Alcohol

April 5

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Pennsylvania Journal (April 5, 1775).

“JOHN MITCHELL’s WINE, SPIRIT, RUM, and SUGAR STORES.”

John Mitchell operated an alcohol emporium in Philadelphia in the 1770s.  In April 1775, he advertised his “WINE SPIRIT, RUM, and SUGAR STORES” on Front Street, inviting customers in the city and its hinterland to purchase his wares and then retail them at their shops or taverns or enjoy imbibing them at home.  To entice prospective customers, he compiled a lengthy list of his current selection along with a pledge to “keep a constant supply of the above Articles” to avoid disappointments associated with selling out of any favorites.

His inventory included, for instance, “BEST Genuine Madeira Wines,” “Excellent bottled Claret,” “Genuine new and old Port Wine,” “Teneriffe and Fyal Wines,” “Red Lisbon Wine,” “Genuine old French Brandy,” “Shone’s, Ben. Kenton and Parker’s best London bottled Porter,” “Genuine Button and Taunton Ale,” and “West-India and New-England Rum,” along with many other choices.  For many items, Mitchell listed several sizes, indicating that customers could purchase the right amount for their home or business.  He sold Madeira by the gallon or in barrels of various sizes, including “by the pipe, hogshead, [and] quarter-cask.”  The bottled porters came “by the hogshead, hamper or dozen” to meet the budget and the convenience of his customers.

The format of Mitchell’s advertisement highlighted the choices.  Rather than list his wines and spirits in a dense paragraph, as many advertisers did when they sought to demonstrate the selection of goods they offered to consumers, Mitchell devoted one line to each item.  That made it easier for readers to peruse his catalog while also creating visual elements that differentiated his advertisement from news items and other notices that consisted of blocks of text justified on both the left and the right.  The variations in white space that resulted from centering each item on its own line made “Best Genuine Madeira Wines,” “Teneriffe and Fyal Wines,” “Genuine old French Brandy,” and “Spanish Brandy” even more visible within the advertisement.  Both the extensive accounting of wines and spirits and the design of Mitchell’s notice contributed to attracting the attention of prospective customers.

June 1

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Pennsylvania Journal (June 1, 1774).

“Wine, Spirit, Rum and Sugar Store.”

John Mitchell ran the “Wine, Spirit, Rum and Sugar Store” on Front Street in Philadelphia in the 1770s.  Thomas Batt’s “WINE and SPIRIT STORE” was among his competitors for customers in the bustling urban port and its hinterlands.  To attract the attention of prospective customers, Mitchell provided an extensive list of his inventory in his advertisement in the June 1, 1774, edition of the Pennsylvania Journal.  He sold “Best genuine MADEIRA WINES, Old JAMAICA SPIRITS, [and] BRANDY of the best Quality, by the Pipe, Hogshead, Quarte Cask or Gallon.”  Similarly, his patrons could purchase several kinds of wine, including “Genuine OLD PORT, [and] TENRIFF, LISBON, SHERRY, FYALL and MOUNTAIN” wines, “by the Pipe, Quarter Cask or Dozen.  Like Batt, he offered a choice among quantities.  “Excellent bottled CLARET,” “SHONE’S best London PORTER,” and “West-India and Country Rum” rounded out his selection of alcohol.  Mitchell also stocked groceries, including sugar, molasses, coffee, rice, and the increasingly problematic “Green and Bohea Tea.”

Beyond such a selection, Mitchell also aimed to convince readers that he made shopping at his store convenient.  He advised “Friends in the Country” that they “may depend on being as well and punctually supplied by Letter, as if they were Personally present.”  In other words, Mitchell did not give preference or better treatment to customers who visited his store; instead, he cultivated relationships with customers in towns and villages outside of Philadelphia by providing the same level of service, including filling orders as quickly as possible, so they felt comfortable continuing to buy from him rather than turn to his competitors.  That also meant maintaining “a constant supply” of the merchandise listed in his advertisement so customers did not have to wait on his supply chain after placing their orders.  Mitchell combined these appeals with promises of superior quality and fair prices, declaring that he “will be careful to have the best of their kinds” and that “the Public may depend on being served on the most reasonable terms.”  Although the list of his wares accounted for most of the space in his advertisement, Mitchell deployed a variety of other marketing strategies to entice customers to shop at the “Wine, Spirit, Rum and Sugar Store.”

May 25

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Pennsylvania Gazette (May 25, 1774).

“His Liquor shall ever be pure and unmixed.”

Thomas Batt believed in the power of advertising to yield success for his business.  In 1774, he took to the pages of the Pennsylvania Gazette to announce that he had “opened his WINE and SPIRIT STORE” on Water Street in Philadelphia, pledging “to render the retailing of Liquors as compleat and convenient to the Public, as it is in the Power of Expence and strict Attention to do.”  Not long after that advertisement concluded its run, Batt placed another advertisement, this one dated May 14, to alert the public to his new location at “the large Bank House and Store … between Chestnut and WalnutStreet.”

He took the opportunity to review his inventory with prospective customers, asserting that he stocked “a most valuable Collection of Old WINES, of all Kinds” as well as “Rum, Spirits, and Porter, in any Quantities.”  Batt made a similar appeal about customers purchasing whatever quantity they desired in his previous advertisement, declaring that he was “determined to sell any Quantity, from a Pipe [a large barrel] to a Gallon.”  Perhaps he sought to distinguish himself from local vendors known for selling only large quantities or only small quantities.  Batt emphasized convenience in his initial advertisement; allowing consumers to select the quantity that suited their needs helped him to deliver on that promise.

He also highlighted quality and satisfaction.  He concluded his advertisement with an assurance that “his Liquor shall ever be pure and unmixed.”  Batt did not water down his wine or dilute higher quality spirits with lesser quality ones to increase his profit margins by fooling customers.  The retailer was well on his way to securing a favorable reputation, especially considering the “repeated Orders” he received from “approved Judges” of wines and spirits.  Batt hoped that existing clientele would follow him to his new location as well as new customers seeking him there.  His advertisements suggested a variety of reasons for choosing him over other retailers.

April 4

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury (April 4, 1774).

“West-India and New-York rum.”

Delia Lee, a student in my Revolutionary America class, selected advertisements placed by local distillers in the April 4, 1774, edition of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury to feature today.  Richard Deane frequently placed advertisements in the public prints.  The Adverts 250 Project previously examined one of his advertisements that he ran in the New-York Journal in 1772.  Philip Kissick, “DISTILLER and VINTNER,” on the other hand, is making his first appearance among on the Adverts 250 Project.

New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury (April 4, 1774).

Delia, who was enrolled in business courses at the same time she was studying Revolutionary America, was interested in the production, distribution, and consumption of alcohol in early America.  When she set about her research, she consulted W.J. Rorabaugh’s overview of “Alcohol in America” in the OAH Magazine of History.[1]  According to Rorabaugh, “By 1770 Americans consumed alcohol, mostly in the form of rum and cider, routinely with every meal.”  Deane and Kissick stood ready to meet that demand.  Both included “West-India and New-York rum” among the lists of spirits that they sold.  Rorabaugh also notes that each colonizer “consumed about three and a half gallons of alcohol per year.”  Deane asserted that demand for his “Rasberry brandy,” “Cherry rum,” “Shrub of Jamaica spirits,” and other products “exceeded his expectations ten-fold,” suggesting a brisk market, especially for his wares.

Over the next couple of decades, the American Revolution and its aftermath “drastically changed drinking habits.  When the British blockaded the seacoast and thereby cut off molasses and rum imports, Americans looked for a substitute.”  Whiskey, distilled by Scot-Irish immigrants on the western frontier, replaced rum at the end of the eighteenth century “since the British refused to supply it and the new federal government began to tax it in the 1790s.”  Neither Deane nor Kissick included whiskey among the many spirits they advertised on the eve of the American Revolution.  Their advertisements provide a snapshot of the alcohol industry in the colonies at that time, an industry that politics and war would soon alter in significant ways.

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[1] W.J. Rorabaugh, “Alcohol in America,” OAH Magazine of History 6, no. 2 (Fall 1991): 17-19.

March 23

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Supplement to the Pennsylvania Gazette (March 23, 1774).

“Remarkable old Spirits, West-India Rum, and Brandy.”

Thomas Batt advertised his “WINE and SPIRIT STORE” in the Pennsylvania Gazette for three months in 1774.  He stocked a “large and valuable Collection” that included “Old genuine Madeira, Lisbon, Mountain and Teneriffe Wines; remarkable old Spirits, [and] excellent Claret.”  He pledged to “sell any Quantity, from a Pipe [a large barrel] to a Gallon” to suit the needs of his customers.

When it ran on March 23, 1774, Batt’s advertisement appeared in the Supplement to the Pennsylvania Gazette rather than in the standard issue for that week.  Colonial newspapers typically consisted of four pages created by printing two pages on each side of a broadsheet and then folding it in half.  On occasion, printers had more news, letters, advertisements, and other content than would fit within four pages.  Sometimes they inserted notices that material which they did not publish that week would appear in the next issue.  Other times, however, they had enough content to justify publishing a supplement, either two or four pages.

In this instance, the printers opted for a four-page supplement, doubling the content they distributed to subscribers and other readers that week.  The revenue generated from advertisements likely made the supplement a viable endeavor since paid notices filled ten of the twelve columns.  Those advertisement had not merely been displaced to the supplement by news that appeared in the standard issue.  News items accounted for slightly less than six of those twelve columns.  Overall, that meant that the standard issue and the supplement carried eight columns of news and sixteen columns of advertising.  More than one hundred paid notices, including Batt’s advertisement for his “WINE and SPIRIT STORE,” occupied two-thirds of the space in that issue of the Pennsylvania Gazette and its supplement.  Quite often, eighteenth-century newspapers served as vehicles for delivering advertising even more so than for disseminating news.

April 18

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update, Guest Contribution , , , , ,

GUEST CURATOR:  Anna MacLean

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Apr 18 - 4:18:1768 New-York Gazette Weekly Post-Boy
New-York Gazette: Or, the Weekly Post-Boy (April 18, 1768).

“TO BE SOLD … BEST HYSON TEA.”

An advertisement in the April 18, 1768, issue of the New-York Gazette: Or, the Weekly Post-Boy announced “BEST HYSON TEA” in addition to “Mustard, Raisins, Currants, Figs, Chocolate, with other Kinds of Grocery.” I felt compelled to select this advertisement because it sounds absurd to conceptualize a time when America didn’t “run on Dunkin’” coffee (a testament to marketing in modern America). However, by similar means, tea drinkers in colonial America looked forward to the caffeine buzz found in their kettles and teacups.

Hyson tea, characterized by Oliver Pluff & Co. as having a long twisted appearance, was a favorite among American colonists. According to the Boston Tea Party Ship and Museum, during the first half of the eighteenth-century tea was a costly luxury that only a small percentage of the colonies’ population could afford. By the middle of the century, tea was in high demand throughout the colonies and costs decreased making it an everyday beverage for the vast majority. Over time, the American colonies had evolved into a province of tea drinkers.

Yet drinking tea was far more than a hobby in colonial America but rather an “instrument of sociability,” according to the review of Rodris Roth’s “Tea Drinking in 18th-Century America” on Colonial Quills. An invitation to drink tea was an invitation to a social event, perhaps a small, informal gathering or maybe an elegant dinner party.

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ADDITIONAL COMMENTARY:  Carl Robert Keyes

In addition to the “other Kinds of Grocery” that he sold at his shop on Beaver Street in New York, Isaac Noble also advertised “all Kinds of French Liquors” and listed eight varieties.  Since Anna chose to examine one of Noble’s wares that remains popular today (even if it has not retained the cultural currency it enjoyed in eighteenth-century America), I decided to take a closer look at some of these other beverages that colonial Americans drank but that might be less familiar to consumers today.

The Oxford English Dictionarydescribes “Parfaite Amour” as “a sweet liqueur of Dutch origin, flavoured with lemon, cloves, cinnamon, and coriander, and coloured red or purple.”  In addition to the taste, colonists may have been entertained by the color!  Several other items on Noble’s list appear to have been liqueurs as well, including “Anise,” “Essence of Tea,” “Essence of Coffee,” and “Oil of Hazle Nuts.”  While it may be fairly easy to imagine the flavor and composition of each of those “French Liquors,” the “Oil of Venus” presents more of a challenge.  One Household Encyclopedia published in the middle of the nineteenth century includes recipes for both Oil of Jupiter and Oil of Venus.  It describes Oil of Venus as brandy infused with caraway, anise, mace, and orange rinds and mixed with sugar.  Published nearly a century after Noble’s advertisement appeared in the New-York Gazette: Or, the Weekly Post-Boy, that recipe may not have been the same as the “Oil of Venus” colonists drank, but the mixture of spices does appear consistent with methods for distilling the “Parfaite Amour” listed immediately before it.  The nature of the “Free Mason’s Cordial” remains more elusive, but it turns out that the “Usquebaugh” was not as exotic as the name might suggest. The Oxford English Dictionary indicates “usquebaugh” is an Irish and Scottis Gaelic word for whisky.  Like tea, usquebaugh/whisky remains a popular beverage today, even if the average person does not consume either in the same quantities as colonists did in the eighteenth century.

The various “Kinds of French Liquors” advertised by Noble may not seem readily identifiable to twenty-first-century consumers, at least not by the names used to describe them in the eighteenth century, but several continue to be sold and consumed today. As a result of advances in marketing practices, some are now better known by specific brand names rather than the general descriptions deployed in the colonial era.

January 29

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Jan 29 - 1:29:1768 New-London Gazette
New-London Gazette (January 29, 1768).

“Choice GENEVA.”

John Armbruester placed an advertisement in the January 29, 1768, edition of the New-London Gazette to inform residents of Norwich and the surrounding area that he distilled and sold Geneva. Advertisers regularly promoted Geneva in eighteenth-century newspapers, either on its own, as Armbruester did, or along with an array of other spirits. Colonists certainly knew what they were being offered, but the name Geneva has largely fallen out of use today. What was Geneva?

The Oxford English Dictionary provides some clarification in its entries for gin and genever. Dutch distillers first produced a variation of gin in the late sixteenth century. This aromatic drink, flavored with juniper berries and a variety of herbs and spices, was known in Dutch as genever, but in English as Dutch gin or Hollands gin (shortened from Hollands geneva). In the middle of the eighteenth century, distillers in London produced a “less coarse, more subtly flavoured gin” that became known as London gin. That variation became the most usual form of the drink. Today consumers enjoy (London) gin in mixed drinks and cocktails, whereas genever (or jenever) is usually drunk neat.

Gin was just gaining in popularity in England at the time Armbruester distilled and sold his Geneva in Connecticut. Either he had not yet learned the process for making gin rather than genever or the demand for gin had not yet increased so significantly that he determined producing it would yield greater revenues. Whatever his reasons, the advertisement made it clear that he did indeed distill genever rather than gin. He favorably compared his “Choice GENEVA” to “that brought from Holland” rather than any produced in London, noting that “This GENEVA is esteemed by good Judges, to be equal.” In his competition with transatlantic rivals, Armbruester assured local consumers that his product was not inferior to any genever they could import from the region where it had originally been distilled two centuries earlier.

March 24

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update, Guest Contribution , , , , ,

GUEST CURATOR: Ceara Morse

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Mar 24 - 3:24:1767 South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal
South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal (March 24, 1767).

“SUNDRY houshold goods, plate, several dozen bottles of old arrack.”

Even though eighteenth-century America was built on drinks – the social and often political drink of tea and the economic production of rum – some colonists also enjoyed more expensive choices of drinks. The commodity that drew me to this advertisement was the “several dozen bottles of old arrack.” From the context, I gathered that it was some form of drink, most likely alcoholic. According to Chuck Hudson’s explanations of “Beverages in the Georgian Era,” Arrack is a form of alcohol from Indonesia which was distilled from sugarcane. It was first popular in London, and through Anglicization, it became popular in the colonies. This was the type of drink one would get if one “could afford better than the basic.” Since England wanted to control trade with the colonies, the Arrack was “shipped from the East Indies to England before it could be trans-shipped to America.” This also made it quite expensive.

This brings me back to the advertisement itself. The previous owner, the late Robert Hume, must have been a wealthy man with what was being sold. He had several bottles of Arrack, which was a feat in it of itself. This was also shown with how much land Mr. Hume seemed to own.

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ADDITIONAL COMMENTARY: Carl Robert Keyes

Merchants, shopkeepers, and artisans who promoted new goods placed most advertisements for consumer goods featured on the Adverts 250 Project, yet early Americans acquired goods a variety of ways. In addition to imported items recently arrived on ships from London and other ports in the British Atlantic world, secondhand goods circulated widely in eighteenth-century America. Colonists willingly sold or passed on some of their possessions for a variety of reasons, but other goods reentered the marketplace via theft or estate sales.

In addition to “several dozen bottles of old arrack,” the executors of Robert Hume’s estate also advertised “SUNDRY houshold goods,” likely a more affordable option for some colonists than purchasing new wares from South Carolina’s merchants, shopkeepers, and artisans. Another advertisement in the same issue of the South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal announced an auction for “SOME HOUSHOLD FURNITURE, WEARING APPAREL, and sundry other Articles, lately belonging to a Person deceased.” Surely readers could find some bargains there as well!

Elsewhere in the same issue, Alexander Caddell announced that he had “STOPT from a Negro who offered them for sale, a pair of very good Buck-skin Breeches, almost new.” Caddell indicated that he ran a “breeches-maker’s shop in Broad-street.” Presumably the “Negro” approached Caddell with an opportunity to supplement his inventory, hoping that the breechesmaker would not much care about the origins of the breeches. Advertisements for runaway slaves and indentured servants often listed clothing they had taken with them, which could be used for disguises or sold or exchanged. On a fairly regular basis, shopkeepers placed notices indicating that thieves had stolen multiple items, not just a single article of clothing. Black and white colonists frequently colluded in what Serena Zabin has called the “informal economy” of stolen and secondhand goods.

John Davies advertised an assortment of textiles and other wares “Imported in the Minerva, from London” in the March 24 issue of the South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal. He informed potential customers of his inventory not only because he competed with other merchants and shopkeepers but also because colonists acquired some of their possessions through the market for secondhand goods.

February 27

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update, Guest Contribution , , , , , , ,

GUEST CURATOR: Samuel Birney

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

feb-27-2271767-south-carolina-and-american-general-gazette
South-Carolina and American General Gazette (February 27, 1767).

“LONDON, New-York, and other MADEIRA WINE, by the Pipe, Hogshead, Quarter Cask, or Dozen.”

Colonial Americans drank alcoholic beverages all the time and at any time they wanted. According to Ed Crews, colonists commonly had a drink for breakfast, brunch, lunch, pre-dinner snacking, during supper, and right before bed. Colonists enjoyed drinking at social events, work, and, even during studies at colleges. In fact, Crews reports, in 1639 Nathaniel Eaton, the President at Harvard College at the time, “lost his job” when he did not provide enough beer for students and staff. Alcohol was a wonder drink believed to have many beneficial properties ranging from warming the body, making people stronger, aiding the sick, and generally causing people to have a good time.

Today’s notice advertised the sale of a variety of wines and spirits imported from across the Atlantic, including Madeira, Port, Burgundy, Claret, and Brandy, as well as Jamaican Rum from the Caribbean. Colonists had a variety of different drinks they preferred, including mixers called Rattle-Skull, Stonewall, Bogus, Blackstrap, Bombo, Mimbo, Whistle, Belly, Syllabub, Sling, Toddy, and Flip, and just as many names for being drunk.

Wine, rum, and whiskey were favored drinks among the colonists, with rum being king amongst the common man. Elites imported wine, especially Jefferson who loved French wine and attempted to produce wine in America, a failed endeavor. George Washington, on the other hand, owned and operated a private whiskey distillery on his property at Mt. Vernon.

American colonists consumed a large variety of alcoholic beverages for various occasions and at times throughout the day, with wine, rum, and whiskey being especially favorite drinks.

For more on “Drinking in Colonial America,” see Ed Crews’ article on the Colonial Williamsburg website.

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ADDITIONAL COMMENTARY: Carl Robert Keyes

Cunningham and Sands, purveyors of all sorts of alcohol, emphasized quality and service in their advertisement. Whether customers purchased any of a dozen different varieties of wine or instead opted for rum from Jamaica and other locales in the West Indies, all were “warranted to be excellent in Quality.” This was possible because Cunningham and Sands took “the greatest Care” in choosing which wines and rum to import and sell, implying a certain level of expertise on their part. They also took great care in “the Management” of the wines they stocked, suggesting that they were shipped and stored under the best conditions in order to avoid any sort of contamination or turning. Cunningham and Sands implied that they knew wine as well as artisans knew their trades.

In terms of service, the partners offered several options to potential customers interested in obtaining their products. Consumers could visit Cunningham and Sands at one of two locations in Charleston, either “at their Counting-House fronting the Bay, on Mr. Burn’s new Wharf, or at their Store in Union-street.” Realizing that not all readers of the South-Carolina and American General Gazette – and prospective customers – resided in the Charleston or had easy access to either of their two locations, Cunningham and Sands also announced that “All Orders from the Country will be punctually complied with.” In effect, they offered mail order service! They apparently believed this convenience would attract customers. Not only did they include it in their advertisements, they also drew special attention to it by inserting it as a separate nota bene rather than including it in the paragraph of dense text that detailed the other aspects of quality and service they provided. (Whether Cunningham and Sands or the printer decided that the nota bene should be printed in italics is much more difficult to determine. Advertisers generally wrote their own copy and printers generally made decisions about layout, but occasionally advertisers exercised some influence over format.)

Sam notes that Americans consumed a fair amount of alcohol and enjoyed various sorts of wines and spirits. Today’s advertisement reveals some of the options available to them as well as part of the process involved in shopping for these items.

November 13

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update, Guest Contribution , , , , , ,

GUEST CURATOR: Mary Williams

What was advertised in a colonial newspaper 250 years ago today?

nov-13-11131766-new-york-journal
Supplement to the New-York Journal (November 13, 1766).

“TO BE SOLD, By THOMAS DOUGHTY, IN DOCK-STREET: CHOICE old Madeira Wine.”

In this advertisement published in the New-York Journal, Thomas Doughty offered a lot of different beverages, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, for sale in his shop on Dock Street. What caught my eye was that Madeira wine was the only drink listed with a description: “old.”

After researching the history of Madeira wine, I discovered that it was created specifically to withstand long travels overseas when it would be shipped to other countries. Steven Grasse, author of Colonial Spirits: A Toast to Our Drunken History, writes, “The idea – and what made Madeira so durable and, in turn, beloved by early Americans – is that the wine is essentially spoiled, professionally and on purpose.”[1] Madeira wine was advertised as being old, because that’s what it was known for: never going bad despite the passing of time.

Madeira wine was a favorite drink amongst colonists. Grasse writes that although Madeira was a more expensive item, it was still very popular in British North America. “Madeira wasn’t cheap. Common people wouldn’t have drunk it – or, at least, not often – but that didn’t stop it from becoming part and parcel of the story of the American Revolution.”[2] Grasse goes on to say that Madeira became a leading import during the Revolution.[3] Madeira was a favorite choice of colonists because it kept constant quality over long periods of time.

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ADDITIONAL COMMENTARY: Carl Robert Keyes

In addition to “Madeira Wine,” Thomas Doughty sold “sundry other Articles of Grocery” imported from faraway places. To help potential customers navigate his advertisement he grouped similar items together: first alcoholic beverages, hot drinks (tea, coffee, and chocolate) next, then sugars followed by fruits and spices, and finally tobacco. That he listed alcohol first indicates which products he believed would attract readers’ attention and prompt them to peruse the rest of the goods he offered for sale.

Mary has examined the origins of Madeira, a wine that may be less familiar to modern readers than the rum, port, and wines Doughty hawked in his advertisement. He also sold another spirit that remains very popular today, Holland Geneva, though it is now commonly known as gin (which is a corruption of the word “Geneva”). Originally produced in Holland, gin almost immediately became one of the most popular drinks when it was introduced in England, especially after William and Mary assumed the throne. It had a reputation for being both inexpensive and strong.

Each of the alcoholic beverages in Doughty’s advertisement was either named after its place of origin (Madeira and Holland Geneva) or included a place in their description (“Lisbon Red Port,” “Tenriffe Wines,” “Jamaica Spirits,” and “West-India Rum”). Modern consumers certainly still identify their potent potables by their place of origin, but for colonists that was not merely a means of making distinctions of quality or reputation or other attributes. In addition, they also thought about the networks of trade and commerce that brought alcoholic beverages to British mainland North America from Portugal and its island outposts in the eastern Atlantic, the Netherlands, and the Caribbean. The range of alcohols and groceries items in Doughty’s advertisement demonstrates that colonists participated in transatlantic and global networks of trade during the eighteenth century.

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[1] Steven A. Grasse, Colonial Spirits: A Toast to our Drunken History (New York: Abrams, 2016), 74.

[2] Grasse, Colonial Spirits, 75.

[3] Grasse, Colonial Spirits, 75.