Rum.

Alcohol was a feature of the American table and, in some form, appeared at every meal. Americans imbibed freely of beer, cider, wine, whiskey, and rum. The greatest change in American drinking habits in the 1750s through the 1770s was the increased consumption of New England rum. Rum declined in price because of the booming trade in its basic ingredient—West Indies molasses. The merchants of New England bought molasses in the Indies, shipped it home, and manufactured it into rum in more than 150 distilleries. They hauled their rum casks to Africa, where they exchanged them for slaves, who were in turn shipped to the West Indies. New England produced enough rum for export and for home consumption, and it became the favorite drink of poor men. The Sugar Act of 1764 threatened the New England trade in molasses and rum, and...