Ep 9: Kirk French Explains Why Humans Have Been Drinking for 10 Million Years

Kirk French teaches one of the most popular undergraduate courses in the United States. His so-called “Booze and Culture” course at Penn State, which covers the anthropology of alcohol, attracts 700 students a time. From him, they learn how fermented beverages reveal fundamental truths about human culture. From milking horses to create traditional Mongolian airag, to excavating beer cans at football tailgates, French uses alcohol as a lens to make anthropology accessible and engaging. His research spans Maya brewing traditions, Appalachian moonshine archaeology, and the social dynamics of college drinking, all while challenging students to understand that alcohol consumption patterns expose socioeconomic status, cultural values, and the universal human desire for social connection and altered consciousness.

In this wide-ranging conversation, French explores why alcohol and agriculture co-evolved, why Native North Americans never developed fermentation traditions, and whether the current push toward abstinence represents a permanent shift or temporary reaction to pandemic-era overconsumption. He argues that America's 21-year-old drinking age removes crucial guardrails that protect young drinkers in other countries, that prohibition movements always stem from fear of what intoxicated people might do when their inhibitions drop, and that cannabis and social media are now substituting for alcohol's traditional role in lowering social anxiety. His conclusion: alcohol is too deeply woven into human culture across millennia to ever disappear, though consumption patterns will continue their historical ebb and flow.

Meet your host:

Felicity Carter is an award-winning wine and drinks journalist, editor, speaker trainer and content strategist. She led Meininger’s Wine Business International to become the world’s most must-read wine trade magazine, and was founding Executive Editor of The Drop/Pix, which the Wall Street Journal named one of the most trusted sources of wine information. A regular keynote speaker at international events, she was named a 2024 Industry Leader by WineBusiness Monthly.

And Drinks Insider is an award-winning podcast! It has won the 67 Pall Mall Global Wine Communicator Award in Audio.