One of the most beloved liquors, a good whiskey can sell for a pretty penny.
For many of us today, whiskey is more of a rare indulgence, especially compared to cheaper alcoholic beverages such as beer.
As such, the claim that whiskey was once cheaper than everyday staples milk and tea sounds like pure bar talk.
Was this actually true at some point in history?
Verdict:
TRUE
Historians of early American drinking habits point to the early 1800s as a time when whiskey was extraordinarily cheap in parts of the US, particularly the Midwest.
This was because farmers in the Midwest often grew more grain, especially corn and rye, than they could sell locally.
Turning grains into whiskey made it easier and more profitable to transport and sell, since distilled spirits were compact, did not spoil easily and had a higher value per kilogram than raw grain.
In the grain-producing regions of the US interior, whiskey could be sold as cheaply as around a few dozen cents per gallon.
At those prices, it rivalled or undercut other common drinks of the time, including beer, wine, coffee, tea and even milk, most of which had to be imported and were thus more costly.
According to History.com, whiskey in that era was so inexpensive that it became the everyday drink of choice, not a rare indulgence. The heavy alcohol consumption that resulted from this spurred the temperance movement later in the 19th century.
The movement was a social and political campaign advocating for moderation or total abstinence from alcoholic drinks, which eventually led to the Prohibition era, where the production, importation and sale of alcoholic beverages were completely banned in the US.
While the Prohibition era came to an end in 1933, alcohol is still largely taxed and regulated in most countries today, making whiskey far more expensive than everyday beverages.
Meanwhile, pasteurisation, refrigeration, regulation and supply chains have turned milk, tea and coffee into relatively cheap, widely available household staples.
Sources:
https://www.history.com/articles/whiskey-america-economy
https://www.theworldwar.org/learn/about-wwi/prohibition
