system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why were Americans drinking so much during the late 18th century?

Watching Ken Burn's Prohibition right now, and it said that prior to the Temperance movement, Americans were drinking 88 bottles of whiskey per year, 3 times as much as we drink today. Why were we drinking so much as a country?
gpt
It wasn't just us, it was the majority of the world! 

#1 It was more accepted, so when you have less social restrictions, more people will do it

#2 Not much else to drink. There wasn't soda, and tea is really reserved for certain meals and occasions, not everyday drinking

#3 The water. Often times, water would be dirty as people may wash in it or farm animals may have been in/defecated in it, so as to not risk disease you'd drink alcohol. It tasted better, was technically "safer" and why drink anything else, when you can be buzzed all day *and* be socially acceptable?