Summary A brief history of alcohol - Rod Phillips - YouTube (Youtube) www.youtube.com
718 words - YouTube video - View YouTube video
Speaker 0 This chimpanzee z stumbles across a windfall of over ripe plum. Many of them have split open, drawing him to their into f odor. He gorge himself and begins to experience some strange effects. This un winning ape has stumbled on a process that humans will eventually harness to create beer, wine, and other alcoholic drinks The sugars in overwrite fruit attract microscopic organisms known as yeast, as the yeast beat on the fruit sugars they produce a compound called ethanol, the type of alcohol in alcoholic beverages. This process is called fermentation.
Speaker 0 Nobody knows exactly when humans began to create fermented beverages. The earliest known evidence comes from 7000 Bce in China. Where residue in clay pots has revealed that people were making an alcoholic beverage from fermented rice, mille it, grapes and honey. Within a few thousand years, cultures all over the world were ferment their own drinks. Ancient mesopotamia and Egyptians made beer throughout the year from stored cereal grains.
Speaker 0 This beer was available to all social classes. And workers even received it in their daily rations. They also made wine, but because the climate wasn't ideal for growing grapes it was a rare and expensive delicacy. By contrast, in Greece and Rome where grapes grew more easily, Wine was as readily available as beer was in Egypt and Me mesopotamia. Because yeast will ferment basically any plant sugar Ancient peoples made alcohol from whatever crops and plants grew where they lived.
Speaker 0 In South America, people made chic chu from grains. Sometimes adding hall carcinogenic herbs. In what's now Mexico, po made from cactus sap was the drink of choice. While East Africans, made banana and palm beer. And in the area that's now Japan, people made Sa from rice, almost every region of the globe had its own fermented drinks.
Speaker 0 As alcohol consumption became part of everyday life, some authorities latched onto effects they perceived as positive. Greek physicians considered wine to be good for health. And poets testified to its creative qualities. Others were more concerned about alcohols potential for abuse. Greek philosophers promoted temper.
Speaker 0 Early Jewish and Christian writers in Europe integrated wine into rituals, but considered excessive into, a sin. And in the Middle East, Africa and Spain an Islamic rule against praying wild trunk gradually solidified into a general ban on alcohol. Ancient fermented beverages had relatively low alcohol content at about 13 percent alcohol. The byproducts, while yeast generate during fermentation become toxic and kill them. When the yeast die, fermentation stops and the alcohol content levels off.
Speaker 0 So for thousands of years, alcohol content was limited. That changed with the invention of a process called dis. Ninth century Arabic writings described boiling fermented liquids, to vaporize the alcohol in them. Alcohol boils at a lower temperature than water, so it vaporize first. Capture this vapor, cool it down and what's left is liquid alcohol much more concentrated than any fermented beverage.
Speaker 0 At first, these stronger spirits were used from medicinal additional purposes. Then, spirits became an important trade commodity because unlike beer and wine, they didn't spoil purposes Rum made from sugar harvested in European colonies in the Caribbean became a staple for sailors and was traded to North America. Europeans brought brandy and gin to Africa and traded it for enslaved people, land and goods. Like palm oil and Rubber, spirits became a form of money in these regions. During the age of exploration Spirits played a crucial role in long distance sea voyages.
Speaker 0 Sailing from Europe to East Asia and the Americas could take months. And keeping water fresh for the cruise was a challenge. Adding a bucket of brandy to a water barrel kept water fresh longer. Because alcohol is a pre conservative that kills harmful microbes. So by the 16 hundreds, alcohol had gone from simply giving animals a buzz to fueling global trade and exploration along with all their consequences.
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