The Earliest Alcoholic Beverage in the World Chemical analyses recently confirmed that the earliest alcoholic beverage in the world was a mixed fermented drink of rice, honey, and hawthorn fruit and/or grape. The residues of the beverage, dated ca.7000–6600 BCE, were recovered from early pottery from Jiahu, a Neolithic village in the Yellow River Valley.
Dr. Patrick McGovernDr. Juzhong Zhang, University of Science and Technology of China Dr. Jigen Tang, Chinese Academy of Social SciencesDr. Zhiqing Zhang, Henan Institute of Cultural Relics and ArchaeologyDr. Gretchen R. Hall, Penn MuseumDr. Robert A. Moreau, U.S. Department of AgricultureDr. Alberto Nuñez, U.S. Department of AgricultureDr. Eric D. Butrym, Firmenich CorporationDr. Michael P. Richards, University of BradfordDr. Chen-shan Wang, Penn MuseumDr. Guangsheng Cheng, Chinese Academy of SciencesDr. Zhijun Zhao, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Dr. Changsui Wang, University of Science and Technology of China
Chemical analyses of ancient organics absorbed, and preserved, in pottery jars from the Neolithic village of Jiahu, in Henan province, Northern China, have revealed that a mixed fermented beverage of rice, honey, and fruit was being produced as early as 9,000 years ago, approximately the same time that barley beer and grape wine were beginning to be made in the Middle East.
- In addition, liquids more than 3,000 years old, remarkably preserved inside tightly lidded bronze vessels, were chemically analyzed.
- These vessels from the capital city of Anyang and an elite burial in the Yellow River Basin, dating to the Shang and Western Zhou Dynasties (ca.1250-1000 BCE), contained specialized rice and millet “wines.” The beverages had been flavored with herbs, flowers, and/or tree resins, and are similar to herbal wines described in the Shang dynasty oracle inscriptions.
The new discoveries, made by an international, multi-disciplinary team of researchers including the Penn Museum’s archaeochemist Dr. Patrick McGovern, provide the first direct chemical evidence for early fermented beverages in ancient Chinese culture, thus broadening our understanding of the key technological and cultural roles that fermented beverages played in China.
The discoveries and their implications for understanding ancient Chinese culture are published in the PNAS Early Edition (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences): by Patrick E. McGovern, Juzhong Zhang, Jigen Tang, Zhiquing Zhang, Gretchen R. Hall, Robert A. Moreau, Alberto Nuñez, Eric D. Butrym, Michael P.
Richards, Chen-shan Wang, Guangsheng Cheng, Zhijun Zhao, and Changsui Wang. Dr. McGovern worked with this team of researchers, associated with the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, the Institute of Archaeology in Beijing, the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of Henan Province, the U.S.
Department of Agriculture, the Firmenich Corporation, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig (Germany), and the Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Dr. McGovern first met with archaeologists and scientists, including his co-authors on the paper, in China in 2000, returning there in 2001 and 2002.
Because of the great interest in using modern scientific techniques to investigate a crucial aspect of ancient Chinese culture, collaboration was initiated and samples carried back to the U.S. for analysis. Chemical tests of the pottery from the Neolithic village of Jiahu was of special interest, because it is some of the earliest known pottery from China.
- This site was already famous for yielding some of the earliest musical instruments and domesticated rice, as well as possibly the earliest Chinese pictographic writing.
- Through a variety of chemical methods including gas and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, infrared spectrometry, and stable isotope analysis, finger-print compounds were identified, including those for hawthorn fruit and/or wild grape, beeswax associated with honey, and rice.
The prehistoric beverage at Jiahu, Dr. McGovern asserts, paved the way for unique cereal beverages of the proto-historic 2nd millennium BCE, remarkably preserved as liquids inside sealed bronze vessels of the Shang and Western Zhou Dynasties. The vessels had become hermetically sealed when their tightly fitting lids corroded, preventing evaporation.
Numerous bronze vessels with these liquids have been excavated at major urban centers along the Yellow River, especially from elite burials of high-ranking individuals. Besides serving as burial goods to sustain the dead in the afterlife, the vessels and their contents can also be related to funerary ceremonies in which living intermediaries communicated with the deceased ancestor and gods in an altered state of consciousness after imbibing a fermented beverage.
“The fragrant aroma of the liquids inside the tightly lidded jars and vats, when their lids were first removed after some three thousand years, suggested that they indeed represented Shang and Western Zhou fermented beverages, ” Dr. McGovern noted. Samples of liquid inside vessels from the important capital of Anyang and the Changzikou Tomb in Luyi county were analyzed.
The combined archaeochemical, archaeobotanical and archaeological evidence for the Changzikou Tomb and Anyang liquids point to their being fermented and filtered rice or millet “wines,” either jiu or chang, its herbal equivalent, according to the Shang Dynasty oracle inscriptions. Specific aromatic herbs (e.g., wormword), flowers (e.g., chrysanthemum), and/or tree resins (e.g., China fir and elemi) had been added to the wines, according to detected compounds such as camphor and alpha-cedrene, beta-amyrin and oleanolic acid, as well as benzaldehyde, acetic acid, and short-chain alcohols characteristic of rice and millet wines.
Both jiu and chang of proto-historic China were likely made by mold saccharification, a uniquely Chinese contribution to beverage-making in which an assemblage of mold species are used to break down the carbohydrates of rice and other grains into simple, fermentable sugars.
Yeast for fermentation of the simple sugars enters the process adventitiously, either brought in by insects or settling on to large and small cakes of the mold conglomerate (qu) from the rafters of old buildings. As many as 100 special herbs, including wormwood, are used today to make qu, and some have been shown to increase the yeast activity by as much as seven-fold.
For Dr. McGovern, who began his role in the Chinese wine studies in 2000, this discovery offers an exciting new chapter in our rapidly growing understanding of the importance of fermented beverages in human culture around the world. In 1990, he and colleagues Rudolph H.
Michel and Virginia R. Badler first made headlines with the discovery of what was then the earliest known chemical evidence of wine, dating to ca.3500-3100 BCE, from Godin Tepe in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran (see “Drink and Be Merry!: Infrared Spectroscopy and Ancient Near Eastern Wine” in Organic Contents of Ancient Vessels: Materials Analysis and Archaeological Investigation, eds.W.R.
Biers and P.E. McGovern, MASCA Research Papers in Science and Archaeology, vol.7, Philadelphia: MASCA, University of Pennsylvania Museum, University of Pennsylvania). That finding was followed up by the earliest chemically confirmed barley beer in 1992, inside another vessel from the same room at Godin Tepe that housed the wine jars.
In 1994, chemical testing confirmed resinated wine inside two jars excavated by a Penn archaeological team at the Neolithic site of Hajji Firuz Tepe, Iran, dating to ca.5400 BCE and some 2000 years earlier than the Godin Tepe jar. Dr. McGovern is author of Ancient Wine: The Search for the Origins of Viniculture (Princeton University Press, 2003).
Dr. McGovern’s research was made possible by support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Henry Luce Foundation, and the National Science Foundation (2000-2001; award BCS-9911128). The GC-MS analyses were carried out in the Chemistry Department of Drexel University through the kind auspices of J.P.
Honovich. Dr. McGovern also thanks the Institute of Archaeology in Beijing and Zhengzhou for logistical support and providing samples for analysis. Qin Ma Hui, Wuxiao Hong, Hsing-Tsung Huang, Shuicheng Li, Guoguang Luo, Victor Mair, Harold Olmo, Vernon Singleton, and Tiemei Chen variously advised on or facilitated the research.
Changsui Wang, chairperson of the Archaeometry program at the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei (Anhui Province) was untiring in his enthusiasm for the project, and personally accompanied Dr. McGovern on travels to excavations and institutes, where collaborations and meetings with key scientists and archaeologists were arranged.
How long has alcohol been on?
Archaeological record – The ability to metabolize alcohol likely predates humanity with primates eating fermenting fruit. 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.
- Some have proposed that alcoholic drinks predated agriculture and it was the desire for alcoholic drinks that lead to agriculture and civilization.
- 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 in December 2004, 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.
- 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, 3150 BC in ancient Egypt, 3000 BC in Babylon, 2000 BC in pre-Hispanic Mexico and 1500 BC in Sudan,
According to Guinness, the earliest firm evidence of wine production dates back to 6000 BC in Georgia, 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.
- Celtic people were known to have been making types of alcoholic cider as early as 3000 BC.
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).
- 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.
- Cider and pomace wine were also widely available; grape wine was the prerogative of the higher classes.
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.
What was alcohol originally used for?
From early uses to modern uses – In early societies, alcoholic beverages had multiple uses. First, they had important nutritional value. Second, they were the best medicine available for some illnesses and especially for relieving pain. (In any case, a patient given a prescription to be taken in beer or wine, with the instruction to drink it liberally, was likely to feel better regardless of whether the various ingredients affected his disease.) Also, they facilitated religious ecstasy and communion with the mystical supernatural powers thought to control tribal and individual fate.
They enabled periodic social festivity and the personal jollification of the participants, thus also serving as the mediator of popular recreation. By helping to reduce tension and fears and preoccupation with safety, alcohol can reduce as well as stimulate the impulse to engage in aggressive or dangerous activities.
Just as drinking facilitates dangerous and uninhibited sex and driving by reducing stranger anxiety and fear of punishment, it also facilitates peaceful associations and commercial or ceremonial relations. In individuals with extraordinary responsibilities, such as chiefs, shamans, and medicine men, alcohol helped to assuage the personal anxieties and tensions connected with those exceptional roles.
In some cases a formalized public binge could serve to loosen interpersonal aggressions and allow an interlude of verbal or even physical hostility within the family or clan group that otherwise would be forbidden by the mores of the cohesive small society. Any insults and wounds suffered during the discordant interlude could easily be forgiven by blaming them on alcohol-induced irresponsibility.
Under these circumstances drunkenness could be approved or even be mandatory and still serve an integrative social function. In short, the most general effect of alcohol, suggested by its very equivocal uses, appears to be as a facilitator of mood change in any desired direction.
The conditions of early societies foreshadow the conditions of modern societies, including the contemporary highly industrialized ones. As food, alcohol retains little value beyond its caloric content. As a medicine, it has survived only as a solvent for water-insoluble compounds and as a “tonic.” In religion, where not completely eliminated, wine has been relegated to a highly specific, essentially symbolic role.
Indeed, the most distinctive features of alcohol in complex technological societies are social, from Andean fiestas to Irish pub life to Greek weddings. Not that the ancient uses of alcohol have been forgotten: a drink is still the symbolic announcer of friendship, peace, and agreement, in personal as well as in business or political relations.
What is the oldest alcohol brand?
Notes –
- , Lucas Bols, Lucas Bols, B.V. Archived from on 2015-01-03, Retrieved 2007-09-17, Lucas Bols BV is the oldest Dutch company still active, and the oldest distillery brand in the world.
- Regan, Gaz (April 21, 2005)., SFGate, Retrieved April 5, 2016,
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Why do humans like alcohol?
Introduction – Behind only tobacco use and obesity, alcohol use is the third most common lifestyle-related cause of death in the United States ( Mokdad et al., 2004 ). People like to drink alcohol because of its ability to alter emotional states. Alcohol induces euphoria, relaxation, and disinhibition while reducing stress and anxiety.
Consistent with human self-report, animal studies also suggest that alcohol produces a rewarding as well as an anxiolytic effect ( Coop et al., 1990 ; Blanchard et al., 1993 ; Spanagel et al., 1995 ; Da Silva et al., 2005 ). Although its euphoric and stress-reducing effects have been known for centuries and are intuitively understood, how alcohol changes the function of human brain circuits has been explored only sparingly.
Where might alcohol recruit circuitry that regulates positive affect leading to euphoria? A critical area of interest is the ventral striatum (VS), which is recruited by reward-predictive stimuli ( Knutson et al., 2001 ; Bjork et al., 2004 ). A variety of primary rewards activate this circuit, including fruit juice and water ( Berns et al., 2001 ; O’Doherty et al., 2002 ; Pagnoni et al., 2002 ; McClure et al., 2003 ), as well as secondary rewards such as praise and money (for review, see Knutson and Cooper, 2005 ).
Similarly, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have shown striatal activation in response to drugs of abuse such as cocaine ( Breiter et al., 1997 ) and nicotine ( Stein et al., 1998 ). Although there have not yet been fMRI studies of the action of alcohol on reward circuits, positron emission tomography (PET) studies demonstrate increased striatal glucose metabolism or blood flow in response to alcohol ( Wang et al., 2000 ; Boileau et al., 2003 ; Schreckenberger et al., 2004 ).
Accordingly, the mesocorticolimbic reward circuit is important in the development and maintenance of addiction ( Koob et al., 1998 ). How might alcohol affect circuitry that governs negative affect to decrease anxiety? Alcohol-mediated anxiolysis may result from disruption of threat detection circuitry.
- The amygdala in particular is critical in an attention allocation circuit that is recruited by stimuli that signal the requirement for an immediate behavioral response, such as fight or flight ( LeDoux, 2003 ; Fitzgerald et al., 2006 ).
- Alcohol intoxication increases the incidence of aggression and social risk taking ( Giancola and Zeichner, 1997 ; Corbin and Fromme, 2002 ; Giancola et al., 2002 ), perhaps by disrupting the amygdala-mediated differentiation between threatening and nonthreatening stimuli.
Decreased differential response may increase approach while decreasing avoidance, thus facilitating social interaction. The current study was designed to characterize the response of the brain to alcohol intoxication and emotional stimuli, and is the first fMRI study to examine acute pharmacological effects of alcohol on the neural circuitry underlying emotion.
When was alcohol free?
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Released | June 9, 2021 | ||
| Genre | Bossa nova | ||
| Length | 3 : 30 | ||
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Alcohol-Free ” is a song recorded by South Korean girl group Twice, It was released on June 9, 2021, through JYP Entertainment and Republic Records, It serves as the lead single from the group’s tenth extended play, Taste of Love, which was released two days after.
Have we evolved to drink alcohol?
As winter deepens (in the North — hello, summery South!), many people’s minds are turning towards celebrations of the solstice, many of which are accompanied by (sometimes copious) alcohol consumption. But when did we first acquire a taste for alcohol? Apparently, humans have always had it.
According to a wonderful study appearing in PNAS, alcohol metabolism appeared in our primate ancestors between 7 and 21 million years ago, long before the human species existed. The primate population that evolved to metabolize alcohol eventually gave rise, not only to humans, but also to chimps, bonobos, and gorillas, all of which share our ability to break down booze.
It turns out that our kind has been able to tolerate alcohol for longer than we’ve been human. Metabolizing alcohol is a complex process involving many enzymes, but the researchers focused their efforts on just one, ADH4. ADH4 is expressed in primates’ stomachs and tongues, and has been shown to play a significant role in alcohol metabolism.
Of course, a full understanding of how primates evolved to metabolize alcohol will only emerge after we’ve studied the other enzymes, too, but ADH4 is a good start. I think my favourite thing about this study may have been the surprisingly straightforward, direct approach the researchers chose. They started by making a phylogeny of the ADH4 gene based on its sequence in modern primates.
Each node in the tree represents a hypothetical common ancestor, and the team could infer the structure of the ancestral versions of the protein in each one — what it looked like in the common ancestor of humans, chimps, bonobos, and gorillas, for example, or in the common ancestor of that group and orangutans.
- So far, this is just standard phylogenetics.
- The cool part is what the team did next.
- They engineered bacteria to express the ancestral versions of ADH4, extracted these proteins from the bacterial cultures, and tested their ability to metabolize alcohol.
- In other words, they resurrected proteins that haven’t been seen for millions of years — ADH4 went on changing in each ancestor’s descendants — just to find out if they could break down alcohol.
Amazing! The researchers found that the mutation responsible for alcohol metabolism appeared in our common ancestor with bonobos, chimps, and gorillas. Orangutans can’t break down alcohol; nor can gibbons, baboons, or a range of other primates. The natural question, of course, is “why then?”.
Why in that group of animals, at that time? It’s a common question in evolutionary stories, and it’s always a tough one to answer with certainty. In this case, the researchers point out that the evolution of alcohol metabolism coincided with a major climate disruption around the middle of the Miocene; one of its consequences was the transformation of East African forest ecosystems into fragmented forests and grasslands.
Our ancestors, who may have been knuckle-walking through these grasslands, may have started eating more fruit they found on the ground, rather than in trees. Fruit sitting on the ground rots, and part of that process is fermentation of the sugars into ethanol.
- Many hominoids went extinct during the transition from forest to grassland, so the ability to eat fermented fruit might have been quite an advantage.
- As is so often the case, it’s hard to be sure if that’s actually what happened, but it’s an attractive and plausible explanation.
- Ref Carrigan et al.
- Hominids adapted to metabolize ethanol long before human-directed fermentation,
PNAS Early Edition, (2014) doi: 10.1073/pnas.1404167111 Image credits The grape photo is by Hannele Luhtasela-el Showk and is used with permission.
What is the oldest alcohol in Europe?
Mead is the oldest alcohol in the world – Mead (Miodh in Irish) is the world’s oldest alcoholic drink, referred to as nectar of the gods, ambrosia, honey wine or honeymoon wine. The earliest discovery of a drink fermented from honey was in northern China in 6500 BC,
- This means that mead is older than the wheel! In Europe, mead traces were found in ceramics from 2800-1800 BC including in Northern Scotland.
- This archaeological culture is known as the Beaker culture for its distinctive pottery drinking beakers.
- It is the nectar of the gods in Greek mythology, drink of goddesses and was drunk in Roman times.
Romans also drank wine sweetened with a spice honey syrup, technically called a Mulsum, which is often confused with authentic mead. It is the national drink of Ethiopia – Tej,
How old is vodka?
vodka, distilled liquor, clear and colourless and without definite aroma or taste, ranging in alcoholic content from about 40 to 55 percent. Because it is highly neutral, flavouring substances having been mainly eliminated during processing, it can be made from a mash of the cheapest and most readily available raw materials suitable for fermentation,
- Cereal grains were traditionally employed in Russia and Poland ; later potatoes were used increasingly there and in other vodka-producing countries.
- While the name vodka is a diminutive of the Russian voda (“water”), the origins of the liquor are a matter of debate.
- Some claim that it originated as early as the 8th or 9th century in either Poland or Russia.
Regardless of when or where it originated, a liquor called vodka was present in Russia during the 14th century. The beverage was popular mainly in Russia, Poland, and the Balkan states until soon after World War II, when consumption began to increase rapidly in the United States and then in Europe,
- Most producers purchase previously distilled and purified neutral spirits that are extremely high in alcohol content, with almost no flavouring substances remaining.
- Such spirits are then additionally purified by a filtration process, usually employing charcoal, and are then reduced in strength with distilled water and bottled without aging.
In Russia, where fairly low alcohol content of 40 percent by volume (80 U.S. proof ) is preferred, and in Poland, where 45 percent is more common, vodka is usually consumed unmixed and chilled, in small glasses, and accompanied by appetizers, In other countries it is popular for use in mixed drinks because of its neutral character.
It may be combined with other beverages without imparting flavour of its own and substituted for other spirits in cocktails not requiring the specific flavour of the original spirit. Popular vodka drinks include the screwdriver, made with orange juice; the Bloody Mary, with tomato juice; vodka and tonic, a tall drink; and the vodka martini, with vodka substituted for gin,
Vodkas are sometimes flavoured with such ingredients as buffalo grass, lemon peel, berries, peppercorns, and caraway, The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Adam Augustyn,
What is the rarest drink in the world?
Billionaire Vodka –
Billionaire Vodka is the top rarest drink in the world, which provides you satisfaction to different sophisticated individuals. The massive 5-liter bottle extraordinary spirit costs up to $3.7 million. Its motto is “It’s good to be the king,” so the user’s demand is the essential feature.
The product’s recipe is exclusive and top-quality grown wheat from Russia to safeguard its smoothness. In addition, an advanced distilled crystal and diamonds procedure brings you the most refined taste. Designer Leon Verres made this Billionaire Vodka stand out of the crowd to protect the exclusivity with 3,000 Swarovski crystals and different diamonds.
Verres applied white faux pelage on the bottle instead of the real fur. The cap is followed by the form of Russian fur hats to make it more appealing. The bottle goes with white gloves, which shows the high-quality service when using alcoholic beverage products.
- Juniper berries were added to the drink for their supposed medicinal properties.
- Depending on how it was distilled, the resulting alcohol tasted similar to vodka or whiskey.
- Originally, these drinks were sold in pharmacies for medicinal use.
- They could be prescribed to alleviate kidney ailments, gout, or gallstones.
- Veronique Beittel author of Genever: 500 Years of History in a Bottle claims this is where we get the phrase ‘Dutch courage’.
- English distillers began to make their own version of genever, shortened to ‘gin’.
- It slowly gained popularity, before seeing major success when William Of Orange, ruler of the Dutch Republic, took the throne in the Glorious Revolution and shared his enthusiasm for the drink.
- Without a doubt, Van Gogh was a brilliant artist who is now revered for his talent and his vision into the world.
- In his time, on the other hand, his world was far bleaker.
- Van Gogh was an alcoholic who primarily drank absinthe, so he suffered the ill effects of hallucinations on top of his alcoholism.
- He may not have as much sway in world history as Richard Nixon.
- However, David Hasselhoff’s story is one that shows how far a person can fall as the result of alcoholism.
- In his heyday, Hasselhoff was an American icon.
- He was the man so many others wanted to be.
- Over the years, though, alcohol took its toll.
- While alcoholism has had a strong grip on human society, there are plenty of people throughout history who have played a part in helping others break free.
- There is evidence of Native American societies having “sobriety circles” as early as 1750.
- These circles were much like today’s support groups: people gathering together to support each other in their sobriety.
- While we have an ongoing effort to help individuals treat their alcoholism, our society is also waging war on the stigma of alcoholism.
- In the past, some people believed alcoholism was a sign of weakness or a bad decision.
- That stigma prevented countless people from seeking the help they needed.
- In 1956, the American Medical Association took a powerful step by officially recognizing alcoholism as a disease.
How old is gin?
Genever – The origins of gin can be charted back to the Netherlands in the 13th Century. Back in those days, gin was far from its modern incarnation. Known as genever, the drink was made by distilling malt wine to around 50% ABV (alcohol by volume). As one might imagine, the drink wasn’t particularly drinkable, so it was softened with herbs and spices.
The drink was discovered by the British after English soldiers encountered it while fighting in Antwerp, assisting the Dutch against the Spanish in the 80 Years War of the late 16th and early 17th Century. They were known to drink genever before battle due to its supposed calming properties.
Traditional genever still exists in continental Europe where it is popular in the Netherlands, Belgium, and adjoining parts of France and Germany. 
What is the oldest vodka?
What Is the Oldest Vodka? – Smirnoff is the oldest vodka brand and has been in business since 1864. It remains one of the best-selling vodka brands worldwide, too.
Why do men love beer?
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Ever wondered the psychology behind men liking beer? Turns out there are studies which reveal why drinking beer is appealing to men, perhaps more so than it is appealing to women. According to pH lab, one of the first reasons relates to socialising with other men and the connection brought about when men sit with each other and drink beer.
Who drank the most beer ever?
He drank 119 beers in six hours – Andre once consumed 119 12-oz beers in six hours. To put that in mere mortal terms, that equates to a 12-oz beer downed every three minutes, non-stop, for six hours straight. After the marathon drinking session, Andre (understandably) passed out in a hotel lobby and couldn’t be moved or stirred.
Who was the first drunkard on earth?
1 Noah The Drunkard Here we have the 1st mention of alcohol in Scripture and it is presented in an unfavourable light.
Who drank the first beer?
The Sumerians – There are some theories that beer brewing happened at Godin Tepe settlement (now in modern-day Iran) as early as 10,000 BCE when agriculture first developed in the region. The people who lived in the land between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers considered beer a very important part of their diet. They called it ” the divine drink ” because of its intoxicating effect. Alulu beer receipt – This records a purchase of “best” beer from a brewer, c.2050 BC from the Sumerian city of Umma in ancient Iraq The first solid proof of beer production comes from the period of the Sumerians around 4,000 BCE. During an archeological excavation in Mesopotamia, a tablet was discovered that showed villagers drinking a beverage from a bowl with straws.
Did the oldest person alive drink alcohol?
The Oldest Person Alive Drinks a Glass of Wine a Day
The oldest person alive might have wine to thank for her longevity.The 118 year old French nun, Sister André, assumed the title of the world’s oldest living person this April following the death of 119-year-old Kane Tanaka of Japan.Among life’s pleasures, Sister André particularly enjoys chocolate and wine: Her nursing home told that she drinks a glass of it a day.
The COVID-19 survivor has lived through 18 French presidents and 10 Popes. But the distinction is a “sad honor,” Sister André told French TV channel RMC Story. “I feel I would be better off in heaven, but the good Lord doesn’t want me yet,” she said. 
: The Oldest Person Alive Drinks a Glass of Wine a Day
What is the origin of alcoholism?
Alcohol’s Impact on History – The earliest alcoholic drink may have been from 9000 years ago, but since then alcohol has developed a stronghold in societies around the world. The famous and powerful have not been spared from its impact. Many influential people from history have suffered from alcoholism and even died from its effects.
Unfortunately, he took his own life at the young age of 37. The world can only wonder how much of a role his alcoholism played and how much more we could have enjoyed him otherwise. Few people have as much of an effect on history as a US president. Known as the most powerful person in the free world at any given time, an American president can do a lot of harm if alcoholism is clouding the judgment.
One of the most notorious past presidents suffered from severe alcoholism during his presidency. It was well-known among his staff that Nixon would repeatedly spend his evenings being extremely drunk. The world is fortunate to have that staff around because there are several stories of times when Nixon’s drinking would have put the world at serious risk if others hadn’t intervened.
In one story, Nixon reportedly offered a White House job to an unknown woman when he was drunk at a restaurant. More shockingly, Nixon allegedly tried to convince Henry Kissinger that the US should drop a nuclear bomb on Vietnam one night. Obviously, this would have had devastating consequences for Vietnam and the world as a whole.
Everything came to a head in 2007 when Hasselhoff’s daughter filmed one of his many drunken evenings. The video went viral, and it brought the ugly face of alcoholism to the surface. It reminded the world that alcoholism can reduce even the most glamorous of celebrities to people with no control over their actions.
Today’s style of rehabilitation began to take shape formally in 1935 when Alcoholics Anonymous was founded, Since then, the organization has grown throughout the US, along with the many rehabilitation centers that have emerged to help people address their alcoholism.
This started the ball rolling toward a wider understanding that alcoholism is just as much of an illness as diabetes or cancer. While the battle is ongoing, that recognition continues to spread today.