August 2016 why it all began

There are evidence that 6000-5000 bc mankind cultivated and used opium as a way of reality altering substance so the use of such products are not uncommon throughout history. These type of products have been used for all manners of religious purposes and also social and state rituals. For example think of the tradition of drinking wine in church or toasts during fancy dinners. These are public or semi public occassions and there alchohol and other reality altering substances have it's place, for good and bad.

However when alchohol was consumed more privately, which started to occur in a really large scale during the industrialisation, it became a problem. The alcoholism started to arise throughout all of society. The reason is most likely that the possibility to produce larger quantities to a cheaper price was possible and thus stronger drinks was made readily available to more people.

But then why started mankind to brew from the start? As we can see the use of reality altering substances was already common and this was just another thing that could be used. Although the use of plants and muschrooms was used while mankind was more nomadic the knowledge and tradition of fermentation did, most likely, not occur on purpose until we became more seditary. One reason is that fermentation takes time, perhaps not such a long time but it still takes time to prepare the drinks. Before beer sap, honey and other such liquids/semi liquid food sources were collected and to think that fermentation did not happen as it was stored for later use is unlikely.

As we move forward in time and we started to have a more urbanised society some researchers believes that we polluted our own water supplies and the call for an alternate source of drink was needed. And as we know, it was healthier to drink beer than water while living in the cities. Being able to move food in liquid form was also a reason for brewing since beer, wine and other forms of fermented drinks were a great source of nutrients. Ethanol is very unique when talking about reality altering substances as it also contains a lot of calories, which say opium for example doesnt. While drinking something containing ethanol you also consume quite a lot of calories which is needed in order to perform most types of labour.

To conclude this, the reason to ferment and why it started are several and in no particular order:
- Rituals in society
- Source of energy
- Preservation of food
- Cleaner and healthier source of liquid