Who drank the first beer? Getting buzzed definitely has very deep historical roots. The earliest evidence of any fermented beverage is fruit-based, aka wine, and comes from the Jiahu site in China and dates back to around 7,000 BCE (9,000 years ago). In addition to fermented beverage residue in China, we have grain-based, aka beer/ale, residue in pottery going back to 5000 BCE in the Middle East, 4000 BCE in Europe, but it’s the Sumerians that wrote down the earliest known beer recipe in 1800 BCE. Go Sumerians! Before all this, it’s a mystery awaiting discovery, but we know chimpanzees pick up rotting fermented fruit on the jungle floor to get drunk, pushing potential roots back 7.5 million years to our common ancestor.
Author note.
Explore voice = Exploratory style. Very punchy. Personal, and lively using “me,” “you,” “us,” and “I” freely.
I want you to feel me right there with you. We use “I” and “me” and “us” without apology. If the Explain voice is a bridge, the Explore voice is the hike we take across it. It is lively, reflective, and sometimes a bit raw. It is the sound of a shared exploration where I lead you by the hand, but we both discover the view at the same time.
This is where I get to think out loud. Not with definitions, we aren’t just looking at the facts; we are looking at how they feel and what they mean for our lives. I’m talking to you about what I’ve found and what I’m still figuring out. It is engaging because it is real, and it is reflective because it is honest.
The goal is real advice and enjoyable reading. I want to land on something you can actually use. It’s about being direct, being punchy, and making sure that by the time we reach the end of the page, we’ve both found something worth keeping.
And now the piece.
Beer, Ale, Wine
circa 7000 BCE
9,000 Years Ago
That History Story,
was first published on TST 2 years ago.
The flashcard inspired by it is this.
All this is part of the broader TST project.
Each tidbit carries its own links and academic citations, allowing claims to be traced back to their original sources without overloading longer essays.
Over time, this structure allows related ideas to reconnect naturally across disciplines and across years.
The end!