Drinking Up One's Fortunes.

In colonial America a plethora of goods served as money, such as tobacco, rice, grains, whisky, brandy and even cattle. Tobacco was the most used and it was the main medium of exchange for nearly two centuries in Maryland and Virginia.

John Galbraith is at his lucid best when he mentions the use of whisky and brandy as money in some states.

The use of whisky and brandy as money makes exceptionally poignant the injunctions, common through American history, against drinking up one's fortunes.

I read this in his book Money.