This week, a look at humanity's ancient, often angst-ridden relationship to alcohol,

from Gilgamesh to the Greeks, and what the pandemic revealed about the American problem with the drink.

Instead of going out to the bars until like two in the morning, I'll just drink every night at my house.

You'll never drink alone again, said the headlines in August when Anheiser Bush launched Dog Brew.

Demosthenes is one of the most famous orators of ancient Athens, and yet because he was a water drinker, people always rather doubted him.

On the morning of the accident.

I was drunk. I'm drunk right now because I'm an alcoholic.

Advertisements on television of young, healthy, beautiful people having a wonderful time consuming

alcohol in France, you wouldn't see that. Crack crystal heroin were the most dangerous drugs

to the users, but alcohol, because of its prevalence of

use, was the most damaging drug to society. It's all coming up after this.

From WNYC in New York, this is on the media. I'm Brooke Gladstone. And let's begin this hour,

our deep dive into booze and boozeness, with one lingering aftermath of the pandemic,

which is that as bars and restaurants closed down, America got its drunk on.

Coming up, we're going to talk about the booze boom.

Americans are drinking about 14% more alcohol this year than they did in 2019, and women are drinking about 14% more alcohol this year than they did in 2019.

And women are drinking about 17% more.

Doctors calling it alarming.

Across the country, there has been a 30 to 50% increase in hospitalizations due to alcohol-associated liver disease.

Instead of going out to the bars until like two in the morning, I'll just drink

every night at my house. In the era of social distancing, many of us tumbled into a stay-at-home bender.

But the harm lies not just in drinking more, but in drinking alone. In fact, we were so desperate

...