Dear readers,

 

         Social animals, we are. Partly correct that is (Master Yoda tone). That in-built bi-facet coin in all human beings, sides of self and social, the inherited struggle between duo, literally since recede of the last ice age, never, ever subsided. For survival people dwell in groups, communicate and collaborate, yet never giving up on any personal means. For this very contradiction, we need alcohol.

 

          In crude materialistic terms, the core substance, ethanol, is nothing more than a simple combination of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen atoms (C2H5OH). Consumption of these drinks, however, owed its origins as ancient as history of human history itself: somewhat coinciding with when people preferred settling down instead of a nomad lifestyle, and since then alcoholic drinks were brewed from some air-tight-stored foodstuff. Some researchers also suggested, in contrary to mainstream belief, that beer pre-dated preparation of bread based on archaeological findings, including rock-carved vessels, unearthed in the Near East dated some 14,000 years ago, at the age of transition between being hunter-gathers and farmers. By the way, that refreshing and slightly bitter taste of beer now familiar to all resulted from addition of hops since the times of Medieval Europe, something rather different from some more ancient “wheat beer” in history.