by Melissa Huston & Sam Huston
Alcohol has been at the center of history since the beginning. A Drinking Story reexamines the world's most pivotal moments through the lens of what was being poured — because the drink always tells the real story. This isn't Drunk History. This is something different. These are the moments in time that were directly shaped by imbibing — when beer, wine, or liquor affected the historical outcome.
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3/20/2026
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June 8, 2026
<p class="font-claude-response-body">The Battle of New Orleans was planned in a bar between a pirate and a general, and over drinks, an unlikely alliance was formed. The British outnumbered the Americans, but they weren't prepared for the combined forces of militia, smugglers, pirates, frontiersmen, free men of color, and Choctaw warriors. Spoiler alert: General Pakenham went home in a barrel of rum, and the Americans went home legends.</p> <p class="font-claude-response-body">Melissa and Sam trace the full story: Jean Laffite's smuggling empire, the myth of the blacksmith shop bar, the whiskey-for-a-sniper deal, and the coffee houses of the French Quarter that were really bars all along. Plus - what New Orleans was actually drinking in 1815, and why it matters.</p> <p class="font-claude-response-body">A Drinking Story - when history was drunk, and what they were drinking when they were.</p>
May 16, 2026
<p class="font-claude-response-body">A sitting world leader was found on Pennsylvania Avenue. In his underwear. Drunk. Demanding a pizza. This is not the scandal. The scandal is what came next.</p> <p class="font-claude-response-body">Boris Yeltsin — Russia's first elected president and the man who dismantled the Soviet Union — spent the 1990s visibly, spectacularly drunk while Russian democracy collapsed around him. Behind the chaos, he was handing power to a quiet former KGB agent to save himself from prosecution. That man did not waste the gift.</p> <p class="font-claude-response-body">Melissa breaks down the Yeltsin drunk timeline and the political aftermath that shaped modern Russia. Sam breaks down vodka — its history, its cultural grip, and why it was never just a drink in Russian political life.</p> <p class="font-claude-response-body">Cold War. Soviet collapse. Oligarchs. The rise of authoritarianism. One drinking problem changed everything.</p> <p class="font-claude-response-body">A Drinking Story — when history was drunk, and what they were drinking when they were.</p> <p class="font-claude-response-body"> </p> <p class="font-claude-response-body"> </p> <p class="font-claude-response-body"> </p> <p class="font-claude-response-body"><strong>Sources</strong></p> <p class="font-claude-response-body" style= "margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"> <!-- [if !supportLists]--><span style= "mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style= "font: 7.0pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span> <!--[endif]-->Boris Yeltsin — Wikipedia <a href= "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Yeltsin">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Yeltsin</a></p> <p class="font-claude-response-body" style= "margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"> <!-- [if !supportLists]--><span style= "mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style= "font: 7.0pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span> <!--[endif]-->The Peculiar Truth About Boris Yeltsin — Medium <a href= "https://medium.com/the-peculiar-truth/the-peculiar-truth-about-boris-yeltsin-77a87c645a8e"> https://medium.com/the-peculiar-truth/the-peculiar-truth-about-boris-yeltsin-77a87c645a8e</a></p> <p class="font-claude-response-body" style= "margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"> <!-- [if !supportLists]--><span style= "mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style= "font: 7.0pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span> <!--[endif]-->No. 10 Feared Boris Yeltsin Was Drinking Himself to Death — The Times <a href= "https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/no-10-feared-cuddly-bear-boris-yeltsin-was-drinking-himself-to-death-bprnct5qr"> https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/no-10-feared-cuddly-bear-boris-yeltsin-was-drinking-himself-to-death-bprnct5qr</a></p> <p class="font-claude-response-body" style= "margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"> <!-- [if !supportLists]--><span style= "mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style= "font: 7.0pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span> <!--[endif]-->Yeltsin Restores State Monopoly on Alcohol — Jamestown Foundation <a href= "https://jamestown.org/yeltsin-restores-state-monopoly-on-alcohol/"> https://jamestown.org/yeltsin-restores-state-monopoly-on-alcohol/</a></p> <p class="font-claude-response-body" style= "margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"> <!-- [if !supportLists]--><span style= "mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style= "font: 7.0pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span> <!--[endif]-->Boris Yeltsin — NBC News <a href= "https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna18273852">https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna18273852</a></p> <p class="font-claude-response-body" style= "margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"> <!-- [if !supportLists]--><span style= "mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style= "font: 7.0pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span> <!--[endif]-->Boris Yeltsin — ABC News <a href= "https://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=82447&page=1">https://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=82447&page=1</a></p> <p class="font-claude-response-body" style= "margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"> <!-- [if !supportLists]--><span style= "mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style= "font: 7.0pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span> <!--[endif]-->Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin's 1994 State Visit — History.com <a href= "https://www.history.com/articles/bill-clinton-boris-yeltsin-drunk-1994-russian-state-visit"> https://www.history.com/articles/bill-clinton-boris-yeltsin-drunk-1994-russian-state-visit</a></p> <p class="font-claude-response-body" style= "margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"> <!-- [if !supportLists]--><span style= "mso-list: Ignore;">8.<span style= "font: 7.0pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span> <!--[endif]-->Launching the Clinton Administration's Russia Policy — National Security Archive <a href= "https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/russia-programs/2023-02-07/launching-clinton-administration-russia-policy-1993"> https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/russia-programs/2023-02-07/launching-clinton-administration-russia-policy-1993</a></p> <p class="font-claude-response-body" style= "margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"> <!-- [if !supportLists]--><span style= "mso-list: Ignore;">9.<span style= "font: 7.0pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span> <!--[endif]-->Russia's Failure of Democracy — Carnegie Endowment <a href= "https://carnegieendowment.org/posts/2016/06/the-road-from-1996-russias-failure-of-democracy"> https://carnegieendowment.org/posts/2016/06/the-road-from-1996-russias-failure-of-democracy</a></p> <p class="font-claude-response-body" style= "margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"> <!-- [if !supportLists]--><span style= "mso-list: Ignore;">10.<span style= "font: 7.0pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span> <!--[endif]-->Why Russia's Democracy Never Began — Davis Center, Harvard <a href= "https://daviscenter.fas.harvard.edu/insights/why-russias-democracy-never-began"> https://daviscenter.fas.harvard.edu/insights/why-russias-democracy-never-began</a></p> <p class="font-claude-response-body" style= "margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"> <!-- [if !supportLists]--><span style= "mso-list: Ignore;">11.<span style= "font: 7.0pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span> <!--[endif]-->The Legacy of Boris Yeltsin — RUSI <a href= "https://www.rusi.org/publication/legacy-boris-yeltsin">https://www.rusi.org/publication/legacy-boris-yeltsin</a></p> <p class="font-claude-response-body" style= "margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"> <!-- [if !supportLists]--><span style= "mso-list: Ignore;">12.<span style= "font: 7.0pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span> <!--[endif]-->Kellogg Institute Working Paper on Russian Democracy — Notre Dame <a href= "https://kellogg.nd.edu/sites/default/files/old_files/documents/352_0.pdf"> https://kellogg.nd.edu/sites/default/files/old_files/documents/352_0.pdf</a></p> <p class="font-claude-response-body" style= "margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"> <!-- [if !supportLists]--><span style= "mso-list: Ignore;">13.<span style= "font: 7.0pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span> <!--[endif]-->Putin Is Perfecting the Authoritarian Model — The New Republic <a href= "https://newrepublic.com/article/156987/putin-perfecting-authoritarian-model"> https://newrepublic.com/article/156987/putin-perfecting-authoritarian-model</a></p> <p class="font-claude-response-body" style= "margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"> <!-- [if !supportLists]--><span style= "mso-list: Ignore;">14.<span style= "font: 7.0pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span> <!--[endif]-->The Constitutional Dark Arts Spreading from Russia — Lowy Institute <a href= "https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/constitutional-dark-arts-spreading-russia-world"> https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/constitutional-dark-arts-spreading-russia-world</a></p> <p><span style= "font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Aptos; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;"> Want to Understand Trump's US? Look at Putin's Russia — Democracy for Sale <a href= "https://democracyforsale.substack.com/p/want-to-understand-trumps-us-look-putin-russia-oligarchy-autocracy"> https://democracyforsale.substack.com/p/want-to-understand-trumps-us-look-putin-russia-oligarchy-autocracy</a></span></p>
April 25, 2026
<p>April 14, 1865. Five days after the Civil War effectively ended, <span class="whitespace-normal">Abraham Lincoln</span> went to <span class="whitespace-normal">Ford's Theatre</span> expecting a night of laughter.</p> <p data-start="1015" data-end="1335">Washington, D.C. was in full celebration mode. Saloons were packed. Victory drinks were flowing. And next door to the theater, at the crowded Star Saloon, two men connected to history's most infamous crime moved through the same room: Lincoln's bodyguard and his killer, <span class= "whitespace-normal">John Wilkes Booth</span>.</p> <p data-start="1337" data-end="1771">This week on <span class= "whitespace-normal">A Drinking Story</span>, we examine how alcohol didn't cause the assassination—but helped create the conditions around it. From Booth's heavy brandy habit, to a policeman drinking instead of guarding the President, to a co-conspirator who got drunk and lost his nerve, this is the story of one of America's darkest nights through the lens of what everyone was drinking.</p> <p class="font-claude-response-body"><span style= "mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast;"> A Drinking Story — when history was drunk, and what they were drinking when they were.</span></p> <p class="font-claude-response-body"> </p> <p class="font-claude-response-body"><strong><span style= "mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast;"> Sources & Further Reading</span></strong></p> <ul type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style= "mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; line-height: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"> Ford's Theatre. History of Ford's Theatre / Lincoln's Assassination. <a href= "https://fords.org/lincolns-assassination/history-of-fords-theatre/" target="_new" data-start="85" data-end= "151">https://fords.org/lincolns-assassination/history-of-fords-theatre/</a></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style= "mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; line-height: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;" data-section-id="1i4upe3" data-start="155" data-end="287"> Smithsonian Magazine. Lincoln's Missing Bodyguard. <a href= "https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/lincolns-missing-bodyguard-12932069/" target="_new" data-start="210" data-end= "285">https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/lincolns-missing-bodyguard-12932069/</a></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style= "mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; line-height: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;" data-section-id="143ha2i" data-start="289" data-end="511">Oakland University Digital Collections. Archival PDF Collection Related to Lincoln Assassination Era Sources. <a href= "https://digitalcollections.library.oakland.edu/files/original/26011c0b48717f53765b209aa645cf76d504bc4f.pdf" target="_new" data-start="403" data-end= "509">https://digitalcollections.library.oakland.edu/files/original/26011c0b48717f53765b209aa645cf76d504bc4f.pdf</a></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style= "mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; line-height: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;" data-section-id="jjlx83" data-start="513" data-end="759">Playbill. The Night Lincoln Was Shot: Minute by Minute Backstage with John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theatre. <a href= "https://playbill.com/article/the-night-lincoln-was-shot-minute-by-minute-backstage-with-john-wilkes-booth-at-fords-theatre-com-346483" target="_new" data-start="624" data-end= "757">https://playbill.com/article/the-night-lincoln-was-shot-minute-by-minute-backstage-with-john-wilkes-booth-at-fords-theatre-com-346483</a></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style= "mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; line-height: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;" data-section-id="t2ub4j" data-start="761" data-end="900">National Park Service. Ford's Theatre Frequently Asked Questions. <a href= "https://www.nps.gov/foth/learn/historyculture/faq-fords-theatre.htm" target="_new" data-start="831" data-end= "898">https://www.nps.gov/foth/learn/historyculture/faq-fords-theatre.htm</a></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style= "mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; line-height: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;" data-section-id="zq42l3" data-start="902" data-end="1030"> History.com. What Lincoln Said in His Final Speech. <a href= "https://www.history.com/articles/what-lincoln-said-in-his-final-speech" target="_new" data-start="958" data-end= "1028">https://www.history.com/articles/what-lincoln-said-in-his-final-speech</a></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style= "mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; line-height: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;" data-section-id="s838ax" data-start="1032" data-end="1191" data-is-last-node="">NAACP. Legislative Milestones: Voting Rights Act of 1965. <a href= "https://naacp.org/find-resources/history-explained/legislative-milestones/voting-rights-act-1965/" target="_new" data-start="1094" data-end="1191" data-is-last-node= "">https://naacp.org/find-resources/history-explained/legislative-milestones/voting-rights-act-1965/</a></li> </ul>
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Alcohol has been at the center of history since the beginning. A Drinking Story reexamines the world's most pivotal moments through the lens of what was being poured — because the drink always tells the real story.
This isn't Drunk History. This is something different. These are the moments in time that were directly shaped by imbibing — when beer, wine, or liquor affected the historical outcome.
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