New Orleans was actually drinking in 1815, and why it matters.

    A Drinking Story - when history was drunk, and what they were drinking when they were.
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    43 min
  • A Story About Vodka's Butterfly Effect: Boris Yeltsin

    A Story About Vodka's Butterfly Effect: Boris Yeltsin
    May 16 2026
    A sitting world leader was found on Pennsylvania Avenue. In his underwear. Drunk. Demanding a pizza. This is not the scandal. The scandal is what came next. Boris Yeltsin — Russia's first elected president and the man who dismantled the Soviet Union — spent the 1990s visibly, spectacularly drunk while Russian democracy collapsed around him. Behind the chaos, he was handing power to a quiet former KGB agent to save himself from prosecution. That man did not waste the gift. Melissa breaks down the Yeltsin drunk timeline and the political aftermath that shaped modern Russia. Sam breaks down vodka — its history, its cultural grip, and why it was never just a drink in Russian political life. Cold War. Soviet collapse. Oligarchs. The rise of authoritarianism. One drinking problem changed everything. A Drinking Story — when history was drunk, and what they were drinking when they were. Sources 1. Boris Yeltsin — Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Yeltsin 2. The Peculiar Truth About Boris Yeltsin — Medium https://medium.com/the-peculiar-truth/the-peculiar-truth-about-boris-yeltsin-77a87c645a8e 3. No. 10 Feared Boris Yeltsin Was Drinking Himself to Death — The Times https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/no-10-feared-cuddly-bear-boris-yeltsin-was-drinking-himself-to-death-bprnct5qr 4. Yeltsin Restores State Monopoly on Alcohol — Jamestown Foundation https://jamestown.org/yeltsin-restores-state-monopoly-on-alcohol/ 5. Boris Yeltsin — NBC News https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna18273852 6. Boris Yeltsin — ABC News https://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=82447&page=1 7. Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin's 1994 State Visit — History.com https://www.history.com/articles/bill-clinton-boris-yeltsin-drunk-1994-russian-state-visit 8. Launching the Clinton Administration's Russia Policy — National Security Archive https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/russia-programs/2023-02-07/launching-clinton-administration-russia-policy-1993 9. Russia's Failure of Democracy — Carnegie Endowment https://carnegieendowment.org/posts/2016/06/the-road-from-1996-russias-failure-of-democracy 10. Why Russia's Democracy Never Began — Davis Center, Harvard https://daviscenter.fas.harvard.edu/insights/why-russias-democracy-never-began 11. The Legacy of Boris Yeltsin — RUSI https://www.rusi.org/publication/legacy-boris-yeltsin 12. Kellogg Institute Working Paper on Russian Democracy — Notre Dame https://kellogg.nd.edu/sites/default/files/old_files/documents/352_0.pdf 13. Putin Is Perfecting the Authoritarian Model — The New Republic https://newrepublic.com/article/156987/putin-perfecting-authoritarian-model 14. The Constitutional Dark Arts Spreading from Russia — Lowy Institute https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/constitutional-dark-arts-spreading-russia-world Want to Understand Trump's US? Look at Putin's Russia — Democracy for Sale https://democracyforsale.substack.com/p/want-to-understand-trumps-us-look-putin-russia-oligarchy-autocracy
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    40 min
  • The Night Lincoln Was Shot… and Everyone Was Drinking

    The Night Lincoln Was Shot… and Everyone Was Drinking
    Apr 25 2026

    April 14, 1865. Five days after the Civil War effectively ended, Abraham Lincoln went to Ford's Theatre expecting a night of laughter.

    Washington, D.C. was in full celebration mode. Saloons were packed. Victory drinks were flowing. And next door to the theater, at the crowded Star Saloon, two men connected to history's most infamous crime moved through the same room: Lincoln's bodyguard and his killer, John Wilkes Booth.

    This week on A Drinking Story, we examine how alcohol didn't cause the assassination—but helped create the conditions around it. From Booth's heavy brandy habit, to a policeman drinking instead of guarding the President, to a co-conspirator who got drunk and lost his nerve, this is the story of one of America's darkest nights through the lens of what everyone was drinking.

    A Drinking Story — when history was drunk, and what they were drinking when they were.

    Sources & Further Reading

    • Ford's Theatre. History of Ford's Theatre / Lincoln's Assassination. https://fords.org/lincolns-assassination/history-of-fords-theatre/
    • Smithsonian Magazine. Lincoln's Missing Bodyguard. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/lincolns-missing-bodyguard-12932069/
    • Oakland University Digital Collections. Archival PDF Collection Related to Lincoln Assassination Era Sources. https://digitalcollections.library.oakland.edu/files/original/26011c0b48717f53765b209aa645cf76d504bc4f.pdf
    • Playbill. The Night Lincoln Was Shot: Minute by Minute Backstage with John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theatre. https://playbill.com/article/the-night-lincoln-was-shot-minute-by-minute-backstage-with-john-wilkes-booth-at-fords-theatre-com-346483
    • National Park Service. Ford's Theatre Frequently Asked Questions. https://www.nps.gov/foth/learn/historyculture/faq-fords-theatre.htm
    • History.com. What Lincoln Said in His Final Speech. https://www.history.com/articles/what-lincoln-said-in-his-final-speech
    • NAACP. Legislative Milestones: Voting Rights Act of 1965. https://naacp.org/find-resources/history-explained/legislative-milestones/voting-rights-act-1965/
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    35 min
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