Who knew getting approval for a food truck on the corner of an old petrol station would be so difficult? For months—actually, years—long enough to write a book, Common Garage has been battling bureaucracy, banks, and red tape, trying to raise capital the traditional way, mostly in vain. This book is an unconventional approach to fund an unconventional project.
Everything you thought you knew about alcohol’s role in society has been watered down.
Alcohol’s history is a cocktail of stories about mankind—incessantly shaking up traditions, mixing definitions, straining symbols of devotion, and pouring them into new vessels to match the tastes of the day. It’s often refreshing, sometimes sweet, and occasionally bitter. Although change is the only constant, spirited origins linger—hidden in every glass, diluted, and sometimes hard to swallow.
Who’s Under the Influence? is an entertaining, fast-paced, deeply researched and often irreverent remix of booze’s true impact on the world. Our obsession with alcohol has fuelled economies, ignited revolutions, and shaped cultures across history—not just what we drink, but how it’s been sold, controlled, and mythologised.
This is not the history you were taught in Catholic school.
See how Prohibition didn’t stop drinking—it just turned crime into a global empire.
Uncover the myths and marketing behind beer, vodka, whiskey, and the world’s wine brands.
Explore how religion, governments, corporations, and cultural movements have shaped drinking habits across history.
Unveil the forgotten ties between witches and crackdowns on primeval craft beer.
Dive into the hidden history of alcohol—from sacred brews to psychedelic wine and ancient hallucinogenic ales.
Discover how beer may have been the true catalyst for civilisation and perhaps the birth of religion.
From ancient temples to modern boardrooms, Who’s Under the Influence? reveals how alcohol has been used to empower, deceive, and transform society. Behind every sip, every toast, and every prohibition law is a story far stranger than fiction.
Whether you’re a history buff, a spirit’s enthusiast, or just someone who enjoys a good drink and a better story, this book will change the way you see what’s in your glass—and who put it there.
This is the perfect book for anyone looking for some new and sometimes outrageous stories to share over happy hour.
Over my professional career, I’ve had the opportunity to consult with Australia’s largest alcohol corporations and many independent beer, wine, and spirits businesses, developing and implementing brand marketing strategies.
While at university, I worked in frontline hospitality roles, managing bars, clubs, restaurants, and cafés—I was more passionate about serving drinks than my studies. My mother eventually convinced me to get a ‘haircut and a real job.’
I remember my first shift as a bartender vividly. A scorching 40-degree Australian afternoon. Getting a tour of the bar, the manager opened the fridge to find last week’s strawberries still in their punnet—too old for a garnish but too good to waste.
“Let me show you how to make the perfect Strawberry Daiquiri.” Bartenders, ever the opportunists, turning a tutorial into the perfect summer drink.
“Grab that rum, those cut limes, the syrup, and fill the blender with ice.” He demonstrated the precise liquid-to-ice ratio to achieve the perfect consistency.
“Do you see that green liqueur on the top shelf?” pointing to a bottle of Chartreuse.
“Just a dash is all you need, but first, look at the bottle for a moment—see the date on that? 1605. Can you name another item in any store that has remained unchanged for 400 years? Older than sliced bread, that is.”
And he was right. Chartreuse predates the first sale of sliced bread in 1928 by more than 300 years.
Now, most bartenders wouldn’t normally put Chartreuse in a Strawberry Daiquiri. But that’s the thing about mixing drinks—it’s always been about exploration, experimentation, innovation, and interpretation, with a dash of personal taste. One thing’s for sure: he knew how to make a damn good Daiquiri.
The history of alcohol is a story of mankind continuously shaking up traditions, mixing definitions, straining symbols of devotion, and pouring them into new containers for the people of the day. It’s often refreshing, sometimes sweet, and occasionally bitter. Yet the weight of its origins carries on, diluted beneath the surface.
Unlikely themes and topics continuously intersect and connect across the world of alcohol. Like that Green Chartreuse, crafted by Carthusian monks in France—a 110-proof liqueur created from devotion and worship—finding its place in a decadent and wicked Daiquiri.
This is just the tip of the iceberg (or Daiquiri) when it comes to the surprising, seemingly contradictory, and largely overlooked connections between alcohol and the evolution of our society.
This book stems from lifelong fascinations with alcohol, marketing, and mythology—when tied together in a narrative, they paint a completely different picture of how we got to where we are today. This is not the history you were taught in Catholic school.
Who’s under the influence? is a three part book, jam packed with unbelievable stories spanning 13,000 years of alcohol history. From modern day marketing illusions to the birth of writing itself, even to Christianity’s early ties to psychedelic wine sacraments this book proves when it comes to the history of alcohol fact is stranger than fiction.
Alcohol wasn’t just a byproduct of civilisation—it was the catalyst that shaped agriculture, trade, and religion, while early power structures emerged to regulate and control it.
As societies grew, alcohol became less about community and ritual and more about control, with religious institutions, governments, and corporations monopolising production, weaponising prohibition, and transforming alcohol from a sacred substance into a mass-marketed commodity.
Beyond intoxication, alcohol was once a tool for spiritual and mystical experiences, but its true role was buried under layers of prohibition, propaganda, and corporate (and religious) rebranding—mirroring the broader suppression of altered states and personal autonomy.
