When the Royal Monopoly on Alcohol was established in 1755 in the Kingdom of Guatemala, a subunit of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, it was the Town Council of the capital city, Antigua, rather than a private individual, that was granted control over production, distribution, and consumption. This chapter by Alvis E. Dunn analyzes the political dynamics in play between imperial and municipal governments and local merchants and consumers. Exactly how alcohol was to be made available, where, when, and to whom, and most fundamentally, how it was to be taxed, became the concern of each of these...

When the Royal Monopoly on Alcohol was established in 1755 in the Kingdom of Guatemala, a subunit of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, it was the Town Council of the capital city, Antigua, rather than a private individual, that was granted control over production, distribution, and consumption. This chapter by Alvis E. Dunn analyzes the political dynamics in play between imperial and municipal governments and local merchants and consumers. Exactly how alcohol was to be made available, where, when, and to whom, and most fundamentally, how it was to be taxed, became the concern of each of these sectors of the community. As the holder of the monopoly, Antigua’s Town Council moved to create a distillery and taverns where it sold its own, locally brewed aguardiente but also licensed and regulated a number of privately owned and operated drink houses, called vinaterias, where only imported wine and liquor were sold and consumed. Perhaps inevitably there was disagreement on how these establishments should be managed. Because of these conflicting interests the urban culture of drink in Central America was one of the earliest contexts where Bourbon Reform policy and the home rule impulse clashed.