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What is art? Throughout the course of human existence, critics, academics, and common people have all attempted to unpack the meaning and value of art as part of society, as well as its role as a reflection of the current discourse. Art can be political. It can be reflective. It can be a weapon. And it can be history in itself.

In her latest piece for Good Beer Hunting, titled \u201cGin Lane vs. Beer Street \u2014 How One Artist Captured a Pivotal Century in Our Drinking History,\u201d published on July 1, 2021, writer Courtney Iseman takes a look at how art has shaped the way we perceive and interact with alcohol from as early as the 17th century up to the present day, specifically focusing on 18th-century Europe.\xa0

For our podcast conversation, we talk about how beer was positively perceived by the middle and upper classes of the time. Working-class people, meanwhile, faced hand-wringing and public outcry for imbibing what was once considered a cheap and debaucherous beverage: gin. Iseman shares where she found the inspiration to dive into this piece after seeing an exhibit of Dutch masters at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Calling the writing process a \u201cfever dream,\u201d she wonders aloud about the 18th-century artist William Hogarth\u2019s motives for creating the groundbreaking and not-so-subtle pair of prints that gave the piece its title.\xa0

We explore how alcohol plays into class lines and how consumption habits have evolved over the centuries. We also look at how both alcohol and art can divide as much as they can unite. She describes how the story unraveled\u2014and how there\u2019s still more to tell.