Drinking was considered the “fashionable vice of the day” (Ferguson 532), in much the same way that smoking was fashionable in the 1920s and dieting excessive and they are now. Alcohol consumption in America reached its peak per capita consumption during the first half of the 19th century, around the same time that “Rip Van Winkle” was published. (Fergusson 532). Excessive drinking in public was considered normal, it was even encouraged for young males to drink in public. It was a bonding activity, an excuse to gossip like women, and an escape from domestic life. In Ferguson's essay on Rip Van Winkle, he states that there was a “male cult of drinking that pervaded all social and professional groups” (532). It wasn't a successful outing or meeting unless the party was drinking and making sure everyone knew they were doing it. The tavern, or inn, in Rip Van Winkle is described as a “perpetual club of wise men, philosophers, and other idle characters of the village” (Irving 44). The bar was a gathering place where men could gather and complain about their lives and the inner workings of the city, and due to their drunken state, no blame was placed on them because they were not responsible for their actions. In the early part of the nineteenth century, heavy drinking was considered a sign of individuality and personal expression rather than a