Good afternoon. You can ask why so long Oleg did not write anything((
I wrote a very interesting book. Books about the history of alcoholic beverages.
I hope you like this book!
We start with the introduction!
Introduction
The thief of reason - this is the name of alcohol since ancient times. People knew about the intoxicating properties of alcoholic beverages no less than 8000 years before our era - with the advent of ceramic dishes, which made it possible to make alcoholic beverages from honey, fruit juices and wild grapes. For the first time, beverages prepared by fermentation appeared at a time when people noticed that spoiled fruit or, for example, milk can bring a pleasant sensation. Some of these products exist today, for example, Mongolian koumiss, Armenian mazun, palm wine, hydromel.
Perhaps, winemaking arose even before the beginning of cultural farming. So, the famous traveler NN. Miklouho-Maclay observed the Papuans of New Guinea, who could not yet make fire, but who already knew how to make intoxicating beverages. The pure alcohol began to be received in 6-7 centuries by the Arabs and called it "al-kogol", which means "intoxicating". The first bottle of vodka was made by Arab Parez in 860.
Distillation of wine to obtain alcohol sharply increased drunkenness. In the Middle Ages in Western Europe also learned to get strong spirits by sublimating wine and other wandering sugary liquids. According to legend, for the first time this operation was performed by an Italian monk, the alchemist Valentius. After trying the newly obtained product and coming into a state of strong alcoholic intoxication, the alchemist stated that he had discovered a miracle elixir making the old man young, tired of cheerfulness, yearning for the merry.
People perfected the two processes that produce alcohol - the fermentation and distillation used to get it today.
The surviving cultural monuments testify that alcoholic beverages were consumed by Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Chinese, Indians, Jews, Turks and many other peoples. With the alcohol, the ancient Slavs were also familiar. In many annals, old songs, epics, you can find descriptions of feasts and chanting of alcoholic beverages. Consumption of alcohol was mostly ritual and occurred mainly on the occasion of major religious holidays and significant events in public life. It is important to note that they drank low-alcoholic intoxicating beverages: beer, braga, honey products. Because of the high prices of alcohol, commoners had limited opportunities for drinking alcoholic beverages, systematically they were used by representatives of feudal power. It is no accident that honey drinks were called princely by the people.
to be continued...