Table of Contents
Introduction 13
1 Drunken Monkeys and Discovering Alcohol: The Dawn of Time 18
2 Cleopatra and Her Inimitable Liver: The Ancient World 34
3 Hildegard's Brewnuns Just Want to Have Fun: The Early Middle Ages 54
4 Li Qingzhao and the Devil's Schoolhouse: The High Middle Ages 74
5 The Deviant Mirth of Mary Frith: The Renaissance 90
6 The Vodka Empire of Catherine the Great: The Eighteenth Century 109
7 The Widow Clicquot and the Deliciously Feminine: The Nineteenth Century 140
8 Ada Coleman's American Bar: The Twentieth Century 171
9 Gertrude Lythgoe, Queen of the Bootleggers: The 1920s 192
10 Tequila, Trousers and the Legacy of Lucha Reyes: The 1930s and 40s 229
11 Sunny Sund the Beachcomber: The 1950s 252
12 Ladies Night with Bessie Williamson: The 1960s and 70s 273
13 The Joy Spence Anniversary Blend: The 1980s and 90s 297
14 Julie Reiner behind the Bar after Three: The 2000s 318
15 Apiwe Nxusani-Mawela's Bold Brew: The 2010s 333
Epilogue 348
Acknowledgments 351
Sources 353
Index 373