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Well if alcohol itself is irrelevant why did they not simply boil the water before drinking it without making a beer from it? I think the fact that people just
by qwytw 3y ago
Well if alcohol itself is irrelevant why did they not simply boil the water before drinking it without making a beer from it?
I think the fact that people just like to drink beer is a much better explanation of why did they drink so much of it. The "safer to drink" part was secondary at best.
- triceratops 3y agoDid they know boiling water made it safe to drink? Or did they only notice that drinking beer caused less diarrhea than drinking water? I'm not denying that the tastiness of beer was a factor.
- qwytw 3y agoHypocrates specifically recommended doctors to boil and filter water before giving to patients to drink. Ancient Egytpians, Indians and Romans understood that boiling makes water safer to drink as well (Galen even suggested using boiling water to sterilize surgical instruments). IMHO it makes perfect sense in the context of the miasma theory (if people thought that "bad smells" were the main vector spreading diseases and illnesses and boiling water removes bad smells, improves taste etc. then it also must have made it safer to drink).