This paper considers the alcohol policy of the British empire in Asia as a site of colonial governance. Specifically, it examines how evolving understandings of public health and science intersected with the imperatives of colonial governance to inform alcohol policy. In their quest to understand and delineate the contours of the alcohol problem, which had emerged in connection with the governance of working class neighbourhoods and workplaces, the colonial government drew upon a range of discourses relating to public health. They sent liquor samples to laboratories to be tested for the liquor’s nutritional profile and malpractices like adulteration and over acidity resulting from lack of regulation. Consequently, the alcohol problem gave rise to vibrant, if elite-centred, discourses of how aims relating to public health and governance could be brought into alignment most effectively. Drawing on these historical debates, this paper shares perspectives on the contemporary governance of alcohol as a public health concern, the challenges it poses for policymakers and the wider society, and the opportunities the issue presents for public discussion.