So a friend of mine just sent me this new theory as to why human civilization developed. Being logical and having a very scientifically curious mind, I understood immediately. I mean...think about it. The original hunter/gatherer tribe that has beer does 2 things. First, the ugly people have more sex, which means a larger tribe. Second, the men are too hung over to go out hunting, which means the tribe has to grow food or die. Nothing motivates adaptation like hunger. That boar is hard to hit with a spear after a night of drunken debauchery, but it's the woman's job to go reap the wheat....

You only need to watch the first 30 seconds or so. The rest of the video is somewhat annoying. Start at timestamp 2:36 if the link doesn't automatically start at the correct place. The forum software tries to be nice by automatically translating a youtube link to an embedded video, but it doesn't do it properly. I think I have compensated, but you can't be sure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDwhIUGaeOY&start=156

Well, actually, there is a serious theory about beer helping civilisation. Beer and wine.

Those communities that developed brewing, whether it was mead, ale, wine, whatever, had a better chance of survival because they were drinking their beer/wine whereas "sober" communities drank the water that was the source of water-borne diseases.

But the beer was made from water, I hear you say.

Well, apparently, the beer makers would make their beer and store it. This would lead to a somewhat "cleaner" liquid to be drunk.

And of course, wine doesn't use the water.

I doubt beer brewing came before grain growing, while wild seeds etc may have been gathered I doubt there would have been enough to make recreational bevvies.

Mead is another thing though, long claimed to be the oldest alcoholic drink around, there was plenty of wild honey to facilitate it's production.

Was yeast not used as a preservative?

Was yeast not used as a preservative?

My missis had a yeast infection. Didn't preserve our marriage.

Was yeast not used as a preservative?

My missis had a yeast infection. Didn't preserve our marriage.