We generally assume moderate drinking (two standard drinks per day) is good for our health. This idea comes from studies over the past three decades showing moderate drinkers are healthier and less likely to die prematurely than those who drink more, less, or don’t drink at all. I would be glad if this were true.

Scientist David Nutt believes a chemical called “alcosynth” is the secret to drinking without regret. As Prohibition showed, taking booze away from the public is wildly unpopular with just about everyone but Bible-thumpers and bootleggers. But what if, instead of being banned, alcohol was simply replaced with something better? Something that makes you feel talkative and sociable without also making you throw up/fall down/feel hungover/get fat/make terrible decisions/get into fist fights or any one of the other things on the shockingly long list of downsides we all know alcohol has?

Welcome to Gateways To Drinkery, where The A.V. Club offers an entry-level course on our favorite libations, and some suggestions on where to start drinking them.MezcalThe lowdown: Mezcal is the umbrella name given to liquor distilled from any species of agave plants native to Mexico. Tequila is a t

The Liquor Control Board of Ontario is recalling 1.14-litre bottles of Bombay Sapphire London Dry Gin because the incorrect alcohol content is shown on the label. The LCBO says the affected product has been removed from all of its stores’ shelves. The Crown corporation says the recall was initiated after an investigation by its quality assurance team found the alcohol content was 77 per cent, instead of the 40 per cent declared on the label.

People are drinking fewer alcoholic drinks, according to a new industry report tracking consumption worldwide. Beer sales continued to slide last year and the trend towards cider sipping stalled. The global market for all alcoholic drinks contracted 1.3% in 2016, driven by a 1.8% fall in beer sales, the International Wine and Spirits Record (IWSR) found.

A report found that 43% of all the alcohol consumed in the nation is illegal, produced under unregulated circumstances resulting in potentially dangerous concoctions.

A budget supermarket has again scooped an award for the world's best booze - and this time it is for gin. The International Wine and Spirits competition recently took place, and saw retailer Aldi awarded a gold medal for its Oliver Cromwell London Dry Gin which costs only £9.97.

Selling wine and beer next to food ‘normalises’ a dangerous drug and should be sold at specific outlets

The New Zealand Medical Association has called for a ban on selling alcohol in supermarkets, saying that having it next to groceries and food normalises a dangerous drug. Wine and beer have been widely available in most supermarkets around the country since 1990, although spirits can be bought only in bars and off-licences.

Results from the Guttman scale indicated that alcohol represented the “gateway” drug, leading to the use of tobacco, marijuana, and other illicit substances. Moreover, students who used alcohol exhibited a significantly greater likelihood of using both licit and illicit drugs. The findings from this investigation support that alcohol should receive primary attention in school-based substance abuse prevention programming, as the use of other substances could be impacted by delaying or preventing alcohol use.

The alcohol industry uses denial, distortion and distraction to mislead people about the risks of developing cancer from drinking, often employing similar tactics to those of the tobacco industry, a study said on Thursday. Drinks industry organisations often present the relationship between alcohol and cancer as highly complex, implying there is no clear evidence of a consistent link, said the study led by scientists at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet.

The higher we’ve flown under the influence, the more down and dirty is the experience of the morning after. By Mark Edmundson.

A London drugs scientist is planning to launch hangover-free cocktails which will have the same effect as alcohol without leaving the drinker feeling unwell the next day. Professor David Nutt has spent the last ten years experimenting with substances that mimic the effects of alcohol on the brain but do not harm the liver.

At a bar in France, researchers made people answer questions about philosophy. The more intoxicated the subject, the more utilitarian he or she was likely to be. Laboratory assistants have to do all sorts of terrible, embarrassing things, but surely this is among the silliest: Enter a bar in Grenoble, France. Identify people who look moderately drunk. Walk up to them, tap them on the shoulder, and say something along the lines of, "Uh, hey, this is awkward, but, would you be interested in answering some questions about philosophy?"

Drivers who cause death by dangerous driving or driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs could now face life in jail under Government plans. The maximum sentence for causing death by speeding, racing, or using a mobile phone will be raised from 14 years to life, making the offence equivalent to manslaughter.

At a bar in France, researchers made people answer questions about philosophy. The more intoxicated the subject, the more utilitarian he or she was likely to be. Laboratory assistants have to do all sorts of terrible, embarrassing things, but surely this is among the silliest: Enter a bar in Grenoble, France. Identify people who look moderately drunk. Walk up to them, tap them on the shoulder, and say something along the lines of, "Uh, hey, this is awkward, but, would you be interested in answering some questions about philosophy?"

In 2016, this drug was linked to more deaths than guns, car crashes, or even HIV/AIDS at its peak. Actually, it was associated with more deaths than guns and car crashes combined. I’m not talking about opioids. I’m talking about alcohol.

Research is increasingly finding an association between alcohol consumption and sperm health.

In the mid-aughts, America was on the tail end of its obsession with the Cosmopolitan and on the cusp of a classic cocktail renaissance. The country was reacquainting itself with the gin martini and the Old-Fashioned, drinks in heavy rotation on the hit TV series Mad Men, which premiered in 2007. That same year, I opened a speak-easy-style bar in the East Village called PDT (short for “Please Don’t Tell”). And then the global financial markets crashed.

Only one in 10 people know that alcohol causes cancer, according to findings that also show strong public backing for cans and bottles of drink carrying warnings about the link. Cancer Research UK (CRUK) said widespread ignorance of alcohol’s role as a carcinogen was “very worrying”, while Alcohol Concern said the lack of knowledge was costing lives.