Palm wine drinking in a Balinese village: environmental influences

The present study reports observations of drinking patterns and life-style of Bali-Hindu men in a Balinese village, Pemuteran, who have a relatively high prevalence (about 40%) of excessive consumption of locally produced palm wine. Patterns of drinking were defined. They are rooted in the customs of the inhabitants prior to mass displacement to a "new" land area following a volcanic catastrophe in their old village location in 1963. Excessive drinking appeared to be causally related to identified sociocultural factors and to a physically impoverished environment that greatly reduced work opportunities during much of this year. A similar village in the area which underwent important social and drinking pattern changes consequent to government provision of irrigation water and greater work opportunities suggests that alcohol drinking in Pemuteran may decline under similar social-environmental changes.