Drinking played a rather heavy role in the founding of America 250 years ago, writes Mike Newall for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Outside Independence Hall, the Founding Fathers often took breaks from drafting the nation’s independence by bending elbows at City Tavern. George Washington enjoyed Philadelphia-brewed Robert Hare’s porter so much that he kept a steady supply at Mount Vernon, while John Adams, who had once opposed taverns, wrote letters to his wife praising Philadelphia’s lively bar scene.

As they plotted a revolution, they consumed alcohol in quantities that would seem staggering by today’s standards.

“Unlike today’s bars, taverns were meeting places at a time when few others were available,” said Dan Wheeler, who recently reopened Philadelphia’s only remaining colonial-era tavern, A Man Full of Trouble. “Revolutionary thoughts were conceived and refined in taverns, and a nation was born.”

Philadelphia naturally became the epicenter for alcohol consumption, as many of the meetings took place in the city.

By the time beer and spirits became staples of daily life in the late 18th century, average colonists were drinking about 3.7 gallons of hard liquor per year.

That is a glaring difference from the 2.5 gallons of all alcohol Americans consume today.

Read more about the critical role drinking had the founding of America in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

_____

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on PHILADELPHIA.Today in February 2026.