Why the World’s Oldest Drink Is on the Rise Again (2024)

FAQs

What is the oldest drink in the world? ›

“Mead is the oldest alcoholic beverage known to man and has been around as long as honeybees have been making honey,” says Jeri Carter, owner of Queen's Reward Meadery in Tupelo, Mississippi. Carter suggests that mead was making itself before people got involved: In nature, it doesn't need humans to ferment.

Mead isn't only the drink of sea-faring vikings and mummified royalty, it's also a popular choice today. There are now almost 250 meaderies in America and even mead festivals around the country celebrating the ancient beverage.

Chemical analyses recently confirmed that the earliest alcoholic beverage in the world was a mixed fermented drink of rice, honey, and hawthorn fruit and/or grape. The residues of the beverage, dated ca. 7000–6600 BCE, were recovered from early pottery from Jiahu, a Neolithic village in the Yellow River Valley.

​Metheglin is mead made with herbs and or spices. The word 'medicine' likely derives from this word. For many centuries, mead infused with herbs or spices was a common remedy for colds and ailments. Common spices include cinnamon, rosemary, nutmeg, clove, ginger, allspice, thyme, and hyssop.

Dr Pepper is the oldest soft drink in America. Older than Coca-Cola, in fact, by a full year. It was created in 1885 by a pharmacist, Charles Alderton, in Waco, Texas.

Vernor's boasts the oldest soda in America, but not the world. That belongs to Schweppe's, who created a carbonated mineral water in 1783. Other old sodas include Hires Root Beer (1876), Moxie 1876, Dr. Pepper (1885) Coca-Cola (1886) and Pepsi (1893.

A GOOD mead will be priced in the $20-30 range. Most of that cost is associated with the high expense of honey. It's a mercurial agricultural product and not as accessible as, say, hops. We also appreciate the simplicity of mead with no additives.

Technically, it's neither! By definition, beer is made by fermenting sugars taken from malted grains while wine is made by fermenting sugars taken from fruits. In contrast, mead is made by fermenting the sugars in honey. Since honey is neither a grain nor a fruit, mead does not fall into the categories of beer or wine.

Mead is made by fermenting honey with water, sometimes with fruits, spices, grains, hops etc. The words 'mead' and 'honey-wine' are often used interchangeably, but some cultures differentiate between the two. The defining characteristic of mead is that the main source of its fermentable sugar comes from honey.

Mead is often heeded as a health-tonic due to its potential probiotic content. Probiotics are living microorganisms that, when consumed in adequate quantities, can have a positive impact on your immunity and gut health ( 2 ).

Is alcohol the world's oldest drug? ›

In the United States, more than 100,000 deaths each year are attributed to alcohol.

A bottle of Evans & Ragland Old Ingledew Whiskey from LaGrange, Georgia, is believed to be the oldest whiskey in the world.

From what I understand diabetics are generally advised to avoid all alcohol as it affects them more than those without diabetes, so our position is you should follow whatever your doctor tells you is best for you. If you choose to drink anyway, know that mead will have a little higher sugar levels than a typical wine.

Since it consists of quite a bit of alcohol, you can store a classic mead in the pantry even after uncorking. It's okay to keep the mead in there as long as the bottle has been resealed tightly. However, to retain the quality of your mead for longer, we recommend storing it in the fridge.

Lighter alcohol drinks (like light beer) were used in place of water as it was less likely to make people sick. Why did Vikings drink so much mead? It quenched the Viking thirst! Viking food was thought to be incredibly salty, as salt was used as a preservative and to ward off bacteria.

The majority of countries have set MLDA at 18 or 19 years. The United States (except Puerto Rico and Virginia's Island) and 19 other countries, especially Asian countries, have the highest set MLDA. However, some areas in India have drinking ages as high as 25-30 years.

Accounts differ, but most experts agree that the first co*cktail was the Sazerac, a blend of whisky, absinthe, bitters and sugar. Created in New Orleans in the mid-1800s, this is one of the first co*cktails recognisable by name and remains a favourite to this day.

The Speyer wine bottle (or Römerwein) is a sealed vessel, presumed to contain liquid wine, and so named because it was unearthed from a Roman tomb found near Speyer, Germany. It is considered the world's oldest known bottle of wine.

Wine has existed on Earth for more than 6000 years [1], while beer has existed for over 5000 years [2]. Throughout history, both drinks were produced in Ancient Egypt and regions of Mesopotamia.