Alcoholic beverage

Alcoholic beverages are drinks containing ethanol.

History

Fermented beverages

Fermented alcoholic beverages have been known since pre-historical times. Beer was certainly known in Babylonia before 4000 BC, as attested by recipes found on clay tablets.

Related Topics:
Beer - 4000 BC

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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. However, both Greeks and Romans generally consumed their wine watered (from 1 parts of wine to 1 part of water, to 1 part of wine to 4 parts of water). The transformation of water into wine at a wedding feast is one of the miracles attributed to Jesus in the New Testament, and his symbolic use of wine in the Last Supper led to it becoming an essential part of the Catholic Eucharist rite.

Related Topics:
Classical Greece - Symposia - 1st century BC - Roman - Jesus - New Testament - Last Supper - Catholic - Eucharist

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In spite of the Qur'anic ban on alcoholic beverages, wine (usually sold by Christian tavern-keepers) remained fairly popular in Islamic lands over the centuries, as revealed in the verses of Persian mathematician Omar Khayyám (1040–1131):

Related Topics:
Qur'an - Omar Khayyám

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:"Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,

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:A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse—and Thou

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:Beside me singing in the Wilderness—

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:And Wilderness is Paradise enow." http://www.armory.com/~thrace/ev/siir/Omar_Khayyam.html

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In Europe during the Middle Ages, beer was consumed by the whole family, thanks to a triple fermentation process — the men had the strongest, then women, then children. A document of the times mentions nuns having an allowance of six pints of ale a day. Cider and pomace wine were also widely available, while grape wine was the prerogative of the higher classes. After the collapse of the Roman Empire, wine production in Europe appears to have been sustained chiefly by monasteries.

Related Topics:
Europe - Middle Ages - Nun - Cider - Pomace wine

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By the times 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 freely allowed to those over 70 years old (possibly the all-time record for legal drinking age). The natives of South America manufactured a beer-like product from cassava or maize (cauim, chicha), which had to be chewed before fermentation in order to turn the starch into sugars. (Curiously, the same technique was used in ancient Japan to make sake from rice and other starchy crops.)

Related Topics:
Americas - 15th century - Native - Aztec - Pulque - Legal drinking age - South America - Cassava - Maize - Cauim - Chicha - Starch - Japan - Sake - Rice

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The medicinal use of alcoholic beverages was mentioned in Sumerian and Egyptian texts dated from 2100 BC or earlier. The Hebrew Bible recommends giving alcoholic drinks to those who are dying or depressed, so that they can forget their misery.

Related Topics:
2100 BC - Hebrew Bible

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Distilled beverages

Main article: Distilled beverage

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Beer and wine are typically limited to a maximum 15 percent alcohol, although brewers have reached 25% alcohol. Beyond this limit yeast is adversely affected and cannot ferment. Since the fourth millennium BC in Babylonia, higher levels of alcohol have been obtained in a number of ways. It was not until the still was invented by Islamic alchemists in the 8th or 9th centuries that the history of distilled beverages began. Alcohol appeared first in Europe in the mid 12th century and by the early 14th century it had spread throughout Europe. It also spread eastward, mainly by the Mongols, and was practiced in China by the 14th century. However, recent archeological evidence has supported the idea that China has had wines and distilled beverages dating back to 5000 BC. Paracelsus gave alcohol its modern name, taking it from the Arabic word which means "finely divided", in reference to what is done to wine.

Related Topics:
Still - Islam - Distilled beverage - 14th century - Mongol - China - 5000 BC - Paracelsus

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