A Short History of Alcohol

The use of chemicals to alter thinking and feeling is as old as humanity itself, and alcohol was probably one of the first substances used. Even the earliest historical writings make note of alcohol drinking, and breweries can be traced back some 6,000 years to ancient Egypt and Babylonia. In the Middle Ages, Arab technology introduced distillation—a way to increase the alcohol content in beverages—to Europe. In those times alcohol was believed to remedy practically any disease.

In fact, the Gaelic term whiskey is best translated as “water of life.” These days, beverage alcohol is clearly the drug of choice for much of Western culture, and we need only to look closely at much of the advertising in this country to see that it is still sold as a magic elixir of sorts. We use alcohol to celebrate successes, to mourn failures and losses, and to celebrate holidays of cultural and religious significance. Implicit in these uses are the hope and promise that alcohol will amplify the good times and help us through the bad ones.