"History of alcohol" redirects here. For the history of the chemical substance, see
History of ethanol
.
Purposeful production of
alcoholic drinks
is common and often reflects cultural and religious peculiarities as much as geographical and sociological conditions.
Discovery of late
Stone Age
jugs suggest that intentionally
fermented
beverages existed at least as early as the
Neolithic
period (c. 10,000 BC).
[2]
Archaeological record
[
edit
]
The ability to metabolize alcohol likely predates humanity with primates eating fermenting fruit.
[3]
The oldest verifiable
brewery
has been found in a prehistoric burial site in a cave near
Haifa
in modern-day
Israel
. Researchers have found residue of 13,000-year-old beer that they think might have been used for ritual feasts to honor the dead. The traces of a wheat-and-barley-based alcohol were found in stone mortars carved into the cave floor.
[4]
Some have proposed that alcoholic drinks predated agriculture and it was the desire for alcoholic drinks that lead to agriculture and civilization.
[5]
[6]
As early as 7000 BC, chemical analysis of jars from the Neolithic village
Jiahu
in the
Henan
province of northern
China
revealed traces of a mixed
fermented beverage
. According to a study published in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
[7]
in December 2004,
[8]
chemical analysis of the residue confirmed that a
fermented drink
made of grapes, hawthorn berries, honey, and rice was being produced in 7000?6650 BC.
[9]
[10]
This is approximately the time when barley beer and grape wine were beginning to be made in the
Middle East
.
Evidence of alcoholic beverages has also been found dating from 5400 to 5000 BC in
Hajji Firuz Tepe
in Iran,
[11]
3150 BC in
ancient Egypt
,
[12]
3000 BC in
Babylon
,
[13]
2000 BC in
pre-Hispanic Mexico
[13]
and 1500 BC in
Sudan
.
[14]
According to
Guinness
, the earliest firm evidence of wine production dates back to 6000 BC in
Georgia
.
[11]
[15]
The
medicinal
use of alcohol was mentioned in
Sumerian
and
Egyptian
texts dating from about 2100 BC. The
Hebrew Bible
recommends giving alcoholic drinks to those who are dying or depressed, so that they can forget their misery (
Proverbs
31:6?7).
In 55 BC, the Romans took notice of an alcoholic
cider
being made in
Britain
using native apples. It quickly became popular and was imported back to the continent where it spread rapidly. People in Northern Spain were making cider around the same time period.
[16]
[17]
Celtic people were known to have been making types of alcoholic cider as early as 3000 BC.
[18]
[19]
Wine
was consumed in Classical Greece
at breakfast or at
symposia
, and in the 1st century BC it was part of the diet of most
Roman
citizens. Both the Greeks and the Romans generally drank diluted wine (the strength varying from 1 part wine and 1 part water, to 1 part wine and 4 parts water).
[
citation needed
]
In
Europe
during the
Middle Ages
, beer, often of very
low strength
, was an everyday drink for all classes and ages of people. A document from that time mentions
nuns
having an allowance of six pints of ale each day.
[
citation needed
]
Cider
and
pomace wine
were also widely available; grape wine was the prerogative of the higher classes.
[
citation needed
]
By the time the Europeans reached the
Americas
in the 15th century, several
native
civilizations had developed alcoholic beverages. According to a post-conquest
Aztec
document, consumption of the local "wine" (
pulque
) was generally restricted to religious ceremonies but was freely allowed to those who were older than 70 years.
[20]
The natives of
South America
produced a beer-like beverage from
cassava
or
maize
, which had to be chewed before fermentation in order to turn the
starch
into
sugar
(beverages of this kind are known today as
cauim
or
chicha
). This chewing technique was also used in ancient
Japan
to make
sake
from
rice
and other starchy crops.
[
citation needed
]
Ancient period
[
edit
]
Ancient China
[
edit
]
The earliest evidence of wine was found in what is now
China
, where jars from
Jiahu
which date to about 7000 BC were discovered. This early
rice wine
was produced by fermenting rice, honey, and fruit.
[21]
What later developed into Chinese civilization grew up along the more northerly
Yellow River
and fermented a kind of
huangjiu
from
millet
. The
Zhou
attached great importance to alcohol and ascribed the loss of the
mandate of Heaven
by the earlier
Xia
and
Shang
as largely due to their dissolute and alcoholic emperors. An edict ascribed to
c.
1116
BC makes it clear that the use of alcohol in moderation was believed to be prescribed by heaven.
Unlike the traditions in Europe and the Middle East,
China
abandoned the production of
grape wine
before the advent of writing and, under the
Han
, abandoned
beer
in favor of
huangjiu
and other forms of
rice wine
. These naturally fermented to a strength of about 20%
ABV
; they were usually consumed warmed and frequently flavored with additives as part of
traditional Chinese medicine
. They considered it spiritual food and extensive documentary evidence attests to the important role it played in
religious life
. "In ancient times people always drank when holding a memorial ceremony, offering sacrifices to gods or their ancestors, pledging resolution before going into battle, celebrating victory, before feuding and official executions, for taking an oath of allegiance, while attending the ceremonies of birth, marriage, reunions, departures, death, and festival banquets."
[
citation needed
]
Marco Polo
's 14th century record indicates grain and rice wine were drunk daily and were one of the treasury's biggest sources of income.
Alcoholic beverages were widely used in all segments of Chinese society, were used as a source of inspiration, were important for hospitality, were considered an antidote for fatigue, and were sometimes misused. Laws against making wine were enacted and repealed forty-one times between 1100 BC and AD 1400. However, a commentator writing around 650 BC asserted that people "will not do without beer. To prohibit it and secure total
abstinence
from it is beyond the power even of sages. Hence, therefore, we have warnings on the abuse of it."
[22]
The
Chinese
may have independently developed the process of
distillation
in the early centuries of the
Common Era
, during the
Eastern Han
dynasty.
[23]
Ancient Persia (or Ancient Iran)
[
edit
]
A major step forward in our understanding of Neolithic winemaking came from the analysis of a yellowish residue excavated by Mary M. Voigt at the site of
Hajji Firuz Tepe
in the northern
Zagros Mountains
of Iran. The jar that once contained wine, with a volume of about 9 liters (2.5 gallons) was found together with five similar jars embedded in the earthen floor along one wall of a "kitchen" of a Neolithic mudbrick building, dated to c. 5400?5000 BC.
[9]
[24]
In such communities, winemaking was the best technology they had for storing highly perishable grapes, although whether the resulting beverage was intended for intoxication as well as nourishment is not known.
[9]
Ancient Egypt
[
edit
]
Brewing
dates from the beginning of civilization in
ancient Egypt
, and alcoholic beverages were very important at that time. Egyptian brewing began in the city of
Hierakonpolis
around 3400 BC; its ruins contain the remains of the world's oldest brewery, which was capable of producing up to three hundred gallons (1,136 liters) per day of beer.
[9]
Symbolic of this is the fact that while many gods were local or familial,
Osiris
was worshiped throughout the entire country. Osiris was believed to be the god of the dead, of life, of vegetable regeneration, and of wine.
[9]
[22]
[25]
Both beer and wine were deified and offered to gods. Cellars and wine presses even had a god whose
hieroglyph
was a winepress. The ancient Egyptians made at least 17 types of beer and at least 24 varieties of wine. The most common type of beer was known as hqt. Beer was the drink of common laborers; financial accounts report that the Giza pyramid builders were allotted a daily beer ration of one and one-third gallons.
[9]
Alcoholic beverages were used for pleasure, nutrition, medicine, ritual, remuneration, and funerary purposes. The latter involved storing the beverages in tombs of the deceased for their use in the after-life.
Numerous accounts of the period stressed the importance of moderation, and these norms were both secular and religious. While Egyptians did not generally appear to define drunkenness as a problem, they warned against
taverns
(which were often houses of
prostitution
) and excessive drinking. After reviewing extensive evidence regarding the widespread but generally moderate use of alcoholic beverages, the nutritional biochemist and historian
William J. Darby
makes a most important observation: all these accounts are warped by the fact that moderate users "were overshadowed by their more boisterous counterparts who added 'color' to history." Thus, the intemperate use of alcohol throughout history receives a disproportionate amount of attention. Those who
excessively use alcohol
cause problems, draw attention to themselves, are highly visible and cause legislation to be enacted. The vast majority of drinkers, who neither experience nor cause difficulties, are not noteworthy. Consequently, observers and writers largely ignore moderation.
[22]
Evidence of
distillation
comes from
alchemists
working in
Alexandria
,
Roman Egypt
, in the 1st century AD.
[26]
Distilled water
has been known since at least c. 200 AD, when
Alexander of Aphrodisias
described the process.
[27]
Ancient Babylon
[
edit
]
Beer was the major beverage among the
Babylonians
, and as early as 2700 BC they worshiped a wine goddess and other wine deities. Babylonians regularly used both beer and wine as offerings to their gods. Around 1750 BC, the famous
Code of Hammurabi
devoted attention to alcohol. However, there were no penalties for drunkenness; in fact, it was not even mentioned. The concern was fair commerce in alcohol. Although it was not a crime, the Babylonians were critical of drunkenness.
[
citation needed
]
Ancient India
[
edit
]
Alcohol distillation
likely originated in
India
.
[28]
Alcoholic beverages in the
Indus Valley civilization
appeared in the
Chalcolithic Era
. These beverages were in use between 3000 BC and 2000 BC.
Sura
, a beverage brewed from rice meal, wheat, sugar cane, grapes, and other fruits, was popular among the
Kshatriya
warriors
and the peasant population.
[29]
Sura
is considered to be a favorite drink of
Indra
.
[30]
The
Hindu
Ayurvedic
texts describe both the beneficent uses of consuming alcoholic beverages and the consequences of intoxication and alcoholic diseases.
Ayurvedic
texts concluded that alcohol was a medicine if consumed in moderation, but a poison if consumed in excess.
[30]
Most of the people in
India
and
China
, have continued, throughout, to ferment a portion of their crops and nourish themselves with the alcoholic product.
In ancient India, alcohol was also used by the orthodox population. Early
Vedic literature
suggests the use of alcohol by priestly classes.
[31]
The two great Hindu epics,
Ramayana
and
Mahabharata
, mention the use of alcohol. In Ramayana, alcohol consumption is depicted in a good/bad dichotomy. The bad faction members consumed meat and alcohol while the good faction members were abstinent vegetarians. However, in Mahabharata, the characters are not portrayed in such a black-white contrast.
[32]
Alcohol abstinence was promoted as a moral value in India by
Mahavira
, the founder of Jainism, and
Adi Shankaracharya
.
[31]
Distillation was known in the ancient
Indian subcontinent
, evident from baked clay
retorts
and receivers found at
Taxila
and
Charsadda
in modern
Pakistan
, dating back to the early centuries of the
Common Era
. These "
Gandhara
stills" were only capable of producing very weak
liquor
, as there was no efficient means of collecting the vapors at low heat.
[33]
Ancient Greece
[
edit
]
While the art of wine making reached the
Hellenic
peninsula by about 2000 BC, the first alcoholic beverage to obtain widespread popularity in what is now Greece was
mead
, a fermented beverage made from honey and water. However, by 1700 BC, wine making was commonplace. During the next thousand years wine drinking assumed the same function so commonly found around the world: It was incorporated into religious rituals. It became important in hospitality, used for medicinal purposes, and became an integral part of daily meals. As a beverage, it was drunk in many ways: warm and chilled, pure and mixed with water, plain and spiced.
[22]
Alcohol, specifically wine, was considered so important to the Greeks that consumption was considered a defining characteristic of the Hellenic culture between their society and the rest of the world; those who did not drink were considered barbarians.
[9]
While habitual drunkenness was rare, intoxication at banquets and festivals was not unusual. In fact, the
symposium
, a gathering of men for an evening of conversation, entertainment and drinking typically ended in intoxication. However, while there are no references in ancient Greek literature to mass drunkenness among the Greeks, there are references to it among foreign peoples. By 425 BC, warnings against intemperance, especially at symposia, appear to become more frequent.
[22]
Xenophon
(431?351 BC) and
Plato
(429?347 BC) both praised the moderate use of wine as beneficial to health and happiness, but both were critical of drunkenness, which appears to have become a problem. Plato also believed that no one under the age of eighteen should be allowed to touch wine.
Hippocrates
(cir. 460?370 BC) identified numerous medicinal properties of wine, which had long been used for its therapeutic value. Later, both
Aristotle
(384?322 BC) and
Zeno
(cir. 336?264 BC) were very critical of drunkenness.
[22]
Among Greeks, the
Macedonians
viewed intemperance as a sign of masculinity and were well known for their drunkenness. Their king,
Alexander the Great
(356?323 BC), whose mother adhered to the Dionysian cult, developed a reputation for inebriety.
[22]
Ancient Rome
[
edit
]
Bacchus, the god of wine – for the Greeks,
Dionysus
– is the patron deity of agriculture and the theater. He was also known as the Liberator (Eleutherios), freeing one from one's normal self, by madness, ecstasy, or wine. The divine mission of Dionysus was to mingle the music of the aulos and to bring an end to care and worry. The Romans would hold dinner parties where wine was served to the guest all day along with a three course feast. Scholars have discussed Dionysus' relationship to the "cult of the souls" and his ability to preside over communication between the living and the dead.
The Roman belief that wine was a daily necessity made the drink "democratic" and ubiquitous: wine was available to slaves, peasants, women and aristocrats alike. To ensure the steady supply of wine to Roman soldiers and colonists, viticulture and wine production spread to every part of the empire. The Romans diluted their wine before drinking. Wine was also used for religious purposes, in the pouring of libations to deities.
Though beer was drunk in
Ancient Rome
, it was replaced in popularity by wine.
[34]
Tacitus
wrote disparagingly of the beer brewed by the
Germanic peoples
of his day.
Thracians
were also known to consume beer made from rye, even since the 5th century BC, as the ancient Greek logographer
Hellanicus of Lesbos
says. Their name for beer was
brutos
, or
brytos
. The Romans called their brew
cerevisia
, from the Celtic word for it. Beer was apparently enjoyed by some
Roman legionaries
. For instance, among the
Vindolanda tablets
(from
Vindolanda
in
Roman Britain
, dated c. 97?103 AD), the cavalry
decurion
Masculus wrote a letter to prefect Flavius Cerialis inquiring about the exact instructions for his men for the following day. This included a polite request for beer to be sent to the garrison (which had entirely consumed its previous stock of beer).
[35]
Pre-Columbian America
[
edit
]
Several
Native American
civilizations developed alcoholic beverages. Many versions of these beverages are still produced today.
Pulque
, or
octli
is an
alcoholic beverage
made from the
fermented
juice of the
maguey
, and is a traditional native beverage of
Mesoamerica
.
[37]
Though commonly believed to be a beer, the main carbohydrate is a complex form of fructose rather than starch.
Pulque
is depicted in Native American stone carvings from as early as AD 200. The origin of pulque is unknown, but because it has a major position in religion, many folk tales explain its origins.
[38]
Balche
is the name of a
honey
wine brewed by the
Maya
. The drink shares its name with the balche tree (
Lonchocarpus violaceus
), the bark of which is fermented in water together with honey from the indigenous
stingless bee
.
[39]
Tepache
is a mildly alcoholic beverage indigenous to
Mexico
that is created by fermenting
pineapple
, including the rind, for a short period of three days.
[40]
Tejuino
, traditional to the Mexican state of
Jalisco
, is a
maize
-based beverage that involves fermenting
masa
dough.
Chicha
is a Spanish word for any of variety of traditional fermented beverages from the Andes region of South America. It can be made of maize,
manioc
root (also called yuca or cassava) or fruits among other things.
[41]
During the
Inca Empire
women were taught the techniques of brewing chicha in
Acllahuasis
(feminine schools).
Chicha de jora
is prepared by
germinating
maize, extracting the
malt
sugars, boiling the
wort
, and fermenting it in large vessels, traditionally huge earthenware vats, for several days. In some cultures, in lieu of germinating the maize to release the starches, the maize is ground, moistened in the chicha maker's mouth and formed into small balls which are then flattened and laid out to dry. Naturally occurring
diastase
enzymes
in the maker's saliva
catalyze
the breakdown of
starch
in the maize into
maltose
. Chicha de jora has been prepared and consumed in communities throughout in the Andes for millennia. The
Inca
used chicha for ritual purposes and consumed it in vast quantities during religious festivals. In recent years, however, the traditionally prepared chicha is becoming increasingly rare. Only in a small number of towns and villages in southern
Peru
and
Bolivia
is it still prepared. Other traditional drinks made from fermented maize or maize flour include
pozol
and
pox
.
[42]
Cauim
is a traditional alcoholic beverage of the
Native American
populations of
Brazil
since pre-Columbian times. It is still made today in remote areas throughout
Panama
and
South America
.
Cauim
is very similar to
chicha
and it is also made by fermenting
manioc
or maize, sometimes flavored with fruit juices. The Kuna Indians of Panama use plantains. A characteristic feature of the beverage is that the starting material is cooked, chewed, and re-cooked prior to fermentation. As in the making of
chicha
, enzymes from the saliva of the
cauim
maker break down the starches into fermentable sugars.
Tiswin
, or
niwai
is a mild, fermented, ceremonial beverage produced by various cultures living in the region encompassing the southwestern
United States
and northern Mexico. Among the
Apache
, tiswin was made from maize, while the
Tohono O'odham
brewed tiswin using
saguaro
sap.
[43]
The
Tarahumara
variety, called
tesguino
, can be made from a variety of different ingredients. Recent archaeological evidence has also revealed the production of a similar maize-based intoxicant among the ancestors of the
Pueblo
peoples.
[44]
[45]
Cacao
wine
was produced during the
formative stage
of the
Olmec
Culture (1100?900 BC). Evidence from
Puerto Escondido
indicates that a weak alcoholic beverage (up to 5% alcohol by volume) was made from fermented cacao pulp and stored in pottery containers.
[46]
[47]
In addition:
Medieval period
[
edit
]
Medieval Middle East
[
edit
]
Medieval
Muslim chemists
such as
J?bir ibn ?ayy?n
(Latin: Geber, ninth century) and
Ab? Bakr al-R?z?
(Latin: Rhazes,
c.
865?925
) experimented extensively with the distillation of various substances. The distillation of wine is attested in Arabic works attributed to
al-Kind?
(c. 801?873 CE) and to
al-F?r?b?
(c. 872?950), and in the 28th book of
al-Zahr?w?
's (Latin: Abulcasis, 936?1013)
Kit?b al-Ta?r?f
(later translated into Latin as
Liber servatoris
).
[54]
Medieval China and medieval India
[
edit
]
Distillation in China could have begun during the Eastern
Han dynasty
(during the 1st & 2nd centuries), but the earliest archaeological evidence found so far indicates that the true distillation of alcohol began sometime during the
Jin
or
Southern Song
dynasties.
[23]
A
still
has been found at an archaeological site in Qinglong,
Hebei
, dating to the 12th century.
[23]
In India, the true distillation of alcohol was introduced from the
Middle East
. It was in wide use in the
Delhi Sultanate
by the 14th century.
[33]
Medieval Europe
[
edit
]
The process of distillation spread from the Middle East to Italy,
[33]
where evidence of the distillation of alcohol appears from the
School of Salerno
in the 12th century.
[26]
[55]
The works of
Taddeo Alderotti
(1223?1296) describe a method for concentrating alcohol involving repeated
fractional distillation
through a water-cooled still, by which an alcohol purity of 90% could be obtained.
[56]
In 1500,
German
alchemist
Hieronymus Braunschweig
published
Liber de arte destillandi
(The Book of the Art of Distillation), the first book solely dedicated to the subject of distillation, followed in 1512 by a much expanded version. In 1651,
John French
published
The Art of Distillation
the first major English compendium of practice, though it has been claimed
[57]
that much of it derives from Braunschweig's work. This includes diagrams showing an industrial rather than bench scale of the operation.
Names like "life water" have continued to be the inspiration for the names of several types of beverages, like
Gaelic
whisky
,
French
eaux-de-vie
and possibly
vodka
. Also, the
Scandinavian
akvavit
spirit gets its name from the Latin phrase
aqua vitae
.
At times and places of poor public sanitation (such as
medieval
Europe
), the consumption of alcoholic drinks was a way of avoiding water-borne diseases such as
cholera
.
[58]
Early modern period
[
edit
]
During the
early modern period
(1500?1800),
Protestant
leaders such as
Martin Luther
,
John Calvin
, the leaders of the
Anglican Church
, and even the
Puritans
did not differ substantially from the teachings of the
Catholic Church
:
alcohol
was a gift of God and created to be used in moderation for pleasure, enjoyment and health;
drunkenness
was viewed as a
sin
(see
Christian views on alcohol
).
From this period through at least the beginning of the 18th century, attitudes toward drinking were characterized by a continued recognition of the positive nature of moderate consumption and an increased concern over the negative effects of drunkenness. The latter, which was generally viewed as arising out of the increased self-indulgence of the time, was seen as a threat to
spiritual
salvation
and societal well-being. English philosopher
Thomas Hobbes
bemoaned in his
Leviathan
how "the variety of behaviour in men that have drunk too much is the same with that of madmen",
[59]
reflecting growing ethical concerns toward alcohol.
Intoxication
was also inconsistent with the emerging emphasis on rational mastery of self and world and on work and efficiency.
In spite of the ideal of moderation, consumption of alcohol was often high. In the 16th century, alcohol beverage consumption reached 100 liters per person per year in Valladolid,
Spain
, and
Polish
peasants
consumed up to three
liters
of
beer
per day. In Coventry,
England
, the average amount of beer and
ale
consumed was about 17 pints per person per week, compared to about three pints today; nationwide, consumption was about one pint per day per capita. Swedish beer consumption may have been 40 times higher than in modern
Sweden
. English sailors received a ration of a
gallon
of beer per day, while soldiers received two-thirds of a gallon. In
Denmark
, the usual consumption of beer appears to have been a gallon per day for adult laborers and sailors.
[22]
It is important to note that modern beer is much stronger than the beers of the past. While current beers are 3?5% alcohol, the beer drunk in the historical past was generally 1% or so.
[
citation needed
]
This was known as 'small beer'.
However, the production and distribution of
spirits
spread slowly. Spirit drinking was still largely for
medicinal
purposes throughout most of the 16th century. It has been said of distilled alcohol that "the sixteenth century created it; the seventeenth century consolidated it; the eighteenth popularized it."
A beverage that clearly made its debut during the 17th century was sparkling
champagne
. The credit for that development goes primarily and erroneously to
Dom Perignon
, the wine-master in a
French
abbey
. Although the oldest recorded sparkling wine is
Blanquette de Limoux
, in 1531,
[60]
the English scientist and physician
Christopher Merret
documented the addition of sugar to a finished wine to create a second fermentation six years before Dom Perignon joined the
Abbey of Hautvillers
and almost 40 years before it was claimed that he invented Champagne. Around 1668, Perignon used strong bottles, invented a more efficient cork (and one that could contain the effervescence in those strong bottles), and began developing the technique of blending the contents. However, another century would pass before problems, especially bursting bottles, would be solved and champagne would become popular.
[22]
The original
grain
spirit,
whisky
(or
whiskey
in
Hiberno-English
) and its specific origins are unknown but the distillation of whisky has been performed in Ireland and Scotland for centuries. The first confirmed written record of whisky comes from 1405 in Ireland, the production of whisky from malted barley is first mentioned in Scotland in an entry from 1494, although both countries could have distilled grain alcohol before this date.
Distilled spirit was generally flavored with
juniper
berries. The resulting beverage was known as jenever, the
Dutch
word for "juniper." The French changed the name to genievre, which the English changed to "geneva" and then modified to "gin." Originally used for medicinal purposes, the use of
gin
as a social drink did not grow rapidly at first. However, in 1690, England passed "An Act for the Encouraging of the Distillation of Brandy and Spirits from Corn" and within four years the annual production of distilled spirits, most of which was gin, reached nearly one million gallons.
[22]
"Corn" in the British English of the time meant "grain" in general, while in American English "corn" refers principally to
maize
.
The dawn of the 18th century saw the
British Parliament
pass legislation designed to encourage the use of grain for distilling spirits. In 1685, consumption of gin had been slightly over one-half million gallons but by 1714 it stood at two million gallons. In 1727, official (declared and taxed) production reached five million gallons; six years later the London area alone produced eleven million gallons of gin.
The English government actively promoted gin production to utilize surplus grain and to raise revenue. Encouraged by public policy, very cheap spirits flooded the market at a time when there was little stigma attached to drunkenness and when the growing urban poor in
London
sought relief from the newfound insecurities and harsh realities of urban life. Thus developed the so-called
Gin Epidemic
.
[22]
While the negative effects of that phenomenon may have been exaggerated, Parliament passed legislation in 1736 to discourage consumption by prohibiting the sale of gin in quantities of less than two gallons and raising the tax on it dramatically. However, the peak in consumption was reached seven years later, when the nation of six and one-half million people drank over 18 million gallons of gin. And most was consumed by the small minority of the population then living in London and other cities; people in the countryside largely consumed beer, ale and
cider
.
[22]
After its peak, gin consumption rapidly declined. From eighteen million gallons in 1743, it dropped to just over seven million gallons in 1751 and to less than two million by 1758, and generally declined to the end of the century. A number of factors appear to have converged to discourage consumption of gin. These include the production of higher quality beer of lower price, rising corn prices and taxes which eroded the price advantage of gin, a temporary ban on distilling, an increasing criticism of drunkenness, a newer standard of behavior that criticized coarseness and excess, increased
tea
and
coffee
consumption, an increase in
piety
and increasing
industrialization
with a consequent emphasis on
sobriety
and labor efficiency.
[22]
While drunkenness was still an accepted part of life in the 18th century, the 19th century would bring a change in attitudes as a result of increasing industrialization and the need for a reliable and punctual work force. Self-discipline was needed in place of self-expression, and task orientation had to replace relaxed conviviality. Drunkenness would come to be defined as a threat to industrial efficiency and growth.
[22]
Ethanol can produce a state of
general anesthesia
and historically has been used for this purpose (Dundee et al., 1969).
[61]
The Thirteen Colonies
[
edit
]
Alcoholic beverages
played an important role in the
Thirteen Colonies
from their early days. For example, the
Mayflower
shipped more
beer
than
water
when it departed for the
New World
in 1620. While this may seem strange viewed from the modern context, note that drinking wine and beer at that time was safer than drinking water ? which was usually taken from sources also used to dispose of sewage and garbage.
[62]
Experience showed that it was safer to drink alcohol than the typically polluted water in
Europe
.
[
citation needed
]
Alcohol was also an effective
analgesic
, provided energy necessary for hard work, and generally enhanced the quality of life.
For hundreds of years the
English
ancestors of the colonists had consumed beer and
ale
. Both in England and in the New World, people of both sexes and all ages typically drank beer with their meals. Because importing a continuing supply of beer was expensive, the early settlers brewed their own. However, it was difficult to make the beer they were accustomed to because wild
yeasts
caused problems in
fermentation
and resulted in a bitter, unappetizing brew. Although wild
hops
grew in
New England
, hop seeds were ordered from England in order to cultivate an adequate supply for traditional beer. In the meantime, the colonists improvised a beer made from red and black
spruce
twigs boiled in water, as well as a
ginger beer
.
Beer was designated
[
by whom?
]
X, XX, or XXX according to its
alcohol content
. The colonists also learned to make a wide variety of
wine
from fruits. They additionally made wine from such products as flowers, herbs, and even oak leaves. Early on,
French
vine-growers were brought
[
by whom?
]
to the New World to teach settlers how to cultivate grapes.
Colonists adhered to the traditional belief that
distilled
spirits were
aqua vitae
, or water of life. However,
rum
was not commonly available until after 1650, when it was imported from the
Caribbean
. The cost of rum dropped after the colonists began importing
molasses
and cane sugar directly and distilled their own rum. By 1657, a rum distillery was operating in
Boston
. It was highly successful and within a generation the production of rum became colonial New England's largest and most prosperous industry.
Almost every important town from
Massachusetts
to the Carolinas had a rum distillery to meet the local demand, which had increased dramatically. Rum was often enjoyed in mixed drinks, including
flip
. This was a popular winter beverage made of rum and beer sweetened with sugar and warmed by plunging a red-hot fireplace poker into the serving mug.
Alcohol was viewed positively while its excessive use was condemned.
Increase Mather
(d. 1723) expressed the common view in a sermon against
drunkenness
: "Drink is in itself a good creature of God, and to be received with thankfulness, but the abuse of drink is from Satan; the wine is from God, but the drunkard is from the Devil."
The United States of America
[
edit
]
In colonial period of America from around 1623, when a Plymouth minister named
William Blackstone
began distributing apples and flowers, up until the mid-1800s, hard cider was the primary alcoholic drink of the people. Hard cider was prominent throughout this entire period and nothing compared in scope or availability. It was one of the few aspects of American culture that all the colonies shared. Settlement along the frontier often included a legal requirement whereby an orchard of mature apple trees bearing fruit within three years of settlement were required before a land title was officially granted. For example,
The Ohio Company
required settlers to plant not less than fifty apple trees and twenty peach trees within three years. These plantings would guarantee land titles. In 1767, the average New England family was consuming seven barrels of hard cider annually, which equates to about 35-gallons per person. Around the mid-1800s, newly arrived immigrants from Germany and elsewhere increased beer's popularity, and the
temperance movement
and continued westward expansion caused farmers to abandon their cider orchards.
[63]
In the early 19th century, Americans had inherited a hearty
drinking tradition
. Drinking hard liquor was a universally popular occurrence in early nineteenth-century America.
[64]
Many types of alcohol were consumed. One reason for this heavy
drinking
was attributed
[
by whom?
]
to an overabundance of
corn
on the western
frontier
, which encouraged the widespread production of cheap whiskey. It was at this time that alcohol became an important part of the American diet.
[
citation needed
]
In the 1820s, Americans drank seven gallons of alcohol per person annually.
[65]
[66]
[
need quotation to verify
]
In colonial America, water contamination was common. Two means to ensure that waterborne illness, for example
typhoid
and
cholera
, was not conveyed by water was to boil it in the process of making tea or coffee, or to use it to make alcohol. As a result, alcohol consumption was much higher in the nineteenth century than it is today -- 7.1 US gallons (27 L) of pure alcohol per person per year.
[67]
Before the construction of the
Erie Canal
, transportation of grain from the west was cost prohibitive; farmers instead converted their grain to alcohol for shipping eastward. This dependence on alcohol as a revenue source led to the
Whiskey Rebellion
of 1794. Later in the nineteenth century opposition to alcohol grew in the form of the
temperance movement
, culminating in
Prohibition in the United States
from 1920 to 1933.
Sub-Saharan Africa
[
edit
]
Palm wine
played an important social role in many African societies.
Thin, gruel-like, alcoholic beverages have existed in traditional societies all across the
African
continent, created through the fermentation of
sorghum
,
millet
,
bananas
, or in modern times,
maize
or
cassava
.
[68]
Hawaii
[
edit
]
Okolehao
is produced by
Native Hawaiians
from juice extracted from the roots of the
ti plant
.
[69]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
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WHO Global Status Report on Alcohol 2004
(PDF)
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World Health Organization
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ISBN
978-92-4-156272-0
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ISBN
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Malhotra, Richa (23 February 2017).
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Stephen G. Haw
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The earliest possible period seems to be the Eastern Han dynasty... the most likely period for the beginning of true distillation of spirits for drinking in China is during the Jin and Southern Song dynasties
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b
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Mathew, Roy J. (18 February 2009).
The True Path: Western Science and the Quest for Yoga
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b
c
Irfan Habib
(2011),
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, page 55
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Abbott PJ. "American Indian and Alaska native aboriginal use of alcohol in the United States."
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. Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag. pp. 283?298.
(same content also available on
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; Houdas, Octave V. (1893).
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. Vol. I?III. Paris: Imprimerie nationale.
vol. I, pp. 141, 143.
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. R. E. Krieger Pub. Co. p. 145.
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. pp. A19.
In
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- ^
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.
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Water from America: The Intoxication of the Hawai'ian People,"
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30.^
http://archaeology.about.com/od/wterms/qt/wine.htm
Archived
28 February 2014 at the
Wayback Machine
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Bert L. Vallee, "Alcohol in the Western World",
Scientific American
June 1998
- Michael Dietler, "Alcohol: Archaeological/Anthropological Perspectives",
Annual Review of Anthropology
2006, v.35:229?249.
- Jack S. Blocker et al. (eds.): Alcohol and Temperance in History. An International Encyclopedia, Santa Barbara 2003 (esp. on the period after 1800, which is not mentioned in this article).
- Thomas Hengartner / Christoph M. Merki (eds.): Genussmittel, Frankfort 2001 (esp. the article on alcohol by Hasso Spode).
|
---|
History and production
|
---|
History of alcohol
| |
---|
Production
| |
---|
|
|
|
---|
Fruit
|
- Apple
- Banana
- Bignay
- Bokbunja
- Grape
- Java plum
- Longan
- Lychee
- Pear
- Pineapple
- Plum
- Pomegranate
- Prickly pear
- Various fruits
|
---|
Cereals
|
- Barley
- Corn
- Millet
- Rice
- Rye
- Sorghum
- Multiple grains
|
---|
Other
|
- Agave americana
- Coconut and other palms
- Dairy
- Ginger
- Galangal
- Honey
- Sugar
- Sugarcane or molasses
- Tea
- Various starches
|
---|
|
|
|
---|
Fruit
|
- Apple
- Cashew apple
- Cherry
- Dates
- Fig
- Grape
- Juniper
- Plum
- Pomace
- Various fruits
|
---|
Cereals
|
- Barley
- Beer
- Buckwheat
- Maize
- Rice
- Rye
- Sorghum
- Multiple grains
|
---|
Other
|
- Agave
- Coconut and other palms
- Dairy
- Sugarcane or molasses
- Various starches
|
---|
|
|
Liqueurs
and infused distilled drinks by ingredients
|
---|
- Almond
- Anise
- Beer
- Blackthorn shrub
- Cherry
- Chili peppers
- Chocolate
- Cinnamon
- Cloudberry
- Coconut
- Coffee
- Cream
- Egg
- Hazelnut
- Herbs
- Honey
- Juniper
- Mammee apple flower
- Orange
- Star anise
- Sugarcane/molasses
- Vanilla
- Various fruits
- Walnut
|
|
|