Mixology Wine Institute Blog

According to Lifescience, there’s growing evidence and scientific interest in the rise of alcohol, specifically beer, in civilization.

The health argument has been made that beer, because of its malted sweetness, b complex vitamins, and anti microbial properties, was more nourishing to our forefathers than bread.

This article makes the argument for feasting.  Cereal grains require a lot of work to extract nourishment from says archaeologist Brian Hayden:

“In traditional Mayan villages where I’ve worked, maize is used for tortillas and for chicha, the beer made there. Women spend five hours a day just grinding up the kernels.”

The concept of a “feast” or giant social gathering that inspired people to go out of their way to work, trade, and interact together makes a lot of sense.  Beer and bread were popular partly because they were hard to make, according to the Hayden:

“Feasts are essential in traditional societies for creating debts, for creating factions, for creating bonds between people, for creating political power, for creating support networks, and all of this is essential for developing more complex kinds of societies,” Hayden explained. “Feasts are reciprocal — if I invite you to my feast, you have the obligation to invite me to yours. If I give you something like a pig or a pot of beer, you’re obligated to do the same for me or even more.

In traditional feasts throughout the world, there are three ingredients that are almost universally present,” he said. “One is meat. The second is some kind of cereal grain, at least in the Northern Hemisphere, in the form of breads or porridge or the like. The third is alcohol, and because you need surplus grain to put into it, as well as time and effort, it’s produced almost only in traditional societies for special occasions to impress guests, make them happy, and alter their attitudes favorably toward hosts.”

It’s amazing how little has changed.

Sumerian Beer Recipe