Alcoholic beverage

{{Missing information|an overview of the alcohol industry|date=March 2026}} {{Short description|Drink with a substantial ethanol content}} {{Redirect-distinguish|Adult beverage|Caffeinated drink|}} {{pp-pc}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}} [[File:Interesting alcoholic beverages.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|A selection of alcoholic drinks (from left to right): red wine, malt whisky, lager, sparkling wine, lager, cherry liqueur and red wine]] thumb|Alcoholic beverages and production relationships|class=skin-invert-image

An '''alcoholic beverage''' (also called an '''alcoholic drink''' or '''strong drink''') is any drink that contains alcohol, a central nervous system depressant.<ref name="Cook2006">{{cite book |last1=Cook |first1=Christopher C. H. |title=Alcohol, Addiction and Christian Ethics |date=4 May 2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-45497-1 |language=en|page=95|quote='Drunkenness', at least in popular usage, he considered to be equivalent to 'intoxication'. Intoxication in turn, again according to popular usage, was understood as referring to 'the aggravated symptoms of alcoholic poisoning'. While recognising that intemperance was, in fact, 'indicative of sensual indulgence in general', he stated that in 'popular usage' it had gradually become narrowed in meaning to 'indulgence of the appetite for Strong Drink' or 'indulgence in some alcoholic drink'.}}</ref> They are typically divided into three classes: beers, wines, 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. These beverages are primarily consumed for the psychoactive effects that they produce.<ref>Multiple sources:

* {{cite web |title=Alcoholic beverage |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/alcoholic-beverage |access-date=20 September 2025 |website=Britannica }} * {{cite web |title=Definition: alcoholic beverage from 27 USC &sect; 214(1) {{!}} LII / Legal Information Institute |url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/definitions/uscode.php?width=840&height=800&iframe=true&def_id=27-USC-1522361097-1288113049&term_occur=1&term_src= |access-date=20 September 2025 |website=Legal Information Institute |publisher=Cornell Law School}} * {{cite web |title=What are zero alcohol drinks? |url=https://adf.org.au/reducing-risk/alcohol/zero-alcohol-drinks/what-zero-alcohol/ |access-date=20 September 2025 |website=Alcohol and Drug Foundation }}</ref>

Many societies have a distinct drinking culture, in which alcoholic drinks are integrated into parties. Most countries have laws regulating the production, sale, and consumption of alcoholic beverages.<ref name="IARD">{{cite web |title=Minimum Legal Age Limits |url=http://www.iard.org/policy-tables/minimum-legal-age-limits/ |website=IARD.org |publisher=International Alliance for Responsible Drinking |access-date=23 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160504144607/http://www.iard.org/policy-tables/minimum-legal-age-limits/ |archive-date=4 May 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Some regulations require the labeling of the percentage alcohol content (as ABV or proof) and the use of a warning label. Some countries ban the consumption of alcoholic drinks, but they are legal in most parts of the world. The temperance movement advocates against the consumption of alcoholic beverages.<ref name="Henry2014">{{cite book |last1=Henry |first1=Yeomans |title=Alcohol and Moral Regulation: Public Attitudes, Spirited Measures and Victorian Hangovers |date=18 June 2014 |publisher=Policy Press |isbn=978-1-4473-0994-9 |page=244 |language=en}}</ref> The global alcoholic drink industry exceeded $1.5 trillion in 2017.<ref name="PMID32079559" /> Alcohol is one of the most widely used recreational drugs in the world, and about 33% of all humans currently drink alcohol.<ref name="Lancet2018GBD">{{cite journal |last1=Griswold |first1=Max G. |last2=Fullman |first2=Nancy |last3=Hawley |first3=Caitlin |last4=Arian |first4=Nicholas |last5=Zimsen |first5=Stephanie R M. |last6=Tymeson |first6=Hayley D. |last7=Venkateswaran |first7=Vidhya |last8=Tapp |first8=Austin Douglas |last9=Forouzanfar |first9=Mohammad H. |last10=Salama |first10=Joseph S. |last11=Abate |first11=Kalkidan Hassen |last12=Abate |first12=Degu |last13=Abay |first13=Solomon M. |last14=Abbafati |first14=Cristiana |last15=Abdulkader |first15=Rizwan Suliankatchi |display-authors=29 |date=August 2018 |title=Alcohol use and burden for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016 |journal=The Lancet |volume=392 |issue=10152 |pages=1015–1035 |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31310-2 |pmc=6148333 |pmid=30146330 |last16=Abebe |first16=Zegeye |last17=Aboyans |first17=Victor |last18=Abrar |first18=Mohammed Mehdi |last19=Acharya |first19=Pawan |last20=Adetokunboh |first20=Olatunji O. |last21=Adhikari |first21=Tara Ballav |last22=Adsuar |first22=Jose C. |last23=Afarideh |first23=Mohsen |last24=Agardh |first24=Emilie Elisabet |last25=Agarwal |first25=Gina |last26=Aghayan |first26=Sargis Aghasi |last27=Agrawal |first27=Sutapa |last28=Ahmed |first28=Muktar Beshir |last29=Akibu |first29=Mohammed |last30=Akinyemiju |first30=Tomi|issn=0140-6736 }}</ref> In 2015, among Americans, 86% of adults had consumed alcohol at some point, with 70% drinking it in the last year and 56% in the last month.<ref name="niaaa">{{cite web |date=August 2018 |title=Alcohol Facts and Statistics |url=http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/overview-alcohol-consumption/alcohol-facts-and-statistics |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518081638/http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/overview-alcohol-consumption/alcohol-facts-and-statistics |archive-date=18 May 2015 |access-date=8 October 2018 |website=National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism |publisher=National Institute of Health}}</ref> Several other animals are affected by alcohol similarly to humans and, once they consume it, will consume it again if given the opportunity; however, humans are the only species known to produce alcoholic drinks intentionally.<ref>{{cite web |last=Zielinski |first=Sarah |date=16 September 2011 |title=The Alcoholics of the Animal World |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-alcoholics-of-the-animal-world-81007700/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150822103535/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-alcoholics-of-the-animal-world-81007700/ |archive-date=22 August 2015 |access-date=29 July 2015 |work=Smithsonian}}</ref>

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."<ref name="WHO">{{cite web |date=4 January 2023 |title=No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health |url=https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/04-01-2023-no-level-of-alcohol-consumption-is-safe-for-our-health |website=World Health Organization}}</ref>

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==History== {{Main|History of alcoholic drinks}}

=== Prehistory === Discovery of late Stone Age jugs suggests that intentionally fermented drinks existed at least as early as the Neolithic period.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Patrick |first=Clarence Hodges |title=Alcohol, Culture, and Society |publisher=Duke University Press (reprint edition by AMS Press, New York, 1970) |year=1952 |isbn=978-0-404-04906-5 |location=Durham, NC |pages=26–27}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite news |date=15 September 2018 |title='World's oldest brewery' found in cave in Israel, say researchers |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-45534133 |access-date=26 January 2021}}</ref>

=== Ancient period === thumb|The Carmona Wine Urn contains the world's oldest surviving wine (1st century AD).

The Carmona Wine Urn is a first century Roman 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.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Agencies |date=2024-06-18 |title=The oldest wine in the world has been preserved in a Roman mausoleum in Spain for 2,000 years |url=https://english.elpais.com/culture/2024-06-18/the-oldest-wine-in-the-world-has-been-preserved-in-a-roman-mausoleum-in-spain-for-2000-years.html |access-date=2024-07-30 |website=EL PAÍS English |language=en-us}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Cosano |first1=Daniel |last2=Manuel Román |first2=Juan |last3=Esquivel |first3=Dolores |last4=Lafont |first4=Fernando |last5=Ruiz Arrebola |first5=José Rafael |date=2024-09-01 |title=New archaeochemical insights into Roman wine from Baetica |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports |volume=57 |article-number=104636 |doi=10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104636 |bibcode=2024JArSR..57j4636C |issn=2352-409X|doi-access=free|hdl=10396/30287 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

Beer was likely brewed from barley as early as 13,000 years ago in the Middle East.<ref name="pmid23560753">{{cite journal |vauthors=Rosso AM |title=Beer and wine in antiquity: beneficial remedy or punishment imposed by the Gods? |journal=Acta medico-historica Adriatica |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=237–262 |year=2012 |pmid=23560753}}</ref> Pliny the Elder wrote about the ''golden age'' of winemaking in Rome, the 2nd century BCE (200–100 BCE), when vineyards were planted.<ref name="BrostromBrostrom2008">{{cite book |vauthors=Brostrom GG, Brostrom JJ |title=The Business of Wine: An Encyclopedia: An Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tEqx2zwuq-gC&pg=PA6|date=30 December 2008|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-35401-4|pages=6–}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chrzan |first=Janet |title=Alcohol: Social Drinking in Cultural Context |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-415-89249-0 |page=13}}</ref><ref name="mcgovern">{{Cite journal |last1=McGovern |first1=P.E. |last2=Zhang |first2=J. |last3=Tang |first3=J. |last4=Zhang |first4=Z. |last5=Hall |first5=G.R. |last6=Moreau |first6=R.A. |last7=Nunez |first7=A. |last8=Butrym |first8=E.D. |last9=Richards |first9=M.P. |last10=Wang |first10=C.-S. |last11=Cheng |first11=G. |last12=Zhao |first12=Z. |last13=Wang |first13=C. |year=2004 |title=Fermented beverages of pre- and proto-historic China |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=101 |issue=51 |pages=17593–17598 |bibcode=2004PNAS..10117593M |doi=10.1073/pnas.0407921102 |pmc=539767 |pmid=15590771 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Gately |first=Iain |title=Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol |date=2008 |publisher=Penguin Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-4406-3126-9 |location=East Rutherford |pages=3–4}}</ref> The residence in which the jar was discovered and other houses in the same village were found to contain many such jars suggesting that wine was an important part of their diet.<ref name=":0" />

The earliest evidence of winemaking was dated at 6,000 to 5,800 BCE in Georgia in the South Caucasus.<ref name="McGovernJalabadze2017">{{cite journal | vauthors = McGovern P, Jalabadze M, Batiuk S, Callahan MP, Smith KE, Hall GR, Kvavadze E, Maghradze D, Rusishvili N, Bouby L, Failla O, Cola G, Mariani L, Boaretto E, Bacilieri R, This P, Wales N, Lordkipanidze D | title = Early Neolithic wine of Georgia in the South Caucasus | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | volume = 114 | issue = 48 | pages = E10309–E10318 | date = November 2017 | pmid = 29133421 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.1714728114 | pmc = 5715782 | bibcode = 2017PNAS..11410309M | doi-access = free }}</ref> Excavations surrounding Neolithic settlements there unearthed grape pips of a variety which differed from those of wild grapes, pointing to deliberate cultivation, and local pottery dated to approximately 6000 BCE was decorated with depictions of celebrating human figures.<ref name=":0" />

The earliest clear chemical evidence of beer produced from barley dates to about 3500–3100&nbsp;BCE, from the site of Godin Tepe in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran.<ref name=McGovern-2009>{{cite book |last=McGovern |first=Patrick |year=2009 |title=Uncorking the Past |isbn=978-0-520-25379-7 |pages=66–71|publisher=University of California Press }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Jar in Iranian ruins betrays beer drinkers of 3500 BCE |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/05/world/jar-in-iranian-ruins-betrays-beer-drinkers-of-3500-bc.html |date=1992-11-05 |last1=Wilford |first1=John Noble |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=10 November 2010}}</ref> At a site dating to 3100-2900 BCE, a pottery vessel containing residue of alcoholic barley was discovered, possibly serving as the earliest proof of beer brewing in the region. However, it is unclear whether it was meant for intoxication or nourishment.<ref name=":0" />

Celtic people were known to have been making types of alcoholic cider as early as 3000 BCE.<ref>{{cite web |date=13 February 2019 |title=The history and origins of cider |url=https://www.greatbritishchefs.com/features/cider-history-origins |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210621131130/https://www.greatbritishchefs.com/features/cider-history-origins |archive-date=21 June 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=25 April 2022 |title=The History of Cider |url=https://www.sandfordorchards.co.uk/blog/the-history-of-cider/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221029205227/https://www.sandfordorchards.co.uk/blog/the-history-of-cider/ |archive-date=29 October 2022 |access-date=29 October 2022}}</ref> and wine was consumed in Classical Greece at breakfast or at symposia, and in the 1st century BCE.<ref name="dsc.discovery.com">[http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/03/16/oldgrapes_arc.html?category=archaeology&guid=20070316120000 Ancient Mashed Grapes Found in Greece] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080103133450/http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/03/16/oldgrapes_arc.html?category=archaeology&guid=20070316120000|date=3 January 2008}} Discovery News.</ref>

Archaeological finds as well as ancient documentation serve as testimony to the popularity and abundance of alcohol in the Sumerian society.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Gately |first=Iain |title=Drink: a cultural history of alcohol |date=2009 |publisher=Gotham Books |isbn=978-1-59240-464-3 |edition=1. ed., 1. paperback print |location=New York, NY |pages=4–5}}</ref> Access to alcohol was regulated, the social elite indulged in it and it served as sacrificial offerings to the gods.<ref name=":1" /> In Sumerian culture Alcohol was also a means for happiness.<ref name=":1" /> In the epic of Gilgamesh, Enkidu the wild man drinks seven jugs of beer, becomes elated and sings with joy. Other characters routinely drink water, but drink alcohol when celebrating.<ref name=":1" /> During the new year celebrations, the ceremonial reenactment of the drunken union between the king of Uruk and the high priestess of Ishtar, the goddess of procreation, symbolized the genesis of Ninkasi, the beer goddess.<ref name=":1" /> A hymn to Ninkasi gives a detailed description of hash production in Sumer, involving the fermentation of bread and the addition of grapes and honey, resulting in an unfiltered brew drunk through straws.<ref name=":1" />

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.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Gately |first=Iain |title=Drink: a cultural history of alcohol |date=2009 |publisher=Gotham Books |isbn=978-1-59240-464-3 |edition=1. ed., 1. paperback print |location=New York, NY |pages=5–6}}</ref> Wine was a symbol of power and was imported from abroad, hence it was reserved for royalty and the social elite, while beer was the drink of common society.<ref name=":2" /> In the tomb of the Scorpion king, who ruled Hierakonpolis when the brewery was built, approximately 700 wine jars imported from the southern Levant were unearthed.<ref name=":2" /> Financial documents recorded that the daily ration of beer for the workers who built the pyramids of Giza was nearly 4 litres, and modern reproductions of the ancient recipe produced a brew weighed in at 5 percent ABV, the same as that of the modern day pint.<ref name=":2" /> Despite the many Egyptian sources describing brewing methods, very few discuss intoxication.<ref name=":2" /> However, an annual celebration of the "Drunkenness of Hathor" commemorated the intoxication of the goddess Sekhmet/Hathor with beer disguised as blood by other gods, causing her to fall into a drunken stupor and allowing them to take control over creation, an act which prevented her from exterminating humanity.<ref name=":2" /> In honor of this deed a red coloured alcohol was drunk in large quantities during the festival causing similar intoxicated stupors.<ref name=":2" /> Osiris was also associated with wine, as his death and resurrection were compared to the cycle of withering and regrowth of the vine during the winter and spring.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Gately |first=Iain |title=Drink: a cultural history of alcohol |date=2009 |publisher=Gotham Books |isbn=978-1-59240-464-3 |edition=1. ed., 1. paperback print |location=New York, NY |pages=7–8}}</ref> The ''Oag'' festival, dedicated to Osiris, was marked by the drinking of wine, and during the late dynastic period the devotees of Osiris would offer prayers and conduct rituals, after which they would drink wine and consume bread, believing that they had been transubstantiated in to the flesh and blood of Osiris.<ref name=":3" /> Multiple amphorae were discovered in the graves of pharaohs and elites as provisions for the afterlife and as offerings to Osiris, commonly with labels detailing their origin, maker, and date.<ref name=":3" /> Over time, labels eventually included assessments of quality as well, such as "good," (''nfr'') "very good," (''nfr nfr'') or "very very good," (''nfr nfr nfr'') alongside provenance, and it was believed that certain vintages improved with age.<ref name=":3" /> Archaeological findings reveal that some wines buried with their owners were several decades old, exceeding the average life expectancy, and therefore assumed to have outlived their creators.<ref name=":3" />

=== Medieval period ===

==== Medieval Middle East ==== Medieval Muslim chemists such as Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (Latin: Geber, ninth century) and Abū Bakr al-Rāzī (Latin: Rhazes, {{circa|865–925}}) experimented extensively with the distillation of various substances. The distillation of wine is attested in Arabic works attributed to al-Kindī ({{circa|801}}–873 CE) and to al-Fārābī ({{circa|872}}–950), and in the 28th book of al-Zahrāwī's (Latin: Abulcasis, 936–1013) ''Kitāb al-Taṣrīf'' (later translated into Latin as ''Liber servatoris'').<ref>{{cite book |last1=al-Hassan |first1=Ahmad Y. |title=Studies in al-Kimya': Critical Issues in Latin and Arabic Alchemy and Chemistry |publisher=Georg Olms Verlag |year=2009 |location=Hildesheim |pages=283–298 |chapter=Alcohol and the Distillation of Wine in Arabic Sources from the 8th Century |author-link=Ahmad Y. al-Hassan}} (same content also available on [http://www.history-science-technology.com/notes/notes7.html the author's website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151229003135/http://www.history-science-technology.com/notes/notes7.html|date=29 December 2015}}); cf. {{cite book |last1=Berthelot |first1=Marcellin |title=La Chimie au Moyen Âge |last2=Houdas |first2=Octave V. |publisher=Imprimerie nationale |year=1893 |volume=I–III |location=Paris |author1-link=Marcellin Berthelot}} vol. I, pp. 141, 143.</ref> 12th century: The process of distillation spread from the Middle East to Italy,<ref name="Forbes1970" /> where distilled alcoholic drinks were recorded in the mid-12th century.<ref name="Forbes1970">{{Cite book |last=Forbes |first=Robert James |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XeqWOkKYn28C |title=A Short History of the Art of Distillation: From the Beginnings up to the Death of Cellier Blumenthal |publisher=Brill |year=1970 |isbn=978-90-04-00617-1 |access-date=28 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123191201/https://books.google.com/books?id=XeqWOkKYn28C |archive-date=23 January 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref>

==== 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Holmyard |first=Eric John |title=Alchemy |date=1957 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-486-26298-7 |location=Harmondsworth |author-link=Eric John Holmyard}} pp. 51–52.</ref> By the early 14th century, distilled alcoholic drinks had spread throughout the European continent.<ref name="Forbes1970" /> 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.<ref name="whisky tech">Whiskey: Technology, Production and Marketing: Handbook of Alcoholic Beverages Series p2 Academic Press 2003</ref><ref>Artemas Ward, "Aqua Vitae" ''The Grocer's Encyclopedia'', p. 32.</ref>

=== Early modern period === in 1690, England passed "An Act for the Encouraging of the Distillation of Brandy and Spirits from Corn" <ref name="Hanson">Preventing Alcohol Abuse: Alcohol, Culture, and Control By David J. Hanson page 3</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=America's History of Drinking |url=https://www.alcohol.org/guides/americas-history-of-drinking/ |website=Alcohol.org}}</ref> Drinking hard liquor was common occurrence in early nineteenth-century United States.<ref>{{cite book |last=Garrison |first=James Holley |title=Behold Me Once More. The Confessions of James Holley Garrison, brother of William Lloyd Garrison |publisher=Houghton, Mifflin |year=1954 |editor-last=Merrill |editor-first=Walter McIntosh |location=Boston |page=4 |chapter=Introduction to Part I}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article126244849|title=NOTABLE AUSTRALIAN EVENTS.|date=7 November 1897|newspaper=The Sunday Times|access-date=25 February 2019|issue=619|location=New South Wales, Australia|page=9|via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> 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 Swedish parliament ordered all sales of vodka to be done via local alcohol monopolies.<ref>Systembolaget.se [http://systembolaget.se/NR/rdonlyres/8C39020E-492A-47A1-B578-021AF5833CD6/0/foretagspres_03_eng.pdf About Systembolaget] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071018220736/http://systembolaget.se/NR/rdonlyres/8C39020E-492A-47A1-B578-021AF5833CD6/0/foretagspres_03_eng.pdf |date=18 October 2007 }}</ref> 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).<ref name="edman">{{Citation |last1=Edman |first1=Johan |title=Temperance and Modernity: Alcohol Consumption as a Collective Problem, 1885–1913 |date=September 2015 |journal=Journal of Social History |volume=49 |issue=1 |pages=20–52 |doi=10.1093/jsh/shv029 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

==Fermented drinks==

===Beer=== [[File:GravityTap.jpg|thumb|Schlenkerla Rauchbier, a traditional smoked beer, being poured from a cask into a beer glass]] {{Main|Beer}} {{See also|Beer styles|List of beer styles}} Beer is a beverage fermented from grain mash. It is typically made from barley or a blend 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.<ref name="Nelson 2005">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6xul0O_SI1MC&q=most+consumed+beverage&pg=PA1|title=The Barbarian's Beverage: A History of Beer in Ancient Europe|year=2005|publisher=Routledge|location=Abingdon, Oxon|isbn=978-0-415-31121-2|page=1|access-date=21 September 2010|last=Nelson|first=Max|archive-date=23 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123191200/https://books.google.com/books?id=6xul0O_SI1MC&q=most+consumed+beverage&pg=PA1|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Cider=== {{Main|Cider}} Cider or cyder ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|aɪ|d|ər}} {{respell|SY|dər}}) is a fermented alcoholic drink made from any fruit juice; apple juice (traditional and most common), peaches, pears ("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".<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=sTsC65kCJbUC&pg=PA169 |title=The Prokaryotes: Proteobacteria: alpha and beta subclasses |page=169|author=Martin Dworkin, Stanley Falkow|publisher=Springer|year= 2006|access-date=29 July 2011|isbn=978-0-387-25495-1 }}</ref>

===Fermented water=== {{see also|Kilju}}

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=== {{Main|Mead}} Mead ({{IPAc-en|m|iː|d}}), also called hydromel, is an alcoholic drink made by fermenting honey with water, sometimes with various fruits, spices, grains, 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=== {{Main|Pulque}} Pulque is the Mesoamerican fermented drink made from the "honey water" of maguey, ''Agave americana''. Pulque can be distilled to produce tequila or Mezcal.<ref>Super, "Alcoholic Beverages", pp. 45–46.</ref>

===Rice wine=== {{Main|Rice wine}} Rice wine is an alcoholic drink fermented 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=== [[File:Red and white wine 12-2015.jpg|thumb|upright|Glasses of red and white wine]] {{Main|Wine}} Wine is a fermented beverage most commonly produced from grapes. 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.

Sparkling wines such as French Champagne, Catalan Cava and Italian Prosecco are also made from grapes, with a secondary fermentation.

Fruit wines are made from fruits other than grapes, such as plums, cherries, or apples.

== Fermentation process == Wine, beer, and spirits are produced through the activity of yeasts,<ref>{{Cite book |last=McGee |first=Harold |title=On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen |date=2004 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=978-1-4165-5637-4 |location=New York |pages=714}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=McGee |first=Harold |title=On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen |date=2004 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=978-1-4165-5637-4 |location=New York |pages=715}}</ref> The most commonly used yeasts in fermentation and baking belong to the genus ''Saccharomyces'', whose name means "sugar fungus".<ref name=":5" /> 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 microbes which would otherwise infect food.<ref name=":5" /> Their production of alcohol is linked to their capacity to function with minimal oxygen.<ref name=":5" /> In the presence of oxygen, other living cells metabolise 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):<ref>{{Cite book |last=McGee |first=Harold |title=On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen |date=2004 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=978-1-4165-5637-4 |location=New York |pages=715–716}}</ref>

<chem>C6H12O6 -> 2CH3CH2OH + 2CO2 + energy</chem>

<chem>Glucose -> alcohol + carbon-dioxide + energy</chem>

==Distilled beverages== {{Main|Liquor}} thumb|left|Rum display in liquor store Distilled beverages (also called liquors or spirit drinks) are alcoholic drinks produced by distilling (i.e., concentrating by distillation) ethanol produced by means of fermenting grain, fruit, or vegetables.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9106006/distilled-spirit|title=Distilled spirit/distilled liquor|publisher=Britannica |access-date=5 February 2013|archive-date=9 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509044547/http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9106006/distilled-spirit|url-status=live}}</ref> Unsweetened, distilled, alcoholic drinks that have an alcohol content of at least 20% ABV are called ''spirits''.<ref>Lichine, Alexis. ''Alexis Lichine's New Encyclopedia of Wines & Spirits'' (5th edition) (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1987), 707–709.</ref> 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 (or whiskey), baijiu, shōchū and soju are examples of distilled drinks. Distilling concentrates the alcohol and eliminates some of the congeners. Freeze distillation concentrates ethanol along with methanol and fusel alcohols (fermentation by-products partially removed by distillation) in applejack.

Fortified wine is wine, such as port or sherry, to which a distilled beverage (usually brandy) has been added.<ref name=ALE>{{cite book|last=Lichine|first=Alexis|title=Alexis Lichine's New Encyclopedia of Wines & Spirits|edition=5th|location=New York|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|year=1987|page=236|isbn=978-0-394-56262-9}}</ref> Fortified wine is distinguished from spirits made from wine in that spirits are produced by means of distillation, while fortified wine is wine that has had a spirit added to it. Many different styles of fortified wine have been developed, including port, sherry, madeira, marsala, commandaria, and the aromatized wine vermouth.<ref name="Oxford pg 279">{{cite book|editor-last=Robinson|editor-first=J.|title=The Oxford Companion to Wine|edition=3rd|location=New York|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2006|page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00janc/page/279 279]|isbn=978-0-19-860990-2|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00janc/page/279}}</ref>

===Rectified spirit=== {{Main|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 tinctures, and also as a household solvent.

===Congeners=== {{See also|Congener (beverages)|Wine chemistry|Hangover}} 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://winebusinessanalytics.com/features/article/74439/Understanding%20Congeners%20in%20Wine |title=Understanding Congeners in Wine |last=Ingraham |first=John L. |date=May 2010 |website=Wine Business Analytics |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230531031415/https://winebusinessanalytics.com/features/article/74439/Understanding%20Congeners%20in%20Wine |archive-date=31 May 2023 |access-date=1 May 2024}}</ref> It has been suggested that these substances contribute to the symptoms of a hangover.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8416431.stm |title=Whisky hangover 'worse than vodka, study suggests' |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123191147/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8416431.stm |archive-date=23 January 2023 |work=BBC News |date=19 December 2009 |access-date=19 December 2009}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://winefolly.com/review/wine-characteristics/|title=The 5 Basic Wine Characteristics|work=Wine Folly|access-date=6 May 2015|date=23 July 2012|archive-date=15 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150315223831/http://winefolly.com/review/wine-characteristics/|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Top-shelf liquor=== {{Main|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.<ref name=winenthusiast>{{Cite web |last1=Garret |first1=Dylan |title=What Are Top Shelf Liquors—And Does it Matter {{!}} Wine Enthusiast |url=https://www.wineenthusiast.com/basics/top-shelf-liquor-explained/ |access-date=2024-01-14 |website=www.wineenthusiast.com |date=April 2022 |archive-date=28 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230628165854/https://www.wineenthusiast.com/basics/top-shelf-liquor-explained/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Mixed drinks and others== A mixed drink is a beverage in which two or more ingredients are mixed, and is often alcoholic.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What Is the Difference Between a Cocktail and a Mixed Drink? |url=https://www.foodandwine.com/cocktails-spirits/bartenders/what-is-the-difference-between-a-cocktail-and-a-mixed-drink |access-date=2023-05-05 |website=Food & Wine |language=en}}</ref>

===Alcopops=== {{Main|Alcopop}} An alcopop (or cooler) is any of certain mixed alcoholic beverages with relatively low alcohol content (e.g., 3–7% alcohol by volume), including: # Malt beverages to which various fruit juices or other flavorings have been added # Wine coolers: beverages containing wine to which ingredients such as fruit juice or other flavorings have been added # Mixed drinks containing distilled alcohol and sweet liquids such as fruit juices or other flavourings<ref>[http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=&SessionId=51&GA=95&DocTypeId=SB&DocNum=1625&GAID=9&LegID=29771&SpecSess=&Session= SB1625, Illinois General Assembly 1977] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205091420/http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=&SessionId=51&GA=95&DocTypeId=SB&DocNum=1625&GAID=9&LegID=29771&SpecSess=&Session= |date=2008-12-05 }} (Amendment to The Liquor Control Act of 1934, Section 6-35; 235 ILCS 5/6-35)</ref>

===Alcohol powder=== {{Main|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.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.nabca.org/assets/Docs/Research/PowderedAlcoholPaper.pdf|title = Powdered Alcohol: An Encapsulation|accessdate = 4 January 2016|website = NABCA Research|publisher = National Alcohol Beverage Control Association}}</ref>

===Well drink=== {{Main|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.<ref name=Lai>{{cite book |editor1-first=Anne |editor1-last=Lai |others=Harvard Student Agencies, Inc. |title=Bartending 101: The Basics of Mixology |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QyusKkN-tqgC&q=rail+well+vs+call+vs+top-shelf&pg=PA7 |edition=4th |year=2005 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=978-0-312-34906-6 |pages=7–9 |quote=In professional bars, a 'speed rail' usually replaces the front bar. This rack, attached to the bar or sink directly in front of the bartender, holds 'house brands' (usually less-expensive brands) of front-bar liquor. The bartender defers to the well brand of liquor for every drink unless the customer specifies a well-known brand, or 'call brand,' as it is known in bartending lingo. The more expensive call brands stay on the back bar. That means that you will prepare a White Russian with generic coffee brandy instead of the most commonly known call brand (Kahlúa) unless the drink specifically requests otherwise (or if your bar is using Kahlúa as its well brand). There is a further classification of alcohols called the 'premium' or 'top-shelf' brands. These are even higher quality bottles of liquor – such as Bombay gin or Old Grand Dad bourbon. |name-list-style=vanc }}</ref><ref name=Kulp>{{cite book |last1=Kulp |first1=Kayleigh |name-list-style=vanc |year=2014 |title=Booze for Babes: The Smart Woman's Guide to Drinking Spirits Right |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JWCrqWDA_foC&pg=PA113 |publisher=Hundred Proof Publishing Co. |page=113 |isbn=978-0-9857731-0-6 |quote=Rail liquors are the selection of bottles bartenders keep in the long shelf under the bar counter, called the rail. These bottles are usually the cheapest liquor they carry, and are often used automatically unless you, or the cocktail menu, specify otherwise. }}</ref><ref name=Katsigris2012>{{cite book |last1=Katsigris |first1=Costas |last2=Thomas |first2=Chris |title=The Bar and Beverage Book |edition=5th |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2012 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=mwCACgAAQBAJ&q=well&pg=PA704 |isbn=9780470248454 |page=704 |quote=speed rail, speed rack. A bottle-width rack for liquor bottles that is attached to the apron of underbar equipment.}}</ref>

==Amount of use== {{main|List of countries by alcohol consumption per capita}} {{see also|Alcohol preferences in Europe}}

thumb|upright=1.8|Alcohol consumption per person in 2020. Consumption of alcohol is measured in liters of pure alcohol per person aged 15 or older.<ref>{{cite web |title=Alcohol consumption per person |url=https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/total-alcohol-consumption-per-capita-litres-of-pure-alcohol |website=Our World in Data |access-date=15 February 2020 |archive-date=16 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200316145124/https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/total-alcohol-consumption-per-capita-litres-of-pure-alcohol |url-status=live }}</ref>|class=skin-invert-image [[File:Liquor store in Breckenridge Colorado.jpg|thumb|right|A liquor store in the United States. Global sales of alcoholic beverages exceeded $1.5&nbsp;trillion in 2017.<ref name="PMID32079559">{{cite journal |last1=Jernigan |first1=D |last2=Ross |first2=CS |title=The Alcohol Marketing Landscape: Alcohol Industry Size, Structure, Strategies, and Public Health Responses. |journal=Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. Supplement |date=March 2020 |volume=Sup 19 |issue=Suppl 19 |pages=13–25 |doi=10.15288/jsads.2020.s19.13 |pmid=32079559|pmc=7064002 }}</ref>]] The average number of people who drink {{as of|2016|lc=y}} was 39% for males and 25% for females (2.4 billion people in total).<ref name=Lancet2018GBD/> Females on average drink 0.7 drinks per day while males drink 1.7 drinks per day.<ref name=Lancet2018GBD/> The rates of drinking varies significantly in different areas of the world.<ref name=Lancet2018GBD/> <gallery mode="packed" style="font-size:88%; line-height:130%" heights="230" class="skin-invert-image"> 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<ref name=Lancet2018GBD/> 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<ref name=Lancet2018GBD/> </gallery>

==Uses== ===Activities===

====Drinking games==== {{Further|List of drinking games}} Drinking games are games 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.<ref name="app">Jillian Swords. ''The Appalachian'': [http://theapp.appstate.edu/content/view/2671/1/ "New alcohol policy bans drinking games"]. September 18, 2007. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090716190250/http://theapp.appstate.edu/content/view/2671/1/ |date=July 16, 2009 }}</ref>

====Drinking songs==== {{Main|Drinking song}} 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 ({{Langx|de|Bierpalast, Bierhalle}}) 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 ''ουζερί'' {{IPA|el|uzeˈri|IPA}}) is a type of Greek tavern which serves ouzo (a Greek liquor) and mezedes (small finger foods).

=====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 cocktails.<ref name="The Book of Tiki">{{cite book |last1=Kirsten |first1=Sven |title=The Book of Tiki |date=2000 |publisher=Taschen |page=55}}</ref> Tiki bars are aesthetically defined by their tiki culture décor which is based upon a romanticized conception of tropical cultures, most commonly Polynesian.

=====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.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}} 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 beers 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 wine festivals 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===== [[File:Story Bridge Hotel 06.JPG|thumb|A beer flight of three beers, on a wooden '''beer paddle''', served by a bar in Brisbane, Australia]]

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.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Franconi|first=Jennifer|date=2012|title=Beer Tourists: Who Are They|url=https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1786&context=ttra|journal=Scholarworks @ Umass Amherst}}</ref>

=====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, tasting wines, vineyard walks, or even taking an active part in the harvest.

===Food===

====Apéritifs and digestifs==== {{main|Apéritif and digestif}}

An apéritif is any alcoholic beverage usually served before a meal to stimulate the appetite,<ref>{{Cite journal | pmid = 15059684| year = 2004| last1 = Caton| first1 = S.J.| title = Dose-dependent effects of alcohol on appetite and food intake| journal = Physiology & Behavior| volume = 81| issue = 1| pages = 51–58| last2 = Ball| first2 = M| last3 = Ahern| first3 = A| last4 = Hetherington| first4 = M.M.| doi = 10.1016/j.physbeh.2003.12.017| s2cid = 22424908}}</ref> while a digestif is any alcoholic beverage served after a meal for the stated purpose of improving digestion. Fortified wine, liqueurs, and dry champagne are common apéritifs. Because apéritifs are served before dining, they are usually dry rather than sweet. One example is Cinzano, a brand of vermouth. Digestifs include brandy, fortified wines and herb-infused spirits (Drambuie).

====Cooking==== {{main|Cooking with alcohol}}

[[File:Réduction du vin rouge.jpg|thumb|left|Reduction of red wine for a sauce by cooking it on a stovetop. It is called a reduction because the heat boils off some of the water and most of the more volatile alcohol, leaving a more concentrated, wine-flavoured sauce.]] Pure ethanol tastes bitter to humans; some people also describe it as sweet.<ref>{{Cite journal | pmid = 10940547| year = 2000| last1 = Scinska| first1 = A| title = Bitter and sweet components of ethanol taste in humans| journal = Drug and Alcohol Dependence| volume = 60| issue = 2| pages = 199–206| last2 = Koros| first2 = E| last3 = Habrat| first3 = B| last4 = Kukwa| first4 = A| last5 = Kostowski| first5 = W| last6 = Bienkowski| first6 = P | doi=10.1016/s0376-8716(99)00149-0}}</ref> However, ethanol is also a moderately effective solvent for many fatty substances and essential oils. This facilitates the use of flavoring and coloring compounds in alcoholic drinks as a taste mask, especially in distilled drinks. Some flavors may be naturally present in the beverage's raw material. Beer and wine may also be flavored before fermentation, and spirits may be flavored before, during, or after distillation. Sometimes flavor is obtained by allowing the beverage to stand for months or years in oak barrels, usually made of American or French oak. A few brands of spirits may also have fruit or herbs inserted into the bottle at the time of bottling.

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.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/features/6-secrets-of-cooking-with-wine#1 |title=6 Secrets of Cooking with Wine |access-date=12 April 2017 |archive-date=22 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170322203424/http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/features/6-secrets-of-cooking-with-wine#1 |url-status=live}}</ref> Wine sauce is an example of a culinary sauce that uses wine as a primary ingredient.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bHp1GJk8IMcC&pg=PA15 |title=Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide, 7th Edition |publisher=Simon and Schuster |author=Parker, Robert M. |year=2008 |page=15 |isbn=978-1-4391-3997-4}}</ref> Natural wines may exhibit a broad range of alcohol content, from below 9% to above 16% ABV, with most wines being in the 12.5–14.5% range.<ref>{{cite book |author=Jancis Robinson |title=The Oxford Companion to Wine |url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00janc |url-access=registration |edition=3rd |year=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-860990-2}} See ''alcoholic strength'' at p. 10.</ref> Fortified wines (usually with brandy) may contain 20% alcohol or more.

====Food preservative==== {{For|historical use of wine or beer as sweetener/preservation in early desalinating sea water|Grog#Background}}

Alcohol has been used to preserve food.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284830829 |title=Ethanol as a food preservative |access-date=21 April 2024}}</ref>

{{expand section|date=March 2024}}

====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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Acetic acid: general information |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/acetic-acid-properties-uses-and-incident-management/acetic-acid-general-information |website=GOV.UK |publisher=Government Digital Service |access-date=19 March 2024 |language=en}}</ref> Usually, the acetic acid is produced by a double fermentation, converting simple sugars to ethanol using yeast and ethanol to acetic acid using acetic acid bacteria.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nakayama |first1=Takeyoshi |title=Studies on acetic acid-bacteria I. Biochemical studies on ethanol oxidation |journal=The Journal of Biochemistry |volume=46 |issue=9 |date=September 1959 |pages=1217–1225 |doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.jbchem.a127022|doi-access=free }}</ref>

The source materials for making vinegar are varied – different fruits, grains, alcoholic beverages, and other fermentable materials are used:<ref name="harvard">{{cite web |title=Vinegar |url=https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/food-features/vinegar/ |publisher=TH Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University |access-date=4 March 2020 |date=1 October 2019 |archive-date=14 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221114123724/https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/food-features/vinegar/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

* Apple cider vinegar, or cider vinegar, is a vinegar made from cider.<ref name=ns>{{cite book |title=Natural Standard Herb & Supplement Guide: An Evidence-Based Reference |chapter=Apple Cider Vinegar |publisher=Elsevier |year=2010 |edition=1st |page=59 |editor=Ulbricht CE |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WB8PDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA59 |isbn=978-0-323-07295-3}}</ref> * Rice vinegar is a vinegar made from rice wine.

====Wine and food matching==== [[Image:Vin Jaune.jpg|right|thumb|A pairing of ''vin jaune'' with walnuts and Comté cheese]] {{main|Wine and food matching}}

Wine and food matching is the process of pairing food dishes with wine to enhance the dining experience. In many cultures, wine has had a long history of being a staple 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, sommeliers 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 subjective and what may be a "textbook perfect" pairing for one taster could be less enjoyable to another.<ref name="MacNeil pg 83-88">K. MacNeil ''The Wine Bible'' pg 83-88 Workman Publishing 2001 {{ISBN|1-56305-434-5}}</ref>

===Offerings=== {{for|historical use|Drink offering|Law of Moses}}

====Folk saints==== Alcoholic beverages are typical offerings for the folk saint Maximón,<ref name="NATG">{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612142143/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/destinations/north-america/guatemala/maximon-santiago-atitlan-maya-saint/ |archive-date=12 June 2018 |url-status=live |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/destinations/north-america/guatemala/maximon-santiago-atitlan-maya-saint/ |title=Meet Maximón: The Liquor-Drinking, Chain-Smoking Saint |website=National Geographic |last=Khan |first=Gulnaz |date=24 January 2018}}</ref> and Santa Muerte.<ref name="peña">{{cite journal |last=Araujo Peña |first=Sandra Alejandro |author2=Barbosa Ramírez Marisela |author3=Galván Falcón Susana |author4=García Ortiz Aurea |author5=Uribe Ordaz Carlos |title=El culto a la Santa Muerte: un estudio descriptivo |trans-title=The Santa Muerte Cult:A descriptive study |journal=Revista Psichologia |publisher=Universidad de Londres |location=Mexico City |url=http://www.udlondres.com/revista_psicologia/articulos/stamuerte.htm |language=es |access-date=7 October 2009}}</ref><ref name="Villarreal">{{cite news |title=La Guerra Santa de la Santa Muerte |first=Hector |last=Villarreal |url=http://semanal.milenio.com/node/331 |newspaper=Milenio semana |publisher=Milenio |location=Mexico City |date=5 April 2009 |access-date=7 October 2009 |language=es |trans-title=The Holy War of Santa Muerte |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091016071830/http://semanal.milenio.com/node/331 |archive-date=16 October 2009 }}</ref> Both folk saints have been described as narco-saints.<ref name="NYPost">{{cite web| url=https://nypost.com/2021/12/21/religious-saints-of-murders-outlaws-worshiped-by-cartels/ |title=Santa Muerte and five more 'religious' saints worshiped by drug cartels |last=Vincent |first=Isabel |date=21 December 2021 |website=New York Post |access-date=10 June 2022}}</ref><ref name="Atlantic">{{cite web| url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/09/big-in-mexico/375060/ |title=The Rise of the Narco-Saints |last=Flannagin |first=Jake |date=September 2014 |website=The Atlantic |access-date=10 June 2022}}</ref>

====Religious====

=====Libation===== {{main|Libation}}

A libation is a ritual pouring of a liquid, or grains such as rice, as an offering to a deity or spirit, or in memory of the dead. It was common in many religions of antiquity and continues to be offered in cultures today. Wine or other alcoholic drinks are often used for libation.

======Africa====== [[File:Cérémonies coutumières.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Prayers and libations made with gin, in a community in southern Benin]]

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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Nehusi |first1=Kimani S.K. |title=Libation. An Afrikan Ritual of Heritage in the Circle of Life |date=2016 |publisher=University Press of America |isbn=978-0-7618-6710-4 |page=14 |language=en }}</ref> It is suggested that libation originated somewhere in the upper Nile Valley and spread out to other regions of Africa and the world.<ref name="auto">Delia, 1992, pp. 181-190{{full citation needed|date=March 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=James |first=George G. M. |year=1954 |title=Stolen Legacy |place=New York |publisher=Philosophical Library}}</ref> According to Ayi Kwei Armah, "[t]his legend explains the rise of a propitiatory custom found everywhere on the African continent: libation, the pouring of alcohol or other drinks as offerings to ancestors and divinities."<ref>{{cite book |last=Armah |first=Ayi Kwei |year=2006 |title=The Eloquence of the Scribes: a memoir on the sources and resources of African literature |place=Popenguine, Senegal |publisher=Per Ankh |page=207}}</ref>

======Americas====== In the Quechua and Aymara 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 ''octli'': <blockquote>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.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nH_P1Gn1twwC&q=octli|title=Primeros Memoriales|first1=Bernardino de|last1=Sahagún|first2=Henry B.|last2=Nicholson|date=23 March 1997|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|isbn=9780806129099 |via=Google Books}}</ref></blockquote>

=====Sacramental wine in Christianity===== [[File:US Navy 100912-M-2275H-196 A command chaplain holds church services aboard USS Kearsarge.jpg|thumb|A chaplain pouring sacramental wine from a cruet into a chalice]] {{main|Sacramental wine}} {{see also|Alcohol in the Bible|Religion and alcohol}}

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: <blockquote> §3 The wine must be natural, made from grapes of the vine, and not corrupt.<ref>[http://www.deacons.net/Canon_Law/cci.htm Code of Canon Law, 1983] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060619055307/http://www.deacons.net/Canon_Law/cci.htm |date=19 June 2006 }}</ref></blockquote>

======Lutheranism====== {{main|Eucharist in Lutheranism}}

In Lutheranism, the ''Catechism'' teaches:<ref name="Weber2013"/> {{blockquote|289. What are the visible elements in the Sacrament?

The visible elements are bread and wine.

935. Matt. 26:26-27 Jesus took bread … Then He took the cup.

Note: “The fruit of the vine” (Luke 22:18) in the Bible means wine, not grape juice. See also 1 Cor. 11:21.<ref name="Weber2013">{{cite web |last1=Weber |first1=Karl |title=Fruit of Which Vine? |url=https://steadfastlutherans.org/blog/2013/05/fruit-of-which-vine/ |publisher=Steadfast Lutherans |access-date=18 April 2024 |language=English |date=31 May 2013}}</ref>}}

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.<ref>[http://www.fairbankslutheran.org/ An example of a church that does]. See the "Sunday Worship" section on the "Welcome" page.</ref>

===Tincture=== [[File:Whitewillowtincture.jpg|thumb|right|upright|A tincture prepared from white willow bark and ethanol, containing salicin (from which salicylic acid-based products like aspirin are derived)]]

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%.<ref name="Groot Handboek">Groot Handboek Geneeskrachtige Planten by Geert Verhelst</ref> 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.<ref name="Groot Handboek"/><ref>{{Cite web|last=Ullian|first=Naomi|date=19 September 2016|title=How To Make A Medicinal Mushroom Double-Extraction Tincture|url=https://theherbalacademy.com/make-medicinal-mushroom-double-extraction-tincture/|access-date=12 January 2021|website=Herbal Academy|language=en-US}}</ref>

===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== {{Main|Alcohol measurements}} 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== thumb|Wine (left) and beer (right) are served in different glasses.

{{columns-list|colwidth=10em| * Absinthiana * Beer bong * Beer engine * Beer tap * Beer tower * Hogshead * Margarita machine * Port tongs * Wine dispenser * Vending Machine }}

==Professions== * Cocktail waitress * Beer sommelier * Beer wench * Wine sommelier * Winemaker

==Laws== {{anchor|Legal considerations}} {{main|Alcohol laws}} {{main|Drinking age}}

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.<ref name="IARD"/>

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, monopoly stores, or pubs 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 law) or for reasons of local option, public health, and morals (e.g., Prohibition in the United States from 1920 to 1933). In jurisdictions which enforce sharia law, the consumption of alcoholic drinks is an illegal offense,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Williams|first1=Lizzie|title=Nigeria: The Bradt Travel Guide|page=101}}</ref> although such laws may exempt non-Muslims.<ref>''Alcohol and Temperance in Modern History'' p. 329 David M. Fahey, Ian R. Tyrrell (2003)</ref>

=== Alcohol-related crimes === [[File:Indonesian police destroys illegal alcohol.jpg|thumb|left|Police use a road roller to destroy bottles of illegal alcohol confiscated in Serpong, out of Jakarta, Indonesia, April 13, 2018.]] {{main|Alcohol-related crime}}

Alcohol is used in rum-running, the illegal business 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 wines are adulterated, usually with the addition of cheaper products (e.g. juices) and sometimes with harmful chemicals 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.<ref>{{cite web |last=Sumich |first=Jason |title=It's All Legal Until You Get Caught: Moonshining in the Southern Appalachians |url=http://anthro.appstate.edu/field-schools/papers/2007/sumich |access-date=21 March 2014 |publisher=Appalachian State University}}</ref> Once the liquor was distilled, drivers called "runners" or "bootleggers" smuggled moonshine liquor across the region in cars specially modified for speed and load-carrying capacity.<ref name="Cooper">{{cite book |last1=Cooper |first1=William J. |last2=Terrill |first2=Thomas E. |title=The American South: A History, Volume II |date=2009 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |location=Lanham, Md. |isbn=978-0-7425-6097-0 |page=625 |edition=4th |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=foGTgJkUOTEC&q=bootleg+moonshine}}</ref>

Outbreaks of methanol poisoning have occurred when methanol is used to adulterate moonshine.<ref>{{cite web |date=November 2012 |title=Application to Include Fomepizole on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines |url=https://www.who.int/selection_medicines/committees/expert/19/applications/Fomepizole_4_2_AC_Ad.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714170743/https://www.who.int/selection_medicines/committees/expert/19/applications/Fomepizole_4_2_AC_Ad.pdf |archive-date=14 July 2014 |access-date=4 October 2020 |page=10}}</ref>

In Australia, a sly-grog shop (or shanty) is an unlicensed hotel, liquor-store or other vendor of alcoholic beverages, sometimes with the added connotation of selling poor-quality products.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-01-17 |title=Sly-grog shop (or shanty) - Araluen Valley History |url=https://araluenvalley-history.com.au/public-houses/sly-grog-shop-or-shanty/ |access-date=2024-10-07 |language=en-AU}}</ref>

Pruno also known as prison hooch or prison wine, is a term used in the United States to describe an improvised alcoholic beverage. It is variously made from apples, oranges, fruit cocktail, fruit juices, hard candy, sugar, high fructose syrup, and possibly other ingredients, including crumbled bread.<ref name="Pruno, Ramen, and a Side of Hope">{{cite book |last1=B. Lance |first1=Courtney |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hWcfDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA266 |title=Pruno, Ramen, and a Side of Hope |date=February 2015 |publisher=Post Hill Press |isbn=978-1618689252 |page=266}}</ref>

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).<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hfw5AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA1 |title=Driving Under the Influence: A Report to Congress on Alcohol Limits |publisher=U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration |year=1992 |pages=1– |access-date=18 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240905055402/https://books.google.com/books?id=Hfw5AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=5 September 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref>

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.<ref name="Clinard_2007">{{Cite book |last1=Clinard |first1=Marshall |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cm5zmpcVNfQC&pg=PA273 |title=Sociology of Deviant Behavior |last2=Meier |first2=Robert |date=14 February 2007 |publisher=Cengage Learning |isbn=9780495093350 |pages=273 |access-date=20 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240905055434/https://books.google.com/books?id=cm5zmpcVNfQC&pg=PA273 |archive-date=5 September 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Health effects of alcohol== {{Main|Health effects of alcohol}}

Alcohol is a common metabolic by-product formed during the breakdown of sugars in many living cells, though it is typically further metabolised to release additional energy.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=McGee |first=Harold |title=On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen |date=2004 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=978-1-4165-5637-4 |location=New York |pages=715}}</ref> Certain yeasts constitute an exception, as they excrete alcohol into their environment, where it acts as a chemical defense against competing microorganisms; this role is analogous to that of lactic acid in fermented foods and aromatic compounds in plants.<ref name=":4" /> While advantageous to yeast, alcohol is toxic to most cells, and in humans its intoxicating effects result from interference with the normal functioning of brain cells.<ref name=":4" />

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.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bisognano |first1=John |date=5 April 2023 |title=Daily Alcohol Intake and Risk of All-Cause Mortality |url=https://www.acc.org/Latest-in-Cardiology/Journal-Scans/2023/04/05/16/04/association-between-daily-alcohol |website=American College of Cardiology}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last= |first= |last2= |first2= |date=2024-07-25 |title=Moderate drinking not better for health than abstaining, analysis suggests |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/jul/25/moderate-drinking-not-better-for-health-than-abstaining-analysis-suggests?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-1 |access-date=2024-08-16 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

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. Cell membranes 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.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Feige B, Scaal S, Hornyak M, Gann H, Riemann D |date=January 2007 |title=Sleep electroencephalographic spectral power after withdrawal from alcohol in alcohol-dependent patients |journal=Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=19–27 |doi=10.1111/j.1530-0277.2006.00260.x |pmid=17207097}}</ref> Long-term use can lead to an alcohol use disorder, an increased risk of developing physical dependence, cardiovascular disease, and several types of cancer. thumb|right|Intervention alcohol warning labels (actual size 5.0 cm × 3.2 cm each). The label intervention included three rotating labels: (a) a cancer warning, (b) national drinking guidelines, and (c) standard drink information (four separate labels were developed for wine, spirits, coolers, and beer; wine example shown above)Some nations have introduced alcohol packaging warning messages that inform consumers about alcohol and cancer, as well as fetal alcohol syndrome.<ref>{{cite web|title=Cancer warning labels to be included on alcohol in Ireland, minister confirms|url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/republic-of-ireland/cancer-warning-labels-to-be-included-on-alcohol-in-ireland-minister-confirms-37357231.html|publisher=Belfast Telegraph|language=English|date=26 September 2018|access-date=20 February 2023|archive-date=11 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200411134121/https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/republic-of-ireland/cancer-warning-labels-to-be-included-on-alcohol-in-ireland-minister-confirms-37357231.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The addition of warning labels on alcoholic beverages is historically supported by organizations of the temperance movement, such as the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, as well as by medical organisations, such as the Irish Cancer Society.<ref name="Chandler2012">{{cite journal |last1=Chandler |first1=Ellen |title=FASD - Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder |journal=White Ribbon Signal |date=2012 |volume=117 |issue=2 |page=2}}</ref><ref name="Finn2018">{{cite news |last1=Finn |first1=Christina |title=Irish Cancer Society urges minister not to drop proposed cancer warning labels on alcohol products |url=https://www.thejournal.ie/irish-cancer-society-cancer-labels-4248754-Sep2018/ |website=TheJournal.ie |language=en |access-date=20 February 2023 |archive-date=20 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230220082259/https://www.thejournal.ie/irish-cancer-society-cancer-labels-4248754-Sep2018/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

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."<ref>[http://monographs.iarc.fr/ENG/Classification/ClassificationsGroupOrder.pdf Agents Classified by the IARC Monographs, Volumes 1–111] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111025122327/http://monographs.iarc.fr/ENG/Classification/ClassificationsGroupOrder.pdf |date=25 October 2011}}. monographs.iarc.fr</ref> The World Health Organization also considers alcohol to be a carcinogen with no quantity of consumption considered to be risk free.<ref name="No alcohol" /> WHO estimates nearly half of alcohol-attributable cancers in the WHO European Region are linked to light or moderate drinking defined as "less than 1.5 litres of wine or less than 3.5 litres of beer or less than 450 millilitres of spirits per week".<ref name="No alcohol">{{Cite web |title=No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health |url=https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/04-01-2023-no-level-of-alcohol-consumption-is-safe-for-our-health |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230112022159/https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/04-01-2023-no-level-of-alcohol-consumption-is-safe-for-our-health |archive-date=12 January 2023 |access-date=12 January 2023 |website=www.who.int |language=en}}</ref>

Public awareness of the link between alcohol consumption and cancer is low in the U.S.<ref name=NYT20240918>[https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/18/health/alcohol-cancer-young-adults.html 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.</ref> In 2025, Dr. Vivek Murthy, the U.S. Surgeon General argued for the use of cancer warning labels on alcohol products.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rabin |first=Roni Caryn |date=2025-01-03 |title=Surgeon General Calls for Cancer Warnings on Alcohol |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/03/health/alcohol-surgeon-general-warning.html |access-date=2025-01-08 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

==See also== {{div col|colwidth=30em}} * 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

{{div col end}} {{Clear}}

==References== {{Reflist}}{{Commons category}} {{wikivoyage|Alcoholic beverages}} {{Cookbook|Alcoholic Drink}}

{{Alcoholic beverages}} {{Bartend}}{{Beer Styles}}{{Cocktails}} {{Wine by country}} {{Lists of beverages}} {{Alcohol and health}} {{Portal bar|Drink|Beer|Liquor|Wine}} {{Authority control}}

Category:Alcoholic beverages Category:Fermented drinks Category:Drinking culture Category:Alcohol industry