Girly Drinks

A World History of Women and Alcohol

By: Mallory O'Meara

Narrated by: Mallory O'Meara

Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

From Los Angeles Times bestselling author Mallory O'Meara comes a lively and engrossing feminist history of women drinking through the ages

Strawberry daiquiris. Skinny martinis. Vodka sodas with lime. These are the cocktails that come in sleek-stemmed glasses, bright colors and fruity flavors—these are the Girly Drinks.

From the earliest days of civilization, alcohol has been at the center of social rituals and cultures worldwide. But when exactly did drinking become a gendered act? And why have bars long been considered "places for men" when, without women, they might not even exist?

With whip-smart insight and boundless curiosity, Girly Drinks unveils an entire untold history of the female distillers, drinkers and brewers who have played a vital role in the creation and consumption of alcohol, from ancient Sumerian beer goddess Ninkasi to iconic 1920s bartender Ada Coleman. Filling a crucial gap in culinary history, O'Meara dismantles the long-standing patriarchal traditions at the heart of these very drinking cultures, in the hope that listeners everywhere can look to each celebrated woman in this book—and proudly have what she's having.

©2021 Mallory O'Meara (P)2021 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited

So.good.

This book is one of the rare ones that prompted me to get the audio and print versions and I’m glad I did. The book generally has a fantastic mix of great storytelling, historical due diligence, nuanced contextualization of complex social phenomena, and a commitment to representation. The audiobook makes this all that much better by really helping the authors enthusiasm for the topic shine.

Great Book!

Every women should listen in! Such a great and empowering history of amazing women and the history of alcohol. Cheers to them!

a masterpiece for history and booze fans

fantastic history and story, so insightful and captivating! you can always feel the passion when the author is the narrator and Mallory doesn't disappoint.

A must-read book!!

I was blown away at how good this book is. I will recommend it to everyone. I've been talking about it to friends nonstop. I never knew women played such a huge role in alcohol history. It makes sense now! Mallory's performance on audiobook is also 💯 as it is read by the author in it's true sense. 10/10 highly recommend!!! Cheers! 🍻

Just perfect

This book is amazing! Every single detail and fact and just the way it is written. Perfection. I love love love it! Thank you! ♥️🙏🏼

Fascinating!

This was a fascinating journey through history. I learned some many things I didn’t know and I learned a few things I’d heard for a long time. Would recommend.

A spirited history to savor

Mallory O’Meara masterfully blends the stories of women, their roles and contribution to the culture of alcohol consumption in this approachable and entertaining history. Girly drinks is a toast to women worth consuming even if you’re a teetotaler.

Listener beware

The book has an awesome premise and I definitely plan to read it, but the audiobook is just too hard to listen to. This is a classic case of “the author shouldn’t have recorded their own book.” She has/had a lisp and some other speech impediments or quirks, which makes for a VERY distracting and often irritating listen. Couldn’t get past chapter two before it was grating on my nerves something fierce. Great story, but needs a different reader.

Fun read

I'm an avid history reader so my expectations may be a little high... very informative in the last half, when the author is focused on specific women in the spirits industry in the 20th and 21st centuries.

The first half tries to provide an overview of women's roles in distilling over around 4000 years prior to that; in this section O'Meara's lack of credentials as a historian hold her back; while there are some really interesting highlights of historical brewing practices, O'Meara flattens and misrepresents numerous ancient cultures to fit a glib Buzzfeed-esque approach to describing them. It's reductionist and misleading -- I'd have preferred if she stuck to the modern history (and went a little deeper), not everything has to he nilled as a sweeping world history.