This is not a book for would-be wine connoisseurs, nor a tract written for or against the pleasures of alcohol. It is an exploration of our drinking habits, our reasons for drinking, our choice of drinks, and the way these have changed through history. Naturally it covers wine and beer in all their variety, but it ranges over the whole field of drink consumption from distilled spirits to mineral water and from chocolate to Coco-Cola, and it sets them in the context of our changing life-style. Licensing laws and lager louts; the British invention of champagne; Gin Lane; expresso bars; Victorian dinners and the psychology of the British beer drinker: these are just a handful of the topics touched on in this survey of one of mankind's favourite activities. Other work by the author includes "Wine Snobbery: An Insider's Guide"