In our latest piece of bonus content, writer Max Wolfson talks with wine writer Rod Phillips about the history of alcohol, the moralizing that surrounds it and the customs that celebrate our need for inebriation.

Rod Phillips is a wine writer, wine historian, and wine judge based in Ottawa, Canada. He's also a professor of history at Carleton University where he teaches courses on European (especially French) history and the history of alcohol and food. Additionally, he's written several books on the subject, incuding Alcohol: A History, 9000 Years of Wine, and Wine: A Social and Cultural History of the Drink that Changed our Lives and is an occasional contributer to The World of Fine Wine (U.K.) and GuildSomm.com, the Guild of Sommeliers’ web site in the U.S.

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