Revolution on Tap

Ye Olde Hot Takes Presents: Revolution on Draft

Before there were podcasts, group chats, or comment sections, there were taverns. In Colonial and Revolutionary America, the local watering hole was where the news broke, the arguments brewed, and revolutions quietly fermented.

These beer-soaked rooms hosted town meetings, elections, post-church debates, and the kind of spirited conversations that turned neighbors into revolutionaries. America’s relationship with alcohol has always been complicated, but in the 18th century the tavern was less a vice and more a civic engine. Protests were plotted. Identities were forged. And yes, plans were hatched that would ripple all the way to the Boston Tea Party.

Leading the charge is Malcolm F. Purinton, history professor, beer historian, Boston columnist for Yankee Brew News, and author of Globalization in a Glass: The Rise of Pilsner Beer through Technology, Taste and Empire (Bloomsbury Academic Press, 2023).

If anyone can connect empire, industry, and what’s in your pint glass, it’s Malcolm.

Join us to raise a glass to the original think tanks of American democracy. Each ticket includes your first beer. Must be 21+ to purchase and attend.

History tastes better on tap. 🍺