The consumption and sociable use of alcohol in eighteenth-century Ireland

A tabulation of the amount of duty-paid spirits, wine and beer produced in and imported into Ireland is the starting point for any engagement with the consumption and sociable use of alcohol in Ireland in the eighteenth century. Since a large volume of whiskey and beer, upon which duty was not paid, was also consumed, alcohol was inevitably a subject of much critical contemporary comment. Yet there is another perspective, which is more in keeping with the reality of a world in which alcohol was integral to domestic as well as public life. This paper engages with this subject in two parts. The first seeks, using official figures as its point of departure, to quantify the volume of duty-paid alcohol (specifically spirits, wine and beer) in circulation, and the pattern of illicit distillation. It also seeks to identify the retail structures that merchants, grocers and others evolved in order to meet public demand. The second part engages with consumption. A large proportion of the wine that was imported was consumed in a domestic setting. This was consistent with the view that, consumed in moderation, it was not only an aid to nutrition but also possessed of tangible medicinal benefits. In the public realm, alcohol was imbibed in the inns, taverns, alehouses and dram shops that were to be found in every part of the country. It was also integral to the commemorative, celebratory calendar of the Protestant elite and the popular calendar of the masses. However, it was alcohol's augmented usefulness in the political realm from the 1750s, and its centrality to the rapidly expanding world of male sociability that enabled it to play a central role both as a social lubricant and as a means of forging political and organisational commitment during the remainder of the century.