History Of Alcoholic Beverages
The purposeful production of alcoholic beverages is common in many cultures and
often reflects their cultural and religious peculiarities as much as their geographical and sociological conditions.
The discovery of late Stone Age beer jugs has established the fact that purposely fermented beverages existed at least as early as c. 10,000 BC. It has been suggested that beer may have preceded bread as a staple.
Evidence of wine only appeared as a finished product in Egyptian pictographs around 4000 BC.
Brewing dates from the beginning of civilization in ancient Egypt and
wine beverages were very important at that time. Symbolic of this is the fact that while many gods were local or familial, Osiris was worshiped throughout the entire country. The Egyptians believed that this important god invented beer, a beverage that was considered a necessity of life; it was brewed in the home "on an everyday
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. 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 abuse 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.
The earliest evidence of alcohol in China are wine jars from Jiahu which date to about 5000 BC. This early drink was produced by fermenting rice, honey, and fruit.
A variety of alcoholic beverages was used in China since Paleolithic times. Alcohol, known in Chinese as ji was considered a spiritual food rather than a material (physical) food, and extensive documentary evidence attests to the important role it played in the 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."
A Chinese imperial edict of about 1116 BC makes it clear that the use of alcohol in moderation was believed to be prescribed by heaven. Whether or not it was prescribed by heaven, it was clearly beneficial to the treasury. At the time of Marco Polo (1254-1324) it was drunk daily and was 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."
Wine filling machines in the Indus valley civilization appeared in the Chalcolithic Era. These beverages were in use between 3000 BC - 2000 BC. Sura, a beverage distilled from rice meal, wheat,sugar cane, grapes, other fruits and soma drink was popular among the Kshatriya warriors and the peasant population. They prayed to different gods like soma and the goddess somalamma. There is a community called somavansh kshatriyas or savji who are involved in alcohol beverages development. The use of these beverages was well defined within specific social contexts.
In traditional Indian society before Muslim and Christian invasions, use of alcohol was indicative of the lowest classes, whilst cannabis (often referred to as marijuana) was accepted by mainstream Hindu society.
The Hindu Ayurvedic texts describe both the beneficent uses of alcoholic beverages and the consequences of intoxication and alcoholic diseases. 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.
Beer was the
Wine filling machines among the Babylonians, and as early as 2,700 BC they worshiped a wine goddess and other wine deities. Babylonians regularly used both beer and wine as offerings to their gods. Around 1,750 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. Nevertheless, although it was not a crime, it would appear that the Babylonians were critical of drunkenness.
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