“Even before James Squire set sail as a convict aboard the First Fleet, liquor was playing its part in shaping the colony-to-be. Who was entitled to it and who wasn’t; who could make and sell it and who couldn’t; and how the young and thirsty colony could make itself self-sufficient in booze. As the colony grew, rum became both a currency and a source of political strength and instability, culminating in the Rum Rebellion in 1808, and what one observer said was a society of ‘drunkenness, gaming and debaucheries’.”

The description of Tom Gilling’s book Grog (published in September)
Hachette Australia website