An alcoholic beverage is any drink that contains alcohol. They are typically divided into three classes: , , and spirits; with alcohol content typically between 3% and 50%. The exact amount on which a beverage is considered alcoholic differs by country, with some considering drinks containing less than 0.5% to be non-alcoholic.[Multiple sources:
]
Many societies have a distinct drinking culture, in which alcoholic drinks are integrated into party. Most countries have Alcohol law regulating the production, sale, and consumption of alcoholic beverages.
Alcohol is a depressant, a class of psychoactive drug that slows down activity in the central nervous system. In low doses it causes euphoria, reduces anxiety, and increases sociability. In higher doses, it causes drunkenness, stupor, unconsciousness, or death (an overdose). Long-term use can lead to alcoholism, an increased risk of developing several types of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and physical dependence. Alcohol is classified as a group 1 carcinogen. In 2023, a World Health Organization news release said that "the risk to the drinker's health starts from the first drop of any alcoholic beverage."
History
Prehistory
Discovery of late
Stone Age jugs suggests that intentionally fermented drinks existed at least as early as the
Neolithic.
The oldest verifiable brewery has been found in a prehistoric burial site in a cave near Haifa in modern-day Israel. Researchers have found residue of 13,000-year-old beer that they think might have been used for ritual feasts to honor the dead. The traces of a wheat-and-barley-based alcohol were found in stone mortars carved into the cave floor.
Ancient period
The Carmona Wine Urn is a first century
Roman Empire glass urn containing intact
wine. Discovered in 2019 in Carmona, Spain during excavations of the city's western Roman
necropolis, analysis of the urn's contents five years after has deemed the vessel the oldest surviving wine in the world, surpassing the previous record holder, the Speyer wine bottle (discovered in 1867) by three centuries.
Beer was likely brewed from barley as early as 13,000 years ago in the Middle East.
Examination and analysis of ancient pottery jars from the neolithic village of Jiahu in the Henan province of northern China revealed residue left behind by the alcoholic drinks they had once contained. Chemical analysis of the residue confirmed that a fermented drink made of grape and hawthorn fruit wine, honey mead and rice beer was being produced in 7000–5600 BC.
The earliest evidence of winemaking was dated at 6,000 to 5,800 BCE in Georgia in the South Caucasus.
The earliest clear chemical evidence of beer produced from barley dates to about 3500–3100 BCE, from the site of Godin Tepe in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran.
Celtic people were known to have been making types of alcoholic cider as early as 3000 BCE.[ Ancient Mashed Grapes Found in Greece Discovery News.]
Archaeological finds as well as ancient documentation serve as testimony to the popularity and abundance of alcohol in the Sumer society.
In Hierakonpolis, Egypt, the remains of a brewery dating to circa 3400 BCE was unearthed, with an estimated yield of up to 1135 litres (300 US gallons) of brew per day.
Medieval period
Medieval Middle East
Medieval Muslim chemists such as Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (Latin: Geber, ninth century) and Abū Bakr al-Rāzī (Latin: Rhazes, ) experimented extensively with the distillation of various substances. The distillation of wine is attested in Arabic works attributed to
Al-Kindi (–873 CE) and to
Al-Farabi (–950), and in the 28th book of
Al-Zahrawi's (Latin: Abulcasis, 936–1013)
Kitāb al-Taṣrīf (later translated into Latin as
Liber servatoris).
[ (same content also available on the author's website ); cf. vol. I, pp. 141, 143.] 12th century: The process of distillation spread from the
Middle East to Italy,
where distilled alcoholic drinks were recorded in the mid-12th century.
Medieval Europe
In Italy, the works of
Taddeo Alderotti (1223–1296) describe a method for concentrating alcohol involving repeated fractional distillation through a water-cooled still.
[ pp. 51–52.] By the early 14th century, distilled alcoholic drinks had spread throughout the European continent.
Distillation spread to
Ireland and
Scotland no later than the 15th century, as did the common European practice of distilling "
aqua vitae", primarily for medicinal purposes.
[Whiskey: Technology, Production and Marketing: Handbook of Alcoholic Beverages Series p2 Academic Press 2003][Artemas Ward, "Aqua Vitae" The Grocer's Encyclopedia, ]
Early modern period
in 1690, England passed "An Act for the Encouraging of the Distillation of Brandy and Spirits from Corn"
[Preventing Alcohol Abuse: Alcohol, Culture, and Control By David J. Hanson page 3] Alcoholic beverages played an important role in the Thirteen Colonies from their early days when drinking wine and beer at that time was safer than drinking water – which was usually taken from sources also used to dispose of sewage and garbage.
Drinking hard liquor was common occurrence in early nineteenth-century United States.
The Whiskey Rebellion (also known as the Whiskey Insurrection) was a violent tax protest in the United States beginning in 1791 and ending in 1794 during the presidency of George Washington. The so-called "whiskey tax" was the first tax imposed on a domestic product by the newly formed federal government. Beer was difficult to transport and spoiled more easily than rum and whiskey.
Modern period
The
Rum Rebellion of 1808 was a
coup d'état in the then-British
penal colony of New South Wales, staged by the New South Wales Corps in order to depose Governor
William Bligh. Australia's first and only military coup, its name derives from the illicit rum trade of early
Sydney, over which the 'Rum Corps', as it became known, maintained a monopoly. During the first half of the 19th century, it was widely referred to in Australia as the Great Rebellion.
The
alcohol monopoly system has a long history in various countries, often implemented to limit the availability and consumption of alcohol for public health and social welfare reasons.
The alcohol monopoly was created in the Swedish town of Falun in 1850, to prevent overconsumption and reduce the profit motive for sales of alcohol. It later went all over the country in 1905 when the Riksdag ordered all sales of vodka to be done via local alcohol monopolies.[Systembolaget.se About Systembolaget ] In 1894, the Russian Empire established a state monopoly on vodka, which became a major source of revenue for the Russian government.
Later in the nineteenth century opposition to alcohol grew in the form of the temperance movement, in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Scandinavia and India, and it eventually led to national prohibitions in Canada (1918 to 1920), Norway (spirits only from 1919 to 1926), Finland (1919 to 1932), and the United States (1920 to 1933), as well as provincial prohibition in India (1948 to present).
Fermented drinks
Beer
Beer is a beverage fermented from
grain Mashing. It is typically made from
barley or a
Mixture of several grains and flavored with
hops. Most beer is naturally carbonated as part of the fermentation process. If the fermented mash is distilled, then the drink becomes a spirit. Beer is the most consumed alcoholic beverage in the world.
Cider
Cider or cyder ( ) is a fermented alcoholic drink made from any
fruit juice;
apple juice (traditional and most common),
,
("
Perry" cider) or other fruit. Cider alcohol content varies from 1.2% ABV to 8.5% or more in traditional English ciders. In some regions, cider may be called "
apple wine".
Fermented water
Fermented water is an
ethanol-based water solution with approximately 15-17% ABV without
sweet reserve. Fermented water is exclusively fermented with
white sugar, yeast, and water. Fermented water is clarified after the fermentation to produce a colorless or off-white liquid with no discernible taste other than that of
ethanol.
Mead
Mead (), also called hydromel, is an alcoholic drink made by fermenting honey with water, sometimes with various
,
,
, or
hops. The alcoholic content of mead may range from as low as 3% ABV to more than 20%. The defining characteristic of mead is that the majority of the drink's fermentable sugar is derived from
honey. Mead can also be referred to as "honeywine."
Pulque
Pulque is the
fermented drink made from the "honey water" of
maguey,
Agave americana. Pulque can be distilled to produce
tequila or
Mezcal.
[Super, "Alcoholic Beverages", pp. 45–46.]
Rice wine
Rice wine is an alcoholic drink
Fermentation and possibly distilled from
rice, consumed in
East Asia,
Southeast Asia and
South Asia.
Sake,
huangjiu,
mijiu, and cheongju are popular examples of
East Asian rice wine.
Wine
Wine is a fermented beverage most commonly produced from
. Wine involves a longer fermentation process than beer and often a long aging process (months or years), resulting in an alcohol content of 9%–16% ABV.
such as France Champagne, Catalonia Cava and Italy Prosecco are also made from grapes, with a secondary fermentation.
are made from fruits other than , such as , Cherry, or .
Fermentation process
Wine, beer, and spirits are produced through the activity of
Yeast,
a group of roughly 160 species of single-celled fungi, some of which are beneficial, while others are associated with
food spoilage or human disease.
The most commonly used yeasts in fermentation and baking belong to the genus
Saccharomyces, whose name means "sugar fungus".
These organisms are cultivated both for their role in generating flavors and aromas considered desirable, and for their ability to inhibit the growth of competing
Microorganism which would otherwise infect food.
Their production of alcohol is linked to their capacity to function with minimal
oxygen.
In the presence of oxygen, other living cells
Metabolism fuel molecules leaving behind only
carbon dioxide and water, when oxygen is absent sugars can only partially be broken down, following the general equation (from
glucose to energy):
C6H12O6 -> 2CH3CH2OH + 2CO2 + energy
Glucose -> alcohol + carbon-dioxide + energy
Distilled beverages
Distilled beverages (also called liquors or spirit drinks) are alcoholic drinks produced by
distillation (i.e.,
Concentration)
ethanol produced by means of fermenting grain, fruit, or vegetables.
Unsweetened, distilled, alcoholic drinks that have an alcohol content of at least 20%
ABV are called
spirits.
[Lichine, Alexis. Alexis Lichine's New Encyclopedia of Wines & Spirits (5th edition) (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1987), 707–709.] For the most common distilled drinks, such as whisky (or whiskey) and vodka, the alcohol content is around 40%. The term
hard liquor is used in
North America to distinguish distilled drinks from undistilled ones (implicitly weaker).
Brandy,
gin,
mezcal,
rum,
tequila,
vodka,
whisky,
baijiu, shōchū and
soju are examples of distilled drinks. Distilling
concentration the alcohol and eliminates some of the congeners. Freeze distillation concentrates ethanol along with
methanol and
(fermentation by-products partially removed by distillation) in applejack.
Fortified wine is wine, such as Port wine or sherry, to which a distilled beverage (usually brandy) has been added.
Rectified spirit
Rectified spirit, also called "neutral grain spirit", is alcohol which has been purified by means of "rectification" (i.e. repeated distillation). The term
neutral refers to the spirit's lack of flavor that would have been present if the mash ingredients had been distilled to a lower level of alcoholic purity. Rectified spirit also lacks any flavoring added to it after distillation (as is done, for example, with
gin). Other kinds of spirits, such as
whiskey, (or whisky) are distilled to a lower alcohol percentage to preserve the flavor of the mash.
Rectified spirit is a clear, colorless, flammable liquid that may contain as much as 95% ABV. It is often used for medicinal purposes. It may be a grain spirit, or it may be made from other plants. It is used in mixed drinks, liqueurs, and , and also as a household solvent.
Congeners
In the alcoholic drinks industry, congeners are substances produced during fermentation. These substances include small amounts of chemicals such as occasionally desired alcohols, like
propanol and 3-methyl-1-butanol, as well as compounds that are never desired such as
acetone,
acetaldehyde and
glycols. Congeners are responsible for most of the taste and aroma of distilled alcoholic drinks and contribute to the taste of non-distilled drinks.
It has been suggested that these substances contribute to the symptoms of a
hangover.
Tannins are congeners found in wine in the presence of phenolic compounds. Wine tannins add bitterness, have a drying sensation, taste herbaceous, and are often described as
astringent. Wine tannins add balance, complexity, structure and make a wine last longer, so they play an important role in the aging of wine.
Top-shelf liquor
Top-shelf liquor (or "premium liquor") is a term used in marketing to describe higher-priced alcoholic beverages, typically stored on the top shelves within bars.
Mixed drinks and others
A
mixed drink is a beverage in which two or more ingredients are
Drink mixer, and is often alcoholic.
Alcopops
An
alcopop (or cooler) is any of certain mixed alcoholic beverages with relatively low alcohol content (e.g., 3–7% alcohol by volume), including:
-
to which various fruit or other flavorings have been added
-
: beverages containing wine to which ingredients such as fruit juice or other flavorings have been added
-
containing distilled alcohol and sweet liquids such as fruit juices or other flavourings
[ SB1625, Illinois General Assembly 1977 (Amendment to The Liquor Control Act of 1934, Section 6-35; 235 ILCS 5/6-35)]
Alcohol powder
Alcohol powder or powdered alcohol or dry alcohol is a product generally made using micro-encapsulation. When reconstituted with water, the powder becomes an alcoholic drink.
Well drink
A
well drink or rail drink is an alcoholic beverage or mixed drink made using the lower-cost liquors stored within easy reach of the bartender in the bar's "speed rail", "speed rack", or "well", a rack or shelf at a lower level than the bar that the bartender uses to prepare drinks.
Amount of use
The average number of people who drink was 39% for males and 25% for females (2.4 billion people in total).
[ Females on average drink 0.7 drinks per day while males drink 1.7 drinks per day.][ The rates of drinking varies significantly in different areas of the world.][
Gr1 lrg.jpg|alt=Age-standardised prevalence of current drinking for females (A) and males (B) in 2016, in 195 locations.|Age-standardised prevalence of current drinking for females (A) and males (B) in 2016, in 195 locations][
Average standard alcoholic drinks consumed per day in 2016, age-standardised.jpg|alt=Average standard drinks (10 g of pure ethanol per serving) consumed per day, age-standardised, for females (A) and males (B) in 2016, in 195 locations.|Average standard drinks (10 g of pure ethanol per serving) consumed per day, age-standardised, for females (A) and males (B) in 2016, in 195 locations][
]
Uses
Activities
Drinking games
Drinking games are which involve the consumption of alcoholic beverages and often enduring the subsequent intoxication resulting from them. Evidence of the existence of drinking games dates back to antiquity. Drinking games have been banned at some institutions, particularly colleges and universities.[Jillian Swords. The Appalachian: "New alcohol policy bans drinking games". September 18, 2007. ]
Drinking songs
A drinking song is a song sung while drinking an alcoholic beverage.
Experiences
Drinking establishments
Beer garden
A beer garden (German: Biergarten) is an outdoor area in which beer and food are served, typically at shared tables shaded by trees.
Beer hall
A beer hall () is a large pub that specializes in beer.
Cider house
A cider house is an establishment that sells alcoholic cider for consumption on the premises. Some cider houses also sell cider "to go", for consumption off the premises. A traditional cider house was often little more than a room in a farmhouse or cottage, selling locally fermented cider.
Ouzeri
An ouzeri (Greek language ουζερί ) is a type of Greek tavern which serves ouzo (a Greek liquor) and mezedes (small ).
Pulquerías
Pulquerías (or pulcherías) are a type of tavern in Mexico that specialize in serving an alcoholic beverage known as pulque.
Tiki bar
A tiki bar is a themed drinking establishment that serves elaborate cocktails, especially rum-based mixed drinks such as the Mai Tai and Zombie cocktail cocktails.
Toddy shop
A toddy shop is a drinking establishment seen in some parts of India (particularly Kerala) where palm toddy, a mildly alcoholic beverage made from the sap of palm trees, is served along with food.
Wine bar
A wine bar is a tavern-like business focusing on selling wine, rather than liquor or beer. A typical feature of many wine bars is a wide selection of wines available by the glass. Some wine bars are profiled on wines of a certain type of origin, such as Italian wine or Champagne. While many wine bars are private "stand-alone" establishments, in some cases, wine bars are associated with a specific wine retailer or other outlet of wine, to provide additional marketing for that retailer's wine portfolio. In countries where licensing regulations allow this, some wine bars also sell the wines they serve, and effectively function as a hybrid between a wine shop and a wine bar.
Festivals
Beer festivals
A beer festival is an event at which a variety of are available for purchase. There may be a theme, for instance beers from a particular area, or a particular brewing style such as winter ales.
Wine festivals
Annual celebrate viticulture and usually occur after the harvest of the grapes which, in the northern hemisphere, generally falls at the end of September and runs until well into October or later. They are common in most wine regions around the world and are to be considered in the tradition of other harvest festivals.
Tasting
Beer tasting
Beer tasting is a way to learn more about the history, ingredients, and production of beer, as well as different beer styles, hops, yeast, and beer presentation. A common approach is to analyze the appearance, smell, and taste of the beer, and then make a final judgment on the beer's quality. There are various scales used by beer journalists and experts to rate beer, such as the 1-20 scale used by British sommelier Jancis Robinson and the 1-100 scale used by American sommelier Joshua M. Bernstein. Professional organizations like the Wine & Spirit Education Trust often rate beer using verbal grades ranging from "faulty" to "outstanding" on a 1-5 scale.
Wine tasting
Wine tasting, on the other hand, is the sensory examination and evaluation of wine. While the practice of wine tasting is ancient, a more formalized methodology has been established since the 14th century. Modern, professional wine tasters use specialized terminology to describe the range of perceived flavors, aromas, and general characteristics of a wine. More informal, recreational tasting may involve similar terminology, but with a less analytical process and a more general, personal appreciation of the wine.
Tourism
Beer tourism
Craft beer tourism refers to tourism where the primary motivation of travel is to visit a brewery, beer festival, beer related activity or other event that allows attendees to experience all aspects of the craft beer-making, consuming and purchasing process.
Wine tourism
Enotourism, oenotourism, wine tourism, or vinitourism refers to tourism whose purpose is or includes the tasting, consumption or purchase of wine, often at or near the source. Where other types of tourism are often passive in nature, enotourism can consist of visits to wineries, Wine tasting, vineyard walks, or even taking an active part in the harvest.
Food
Apéritifs and digestifs
An apéritif is any alcoholic beverage usually served before a meal to stimulate the appetite,
Cooking
Pure ethanol tastes bitter to humans; some people also describe it as sweet.
Wine is important in cuisine not just for its value as an accompanying beverage, but as a flavor agent, primarily in stocks and braising, since its acidity lends balance to rich savory or sweet dishes.[ See alcoholic strength at p. 10.] (usually with brandy) may contain 20% alcohol or more.
Food preservative
Alcohol has been used to preserve food.
Drinking food
Terms for foods always served with alcoholic beverages:
-
Anju—Korean term for drinking food
-
Kap klaem—Thai term for drinking food
-
Sakana—Japanese term for snacks served while drinking
Vinegar production
Vinegar ( vyn egre; sour wine) is an aqueous solution of acetic acid and trace compounds that may include flavorings. Vinegar typically contains from 5% to 18% acetic acid by volume.
The source materials for making vinegar are varied – different fruits, grains, alcoholic beverages, and other fermentable materials are used:
Wine and food matching
Wine and food matching is the process of pairing Human food dishes with wine to enhance the dining experience. In many cultures, wine has had a long history of being a Staple food at the dinner table and in some ways both the winemaking and culinary traditions of a region will have evolved together over the years. Rather than following a set of rules, local cuisines were paired simply with local wines. The modern "art" of food pairings is a relatively recent phenomenon, fostering an industry of books and media with guidelines for pairings of particular foods and wine. In the restaurant industry, are often present to make food pairing recommendations for the guest. The main concept behind pairings is that certain elements (such as texture and flavor) in both food and wine interact with each other, and thus finding the right combination of these elements will make the entire dining experience more enjoyable. However, taste and enjoyment are very subjectivity and what may be a "textbook perfect" pairing for one taster could be less enjoyable to another.[K. MacNeil The Wine Bible pg 83-88 Workman Publishing 2001 ]
Offerings
Folk saints
Alcoholic beverages are typical offerings for the folk saint Maximón,
Religious
Libation
A libation is a ritual pouring of a liquid, or grains such as rice, as an Sacrifice to a deity or spirit, or in memory of the dead. It was common in many of Ancient history and continues to be offered in cultures today. Wine or other alcoholic drinks are often used for libation.
Africa
Libation was part of ancient Egyptian society where it was a drink offering to honor and please the various divinities, sacred ancestors, humans present and humans who are alive but not physically present, as well as the environment.[Delia, 1992, pp. 181-190]
Americas
In the Quechua people and Aymara people cultures of the South American Andes, it is common to pour a small amount of one's beverage on the ground before drinking as an offering to the Pachamama, or Mother Earth. This especially holds true when drinking Chicha, an alcoholic beverage unique to this part of the world. The libation ritual is commonly called challa and is performed quite often, usually before meals and during celebrations. The sixteenth century writer Bernardino de Sahagún records the Aztec ceremony associated with drinking pulque:
Libation was done in this manner: when octli was drunk, when they tasted the new octli, when someone had just made octli...he summoned people. He set it out in a vessel before the hearth, along with small cups for drinking. Before having anyone drink, he took up octli with a cup and then poured it before the hearth; he poured the octli in the four directions. And when he had poured the octli then everyone drank it.
Sacramental wine in Christianity
The amount of sacramental wine consumed during the Eucharist is typically limited to a single sip or small portion, which does not result in a measurable increase in the participant's blood alcohol content. This controlled and symbolic consumption of the sacramental wine is an integral part of the Eucharistic rite and does not lead to intoxication.
Catholic Church
According to the Catholic Church, the sacramental wine used in the Eucharist must contain alcohol. Canon 924 of the present Code of Canon Law (1983) states:
§3 The wine must be natural, made from grapes of the vine, and not corrupt.[ Code of Canon Law, 1983 ]
Lutheranism
In Lutheranism, the Catechism teaches:
Some Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) congregations make grape juice available for children and those who are abstaining from alcohol and some will accommodate those with an allergy to wheat, gluten, or grapes.[ An example of a church that does. See the "Sunday Worship" section on the "Welcome" page.]
Tincture
A tincture is typically an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol (ethyl alcohol). Solvent concentrations of 25–60% are common, but may run as high as 90%.[Groot Handboek Geneeskrachtige Planten by Geert Verhelst] In chemistry, a tincture is a solution that has ethanol as its solvent. In herbal medicine, alcoholic tinctures are made with various ethanol concentrations, which should be at least 20% alcohol for preservation purposes.
Other
A flaming drink is often ignited for aesthetic and entertainment purposes.
Alcoholic beverage may be consumed to celebrate observances such as the International Beer Day, International whisk(e)y day, or National Vodka Day. They also drink them for social events like International Women's Collaboration Brew Day, where people come together to make beer.
Alcohol measurement
Alcohol measurements are units of measurement for determining amounts of beverage alcohol. Alcohol concentration in beverages is commonly expressed as alcohol by volume (ABV), ranging from less than 0.1% in fruit juices to up to 98% in rare cases of spirits. A standard drink is used globally to quantify alcohol intake, though its definition varies widely by country. Serving sizes of alcoholic beverages also vary by country.
Beverage-specific equipment
Professions
Laws
Alcohol laws regulate the manufacture, packaging, labelling, distribution, sale, consumption, blood alcohol content of motor vehicle drivers, open containers, and transportation of alcoholic drinks. Such laws generally seek to reduce the adverse health and social impacts of alcohol consumption. In particular, alcohol laws set the legal drinking age, which usually varies between 15 and 21 years old, sometimes depending upon the type of alcoholic drink (e.g., beer vs wine vs hard liquor or distillates). Some countries do not have a legal drinking or purchasing age, but most countries set the minimum age at 18 years.
Some countries, such as the U.S., have the drinking age higher than the legal age of majority (18), at age 21 in all 50 states. Such laws may take the form of permitting distribution only to licensed stores, Alcohol monopoly, or and they are often combined with taxation, which serves to reduce the demand for alcohol (by raising its price) and it is a form of revenue for governments. These laws also often limit the hours or days (e.g., "blue laws") on which alcohol may be sold or served, as can also be seen in the "last call" ritual in US and Canadian bars, where bartenders and servers ask patrons to place their last orders for alcohol, due to serving hour cutoff laws. In some countries, alcohol cannot be sold to a person who is already intoxicated. Alcohol laws in many countries prohibit drunk driving.
In some jurisdictions, alcoholic drinks are totally prohibited for reasons of religion (e.g., Islamic countries with Sharia) or for reasons of local option, public health, and Morality (e.g., Prohibition in the United States from 1920 to 1933). In jurisdictions which enforce sharia law, the consumption of alcoholic drinks is an Crime,[ Alcohol and Temperance in Modern History p. 329 David M. Fahey, Ian R. Tyrrell (2003)]
Alcohol-related crimes
Alcohol is used in rum-running, the Black market of smuggling alcoholic beverages where such transportation is forbidden by law.
Wine fraud relates to the commercial aspects of wine. The most prevalent type of fraud is one where are adulterated, usually with the addition of cheaper products (e.g. juices) and sometimes with harmful and sweeteners (compensating for color or flavor).
Moonshine is illegal to produce and sell in most countries. In Prohibition-era United States, moonshine distillation was done at night to deter discovery.
of methanol poisoning have occurred when methanol is used to adulterate moonshine.
In Australia, a sly-grog shop (or shanty) is an unlicensed Australian pub, Liquor store or other vendor of alcoholic beverages, sometimes with the added connotation of selling poor-quality products.
Pruno also known as prison hooch or prison wine, is a term used in the United States to describe an improvised Alcoholic drink. It is variously made from apples, oranges, fruit cocktail, fruit juices, hard candy, sugar, high fructose syrup, and possibly other ingredients, including crumbled bread.
Most countries have laws specifically for the offense of drunk driving. Driving under the influence (DUI) or driving while intoxicated (DWI), is the crime of driving a motor vehicle while impaired by alcohol or other drugs (including those prescribed by physicians).
Public intoxication laws vary widely by jurisdiction, but include public nuisance laws, open-container laws, and prohibitions on drinking alcohol in public or certain areas.
Health effects of alcohol
Alcohol is a common Metabolism by-product formed during the breakdown of sugars in many living cells, though it is typically further metabolised to release additional energy.
Alcohol is a depressant, which in low doses causes euphoria, reduces anxiety, and increases sociability. In higher doses, it causes drunkenness, stupor, unconsciousness, or death. A meta analysis of 107 cohort studies concludes low daily alcohol intake provides no health benefits and increased consumption, even at relatively low levels of daily intake (>2 beverages for women and >3 beverages for men), increases health- and mortality-risks.
Short-term effects of alcohol consumption range from a decrease in anxiety and motor skills and euphoria at lower doses to intoxication (drunkenness), to stupor, unconsciousness, anterograde amnesia (memory "blackouts"), and central nervous system depression at higher doses. are highly permeable to alcohol, so once it is in the bloodstream, it can diffuse into nearly every cell in the body. Alcohol can greatly exacerbate sleep problems. During abstinence, residual disruptions in sleep regularity and sleep patterns are the greatest predictors of relapse.
nations have introduced alcohol packaging warning messages that inform consumers about alcohol and cancer, as well as fetal alcohol syndrome.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer lists ethanol as a carcinogen and states that: "There is sufficient evidence and research showing the carcinogenicity of acetaldehyde (the major metabolite of ethanol) which is excreted by the liver enzyme when one drinks alcohol."[ Agents Classified by the IARC Monographs, Volumes 1–111 . monographs.iarc.fr] The WHO also considers alcohol to be a carcinogen with no quantity of consumption considered to be risk free.
Public awareness of the link between alcohol consumption and cancer is alarmingly low in the U.S.[ Deep Links Between Alcohol and Cancer Are Described in New Report: Scientists continue to rethink the idea that moderate drinking offers health benefits. by Roni Caryn Rabin, the New York Times on Sept. 18, 2024. Last access 9/26/2024.] Dr. Vivek Murthy, the U.S. Surgeon General asked for Cancer Warnings on Alcohol.
See also
-
List of alcoholic drinks
-
List of national drinks
-
List of whisky brands
-
List of rum brands
-
List of tequilas
-
List of vodka brands
-
Liquor
-
Beer and breweries by region
-
List of barley-based drinks
-
List of beer cocktails
-
List of cocktails
-
List of IBA official cocktails
-
Beer and breweries by region
-
Alcoholic beverage industry in Europe
-
Alcohol (chemistry)
-
Homebrewing
