Drinks During The Renaissance Era

Beer, the first beverage appeared as a result of changed lifestyle for the early humans. Before, humans were nomads, who would follow their food (pg. 9). But starting about 12,000 years ago humans had picked up on a new lifestyle (pg. 9). These small bands of about 30 people were now settling down in more permanent areas and had abandoned their old ways of constantly traveling (pg. 9). This drastic turning point in human history seemed to primarily come from one reason, the discovery of beer (pg.11). As beer was basically formed from the gathering of barley and wheat, humans had to form some type of permanent residency, and abandon their old nomadic lifestyle (pg.11).

Beer wasn’t as perishable as other alcohol drinks, like wine or mead, making it the reliable source of alcohol.

From the first years in American history, we have drank. Records of the first Europeans on America’s mainland tell about the colonists’ "great thirste" after their original supplies of European-made alcohol ran out. The settlers made their own wine. Eve Alcohol was imported from all over the world. Innovative colonists made alcohol from almost anything. One song from the 1700’s went like this:

As beer started becoming a necessity, it showed the strong need for agriculture in society. People came together, to make an industry of beer, and creating civilizations.

Among the reasons that people in this time period consumed alcohol had to do with the fact that water and milk were not always safe to drink. Alcohol consumption began early in life and was commonly drank at home and social events. Alcohol use in moderation was sanctioned even by church leaders. But, fears of the consequences of excess alcohol consumption had existed prior to this time period (Temperance Movement, Carson and Bonk).

Beer: Beer was not invented, it was discovered. Exactly when the first beer was brewed is unknown but there was almost certainly no beer before 10,000 BCE. The rise of beer was closely associated with the domestication of the cereal grains rom which it is made and the adoption of farming. Beer originated in the Fertile Crescent in Egypt and Mesopotamia. To beer drinkers in the Neolithic period, beer’s ability to intoxicate and induce a state of altered consciousness seemed magical. This caused them to believe beer was a gift from the Gods. Since it was a gift from the gods, it was presented as a religious offering in religious ceremonies, agricultural fertility rites, and in

Summary: The site explains the history of foods and drinks at the time of the Elizabethan Era.In the early Medieval era meat was a sign of wealth.The rich drank ale and wine and the poor just drank ale. Honey was used to make a sweet alcoholic drink called mead which was drunk by all classes. Low-alcohol drinks at the Elizabethan Era time has been estimated at around one gallon per person per day.The Elizabethan period saw the expanded use of sugar.

Beer originated in Egypt and Mesopotamia during the Neolithic period. Beer was not so much an ‘invention’ as it was a ‘discovery.’ It was a very social drink, meaning both the rich and the poor consumed it and due to the fact it was used in many religious ceremonies. Beer was also a reason that people during the Neolithic period adopted agriculture. Some purposes for the use of beer include wages for workers. Instead of paying workers with physical money, they instead paid them with beer. Beer also proved to have many medicinal benefits.

The discovery of beer happened around 10000 BCE. The hunter-gatherers, located in the Fertile Crescent, collected cereal grains because they could be stored for a number of months if kept dry and safe. The storage of grains made it harder to have a nomadic lifestyle; therefore the people started staying in one place. They would try to make water tight storage areas, however water did eventually get into them. After the grain would get wet and the people would cook it, it turned into gruel and when that was left sitting around for a few days it would turn into beer. Beer became important because it was safer to drink, due to the fact that you cooked it which got rid of bacteria. In the

In the chapters “A Stone-Age Brew” and “Civilized Beer” from the book A History of the World in 6 Glasses, Tom Standage describes how beer affected the lives of the first humans who lived in year-round settlements and later in the first civilizations in Mesopotamia and Egypt. Beer played a significant role in turning the first humans from hunter gatherers to farmers. Beer was discovered in the Fertile Crescent around 12,000 years ago, when gruel derived from gathered grains (a staple food) that was in storage fermented. These ancient groups of hunter-gatherers found this beverage “slightly fizzy and pleasantly intoxicating” (Standage 15) and realized it was more easily made than other alcoholic drinks. Over time, the quality and variety of beer increased by trial and error.

The author Tom Standage says, "In both cultures Egypt and Mesopotamia, beer was a staple foodstuff without which no meal was complete. It was consumed by everyone, rich and poor, men and women, adults and children, from the top of the social pyramid to the bottom. It was truly the defining drink of these first great civilizations.” Beer was first made in the Fertile Crescent and by 3000 BC was so important to Mesopotamia and Egypt that it was being used to pay wages. Water supplies where contaminated which made beer a safer drink. Like the author said beer was really reliable, “Beer, on the other hand, could be made from cereal crops, which were abundant and could be easily stored, allowing beer to be made reliably, and in quantity, when needed.” The society switched from the hunter-gatherer lifestyle to a more settled way of life, humans came to rely on a new beverage derived from barley and wheat, the cereal grains that were the first plants to be deliberately cultivated. This drink became central to social, religious, and economic life and was the staple beverage of the earliest civilizations. The

A. Increase Mather and Puritan Clergyman once said ‘’Drink is in itself is a good creature of God, and to be received with thankfulness, but the abuse of drink is from Satan, the wine is from God, but the drunkard is from the devil. Woe to drunkards’’ (1673). Fermented beverages such as fruits, honey, grains, and juice were used during the time of Egyptian civilization (pubs.niaa.nih.gov). These beverages (fermented) were used in making different kinds of alcohol. For this reason, the Native American civilizations also developed the concept in pre-Columbian times (drugfreeworld.org). However, alcohol greatly known to be liquor was mostly used for medical purposes. It focus (medical use) gradually shifted from the medical purpose to pleasure in

Beer was so popular and loved throughout this time, it was the safest thing to drink. It was one of the first drinks that had an influence on the course of history. Standage explains in great detail the process of how the drink came about and how it affected the people. He explains all six drinks in chronological order for it all to make

The Romans drank a lot of wine but not straight or quickly. “Diluting wine and drinking with restraint were ordinary courtesy. The purpose of a dinner party was relaxed

Eventually beer also had other qualities that allowed farming to progress and that is that beer was not harmful to humans as water was (21). Because of this people found out different ways in which they could produce this drink by having different forms of agriculture advancing its form from regular seeds being planted to massive productions, just as did the Greeks and Romans did by using their slave population to farm all of their grapes for the wine in order to drive a successful wine market (71). Farming allowed for populations to grow from small villages to cities to then allow the adoption of beer and wine to become an essential product that drove agriculture to the civilization and growth of people. Along the same lines we can also see how this development of beer due to farming allowed people to become more than just any regular barbaric man, and show that they were people with class.