One of The Earliest Colonial Buildings Was a Brew House

One of the first American colonies in Jamestown, Virginia was founded in 1607 by a group seeking "a sober lifestyle and a healthy diet".⁣
⁣
It failed.⁣
⁣
Miserably.⁣
⁣
Colonists gave themselves salt water poisoning and died of starvation. Jamestown's failures was one reason why the Plymouth colonists, upon setting up camp in Nov. 1620, made it a priority to build a brewhouse. A tavern followed soon after.⁣
⁣
The inaugural Thanksgiving, held in the fall of 1621, featured beer made using the settlers’ first barley crop.⁣
⁣
These two historical moments (a well-founded suspicion of water and a cultural life built around the tavern) will go on to impact American drinking to this very day.⁣
⁣
These are just some of the reasons why drinking in America is deeply woven into social etiquette, and why the non-drinker is frequently viewed with suspicion.