Alcohol.
We began drinking it long before we even knew how to write.
It's one of the most universally available, widely used — and commonly abused — chemical
substances in human history.
This is the 9,000 year history of alcohol.
We’ve been using basic chemistry to make the stuff for thousands of years, but our
primate ancestors first enjoyed its benefits millions of years ago.
See, when fruit falls to the forest floor and begins to decompose it produces a substance
with a strong smell called ethanol, making it easier for apes to find.
Ethanol also helps apes with digestion and allows them to fight off microbes that would
otherwise make them sick.
This process of apes seeking out rotting fruit began to really ramp up 10 million years ago.
That’s when a mutation of the ADH4 gene in African apes allowed them to suddenly begin
digesting ethanol 40 times faster than before.
Ethanol is the least toxic type of alcohol and the only one used in beverages.
As a chemical substance, ethanol is incredibly versatile.
It has been recognized and mass-produced for thousands of years as a detectable indicator
of food spoilage, a life-saving disinfectant, a beverage prized by the masses and perfected
by connoisseurs.
But it’s also powerfully addictive.
It’s made by yeasts—microscopic, single celled organisms.
Yeasts consume sugar and convert it into ethanol and carbon dioxide.
This process is called fermentation.
It’s unclear exactly when our species learned to master this process, but we probably stumbled
upon the feel good effects of fermentation just like our ape ancestors—by accident.
There is still a lot we don't know about the brain effects of alcohol and how exactly it
does what it does--but we do know it influences several major neurochemicals implicated in
pleasure, motivation, inhibition and reward.
The earliest traceable instance of deliberate fermentation occurred 9,000 years ago when
the Chinese were making a kind of wine from rice, honey, and fruit.
Scientists confirmed this by analysing ancient chemical residues found at an archaeological
site in Jiahu.
Around this time corn was domesticated.
The harvesting of grapes began 1,000 years later.
In 5,400 B.C. we see the first evidence of wine production at Hajji Firuz in the Zagros
Mountains of Iran.
Alcohol appears in Europe for the first time in Scotland 6,500 years ago.
Barley beer was first produced in Godin Tepe, Iran, an ancient Sumerian fortress that would
later become a major stop along the legendary Silk Road trade route.
While some fermentation ideas obviously spread around, it seems like alcoholic beverages,
just like the agriculture they were based on, were invented independently many times
throughout human history on every continent, except Antarctica.
And just about every plant containing some starch or sugar has been fermented for our
enjoyment including agave, apples, birch tree sap, bananas, cocoa, cassavas, corn, cacti,
berries, rice, potatoes, palms, pineapples, pumpkins, and persimmons.
In fact, the early benefits to fermentation were primarily nutritional.
In ancient societies beer was a dietary staple—like an enriched liquid bread that provided calories
and essential vitamins, while delivering hydration in a more sterile way than water even could.
The fact that it got you buzzed was just a bonus.
For decades, anthropologists have debated whether the production of beer and other alcoholic
drinks was actually the primary reason for the Neolithic — or agricultural — revolution:
the period in history when we transitioned from being wandering nomads to living a fixed,
agriculture-based lifestyle.
It’s sort of a chicken vs the egg question, which was most vital for the development of
civilization: beer or bread?
The best argument that beer was the prime motivator may be the first large-scale brewing
and winemaking operations that emerged in Mesopotamia and Egypt 5,000 years ago.
It’s no coincidence that the construction of over 100 enormous pyramids — the greatest
structures in ancient history — were built right alongside the creation of the first
large-scale production breweries.
All that hard work — thousands of people each burning thousands of calories a day — had
only just become possible with the introduction of the most efficient method for delivering
nutrients to our bodies up to that point: beer.
Bee domestication also began in this region at this time.
And with honey, we could make mead.
Then, around 4,000 years ago, the Greeks helped spread viniculture throughout the Mediterranean.
Across the ocean — in 1,500 B.C. — pottery was being used to store fermenting cacao in
Honduras.
That’s another game changer about alcohol, beverages containing it could be stored for
long periods of time in simple wood or clay containers without spoiling.
That made them popular aboard medieval sailing vessels, and were sometimes the only source
of hydration for the crew, especially for long trips.
The first alcohol was distilled in the 12th century in Salerno, Italy.
They adopted the method after Middle Eastern scientists had been using the process of warming
and cooling liquids to separate their chemical components for centuries after they had learned
the technique from Greek alchemists who began using it in the 1st century.
The first written record of whiskey comes from Ireland in 1405.
In 1531 an English scientist named Christopher Merret added sugar to a finished wine to create
a second fermentation process, producing the oldest recorded sparkling wine, or champagne.
Rum was first distilled on Caribbean sugarcane plantations in the 17th century by slaves
who discovered that molasses could be fermented into alcohol.
Fast-forward to today and alcohol is everywhere.
For at least 9,000 years, it’s been a vital part of human society—and that’s not changing
anytime soon.
Throughout the world, the average person drinks the equivalent of 7 litres of pure alcohol
each year.
That’s far less than what some of the heaviest drinking societies in history put down, but
it’s also true that the vast majority of us no longer rely on beer instead of dirty
water to hydrate.
If you want to learn more about this incredibly broad topic, a good place to start is the
National Geographic article I based this video on, linked below.
Our recent exploration of how humans are causing a sixth mass extinction started some interesting
dialogue, with a lot of you thinking it was like explaining the world to an alien who
had just arrived on Earth.
That’s sort of how we felt making it.
Until next time, for TDC, I’m Bryce Plank.
Thanks for watching.