I see in health and fitness discussions a lot that when people bring up alcohol consumption that beers and other beverages of antiquity were or a much lower alcohol by volume than modern beverages and that this is why beer consumption was so high in the past.My honest questionIs this true? Were alcoholic beverages of the past really of much lower abv%? And if the answer is yes, how do we know that?
>>18005981We were all told as kids that they drank weak beer to purify dirty water. Even if they did this they must have had some stronger stuff.
>>18005985I would think some of the smarter tribes would build filters out of palm fronds, looking similar to a weave basket, filter all the crud out of the water first, then splash some homade booze in to kill all the biological organisms
There was weak beer for drinking and stronger beer for getting fucked up
>>18005981I don't think they would be significantly less alcoholic, there were beverages that were fermented for short periods of time and that would of course reduce alcohol content; it might be the case that grape varieties and wheats were not as optimized to produce wine and beer,same with the yeasts used, still you should be able to get close to modern versions; the biggest difference would be in taste.
>>18005981There were weaker beers, in English historically referred to as "small beers" that were typically between 1% - 2% ABV and consumed throughout the day for calories and hydration. They also had totally regular beers that people could get fucking smashed on just like today and often had served with each meal. People still drank way more alcohol on average than today.
Daily drink was often watered wine, with stronger stuff reserved for deliberate intoxication.
