My high school students sometimes ask me what subject I would teach if I wasn’t teaching language arts, and my answer is always the same: history. Luckily, my American Literature classes allow me to scratch that itch every day when I talk with my students about the many ways our readings connect to the past. My love of history and how it influences the modern world drew me to Camper English's 2022 book Doctors and Distillers: The Remarkable Medicinal History of Beer, Wine, Spirits, and Cocktails. English, a world-renowned cocktail writer, is a self-professed nerd who “has been voted as one of the one hundred most influential people in the global drinks industry for several years running.” His book is about the complex relationship between medicine and alcohol consumption throughout history and seeks to understand what that relationship means for people today.

The book is structured intuitively, moving chronologically through history (with a few minor exceptions) The first chapter, “Fermentation,” describes the processes that people from ancient civilizations used to develop the first alcoholic beverages. Beyond the general discussion of medicine and alcohol that readers should expect, English covers an eclectic array of topics such as the “drunken monkey” hypothesis, the search for the philosopher’s stone, corpse medicine, the Black Death, the creation of the first apothecary unions, the science of taste, scurvy, U.S. Prohibition, hangover cures, and the pseudoscience present in modern mixology. The author’s animated tone serves as a pick-me-up for anyone who may be sipping their favorite drink as they read from chapter to chapter. In discussing the history of scurvy, for example, English states: “Vitamin C was not isolated until 1928, and it was finally proven to be the curative agent for scurvy in 1932. Experiments were conducted on guinea pigs, which had been found to share our common need for vitamin C through diet. This was not the first time guinea pigs have served as experimental subjects. . . Lavoisier and Pasteur both employed them in their experiments. And humans have sent them into space several times. What a ride.”

Another interesting structural detail of Doctors and Distillers is the inclusion of drink recipes every five to ten pages, which often appear alongside the history of a specific drink's ingredients. If the reader considers themself a cocktail connoisseur, this book will get them eager to try their hand at making a new cocktail – it is, in part, a terrific recipe book. One of my favorite cocktails from the book is the Hemingway Daiquiri.

This cocktail was the writer’s preference as he believed he had diabetes, and it is lower in added sugar than the conventional daiquiri.

HEMINGWAY DAIQUIRI

2 ounces (60 ml) aged white rum

0.5 ounces (15ml) maraschino liqueur

0.75 ounces (20ml) lime juice

0.5 ounces (15 ml) grapefruit juice 

Add all ingredients to an ice-filled shaker. Shake and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lime wheel.

English’s book takes readers on an endlessly engaging journey from Sumerian tablets that prescribe beer to cure wounds to the modern-day renaissance of health-conscious alcoholic drinks. Though laden with historical information, the book is not overbearing; one does not need to be a history buff to enjoy it. English’s writing is at its strongest when it strikes a balance between fascinating historical medicinal practices and observational humor. In the book’s opening chapter, he discusses the use of wine as medicine in Greek culture before describing ancient doctors’ treatment techniques in the time of humoral theory: “This highly methodical system allowed doctors to prescribe treatments for many patients without even seeing them in person. Oh, it’s August and you’re a man with a fever? Grab the leeches.” English allows the reader to laugh along with him about the many absurdities of alcohol’s medicinal history.

Though I probably won’t be teaching my high school students about the medicinal history of alcohol anytime soon, this book has helped me better understand the many ways our world’s fascinating history connects us all. Readers interested in history, medicine, or cocktails will be charmed by this book and will come away with a handful of compelling factoids for the next dinner party.