The Cultural History of Alcohol

Scientific studies on the effects of alcohol consumption have been conducted over the past 200 years. A brief summary.

Photo credit: Philipp_Lipiarski
Photo credit: Philipp_Lipiarski

Regina Thumser-Wöhs (Institute for Modern History and Contemporary History, JKU) has focused on the history of alcohol – and has found interesting social aspects. For health reasons, for example, Prussian King Frederick the Great (1712-1786) strongly advocated consuming an alcoholic beer soup instead the newly discovered “coffee” drink that was circulating in social circles.

Regina Thumser-Wöhs will relay these stories and more during the Ö1 radio series “Betrifft: Geschichte” to air this week on Ö1 under the title "Der gesellschaftliche Begleiter".