Top 10 drinking clubs

Since cavemen discovered how to brew beer, people have gathered together to socialise over a drink, some are just a little more organised than others.

Informal meetings of friends have often evolved into drinking clubs, each with their own esoteric customs and traditions, from Masonic-style rituals to compulsory campness.

It is rarely just about getting blotto. While some clubs are unified by organised silliness, others are brought together by a shared interest in politics, history or even, just occasionally, good wine.

But whether their aim is religious devotion or literary patronage, they are alike in preferring something slightly stronger than lemonade.

Bacchanalia

Bacchanalian revels have gone down in history as the ultimate in debauchery. We imagine mad-eyed women dancing naked in the hills and tearing animals limb from limb. Livy – writing some 200 years after the heyday of the god of wine’s cult– disapproved of their rites, believing that followers of the god lost “every sentiment of modesty” because of “wine, lascivious discourse, night, and the intercourse of the sexes”.

Sadly, as with the best secret drinking societies, they have kept their secrets too well for us to know what actually happened – but we can probably guarantee that it was more interesting than a student toga party.

Kit Cat Club

Established in order to bring penniless authors together with hot pies, this club was the heart of political and literary London in the early eighteenth century. Named after Christopher ‘Kit’ Cat who owned the hostelry where they had their meetings, the club helped playwrights like William Congreve and Joseph Addison befriend literary patrons.

Toasts were a crucial part of the club and every member would propose a beautiful lady to be honoured. If the rest agreed that she was fair enough, her loveliness would be commemorated with witty verse inscribed in her honour on a toasting glass.

E Clampus Vitus

There is a danger that drinking clubs can be associated with the elite – not so with E Clampus Vitus, whose grand sounding title is made-up Latin. There is controversy over whether they are a historical drinking society or a drinking historical society, and the joke goes that this has never been decided because no one has ever been in a fit state to record the minutes.

The red-shirted members are obsessed with putting up plaques to neglected history; over 1,000 are now scattered across California, memorialising everything from an upside down house to the bar where moose milk (a Gold Rush era concoction of bourbon, rum and heavy cream) was created.

The Other Club

Although technically a dining club, since legendary champagne guzzler Winston Churchill was one of the co-founders we can safely assume that it counts as a drinking club as well. It was created in 1911 because Churchill and his friend FE Smith were deemed too controversial to join The Club, which had been the establishment for movers and shakers for over a century.

Accepting politicians across the party divide, the club rules nonetheless insisted that the political ceasefire would only happen at the dinners, stating: “Nothing in the rules or intercourse of the Club shall interfere with the rancour or asperity of party politics.”

Hellfire club

One of the most notorious secret drinking societies, the Hellfire Club was associated with Satanism and witchcraft when they used the ruins of a disused abbey in Buckinghamshire as their clubhouse from the 1740s to 1760s. Although they styled themselves as “monks” and were critical of the Catholic Church, there is little evidence that they engaged in the dark arts and were perhaps more interested in exploring paganism.

Having said that, one of the members did plead with the “devil” not to take him, when other members of the club played a practical joke on him involving an ape, suggesting their consciences were not entirely clear.

The Good Humour club

Another eighteenth century club is at the opposite end of the scale from the Hellfire Club. These middle-class men in York believed in conviviality and companionship as a cure for all ills. With this medical aim in mind, all members of the club were referred to by the title “Dr”.

Whenever a member married they had to provide a bowl of punch at the value of a crown – enough for everyone to have a drink. Bowls of punch frequently formed the subject of bets between members and a strict rule of the club was that all bets were drunk on the evening they were settled.

Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin

One of the most exclusive wine clubs in the world, Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin is for lovers of Burgundy wine. Although founded in 1934, it links back to Ordre de la Boisson from 1703 and its members dress in red robes for official ceremonies. Their headquarters are in a 12th century French château, but they have chapters across the world from Venezuela to Australia.

Those hoping to join the New York chapter do an exam on Burgundy wine and host a lavish dinner for the society’s nominating committee. Only seven or eight people from the long waiting list are admitted to that chapter every year.

Piers Gaveston Society

Hugh Grant at the Piers Gaveston Ball in 1983

Drinking societies are nowadays mainly associated with daft, over-privileged students. According to Tatler, the notorious Bullingdon Club, former society of David Cameron and Boris Johnson, is now passé; the Piers Gaveston Society has taken its place as “the coolest club in town now”. Named after Edward II’s supposed lover, the male-only club is known for its summer ball.

Held in a country house where Champagne, caviar and drugs are on tap, guests are only informed 72 hours beforehand and are not told the location but are driven there by coach. Its slightly camp attitude has attracted everyone from Hugh Grant to Private Eye editor Ian Hislop.

Edinburgh clubs

Eighteenth century Edinburgh gentlemen loved their themed clubs. Patronised by the elite of their day, such as Sir Walter Scott and economist Adam Smith, clubs ranged from serious organisations which were dedicated to restoring a militia in Scotland to weak puns that acted as an excuse for drinking in taverns.

The Pious Club were incredibly tickled by the fact that they met in a pie shop, while the entire concept of the Facers Club was that if you failed to down your drink in one go the contents of your glass were thrown in your face.

Hash house harriers

A run of the Lima Hash House Harriers in Lunahuana, Perú.

Often known as a drinking club with a running problem, the Hash House Harriers were invented by British expats in Kuala Lumpur in 1938 as an antidote to hangovers. Developed from the game of Paper Chase, a group of sprightly “hares” set out, leaving a trail for the “hounds” to follow – a trail which always leads to a pub.

There are almost 2,000 chapters across the world including two groups running in Antarctica. The balance of running to drinking varies depending on the group, but runners of all velocities are welcomed and red herrings are thrown in along the route to allow the less speedy to catch up.