Alcohol History Facts
Interesting alcohol facts in history along with some facts about alcohol in religion and mythology.
Rum was shipped to Africa where it could be traded for slaves.
Early beers did have some health benefits. Sailors who drank beer avoided scurvy.
Egyptian writings more than four thousand years old include a father's warning to his student son about the danger of drinking too much beer.
In China, the emperor Yu is credited with learning how to make rice wine but eventually he tried to outlaw its use fearing that wine's effects on the population would lead to the fall of his kingdom.
In ancient Egypt, beer was a staple of the poor while wine was more expensive and available to the wealthy.
In colonial America, drunks were sometimes put in stationary or mobile stocks.
Many colonists used hard cider, beer, rum or other alcoholic drinks as painkillers and as treatment for fevers, indigestion, and heart trouble.
For several centuries, brandy and other liquors, now called cordials, were made almost exclusively for treating illness.
Ancient Egyptians sometimes received beer instead of wages for their work.
Before sewers and water purification systems were invented, alcoholic beverages were safer to drink than most available water.
The first mention of alcohol in the Hebrew Bible occurs in the book of Genesis. It is written that Noah drank too much wine made from the vineyards he planted after the flood.
The prophet Mohammed banned alcohol to those of the Islamic faith, and religious Hindus were expected to abstain.
Around 800 A.D., an Arabian invention called distillation made it possible to make beverages with a highly concentrated form of alcohol.
Dionysus was the Greek God of wine.
Bacchus was the Roman god of wine.
The Christian Bible talks about Jesus turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana but there are also biblical warnings against drunkenness, which was frowned upon.
Early beer production is portrayed on tomb walls in Egypt.
Samuel Adams inherited a brewery from his family.
One of George Washington's own handwritten recipes for making beer can be seen at the New York Public Library.
Buddha believed in abstaining from intoxicating beverages.
During the colonial times, alcohol consumption was quite common with men and women. It was a custom to pause for drinks several times a day.
Colonists did not want American Indians to get drunk or disorderly. They feared that such behavior might lead to rebellion.
During the Whiskey rebellion, federal officials who tried to collect taxes on whiskey were sometimes tarred and feathered.
In 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt promised the repeal of Prohibition if he was elected. Shortly after becoming president, Roosevelt legalized beer sales.
In the 1800's, doctors routinely prescribed alcoholic drinks as a treatment for disease.
In 1933, prohibition was overturned by the 18th amendment, however, many states chose to remain dry and it would be 30 years until all states allowed alcohol sales again.
Between 1921 and 1923, about seven thousand persons were arrested for breaking prohibition laws in New York. However, only 27 of them were convicted.