History
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People around the world, since ancient times, have been drinking alcoholic beverages. Reasons for drinking alcoholic beverages vary and include:
- part of a standard diet
- medical purposes
- relaxant effects
- euphoric effects
- recreational purposes
- artistic inspiration
- putative aphrodisiac effects
Examination and analysis of ancient pottery jars from the neolithic village of Jiahu in Henan province in northern China revealed residue left behind by the alcoholic beverages they once contained. According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, chemical analysis of the residue confirmed that a fermented drink made from fruit, rice, and honey was being produced in 7000–6600 BCE. The results of this analysis was published in December 2004. This drink, as of now, precedes the evidence of grape wine from the Middle East by more than 500 years. Winemaking first appears dating from 6000 BCE in Georgia. Evidence of alcoholic beverages has also been found dating from 3150 BCE in ancient Egypt, 3000 BCE in Babylon, 2000 BCE in pre-Hispanic Mexico, and 1500 BC in Sudan. Distilled alcoholic beverages were first recorded in Europe in the mid-12th century. By the early 14th century, they had spread throughout the European continent.
Read more about this topic: Alcoholic Beverage
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“The history of mankind interests us only as it exhibits a steady gain of truth and right, in the incessant conflict which it records between the material and the moral nature.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“It’s nice to be a part of history but people should get it right. I may not be perfect, but I’m bloody close.”
—John Lydon (formerly Johnny Rotten)
“Anyone who is practically acquainted with scientific work is aware that those who refuse to go beyond fact rarely get as far as fact; and anyone who has studied the history of science knows that almost every great step therein has been made by the “anticipation of Nature.””
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)