Aguardiente sa Lahat: Manila and Philippine Alcoholic Beverage Systems, 1860s–1941 and Beyond

The provisionment system that met many of the needs of metropolitan Manila allowed the urban population to grow from perhaps 200,000 in 1850 to 800,000–900,000 in 1941 to megacity size today. Intensive inquiry into the changing social, nutritional, commercial, and geographical aspects of this system is found in Daniel F. Doeppers’s Feeding Manila in Peace and War, 1850-1945.  

The present volume extends this inquiry to the subject of alcoholic beverages. In Manila their consumption builds upon ancient roots. Further, one of the greater changes in “food” supply and consumption during our period was the increasing replacement of alcohol from hundreds of provincial artisanal stills to that of a small number of urban industrial distilleries. This change also involved a wholesale switch from palm-based beverages to those distilled from sugarcane molasses. The spectacular rise of industrial beer also marks an important change in the patterns of mass consumption. These changes were promoted by an unprecedented intensity of print advertising.

In Aguardiente sa Lahat, Doeppers offers original research on an aspect of everyday economic life of pre–World War II Philippines, giving readers a view of how a drinking culture has evolved over the years.

Published in 2024.