Today we're going to talk a bit about beverages.
A beverage is defined as "any potable liquid, especially one other than water". You may ask, what is the difference between a beverage and a drink? Basically it all comes down to semantics - unlike drink, beverage cannot be a verb. Beverage is a noun.
While there are many different classifications of beverages, we found this basic chart an easy reference to determine under which category your favorite type of beverage might fall....
The ancients were fond of many beverages (most often fermented or distilled) that we are unfamiliar with today. Among the more interesting we found:
* Falernian Wine - The ancient Romans had access to a lot of great wine. Hailing from Campania in Italy, Falernian was considered one of the finest. According to Pliny the Elder, Falernian was best after aging for fifteen years. Very high in alcohol content, "it is the only one, among all the wines, that take fire on the application of flame," said Pliny.
* Pulque - Arguably the most storied alcoholic drink in Mexico's history, it's made by fermenting, not distilling, the sap of the maguey plant (AKA agave). In mythology, the milky white beverage was said to have been invented in a lost divine paradise, although humans probably first started drinking it about 4000 years ago. The Aztecs also used it as a religious stimulant.
* Shedeh - A mysterious ancient Egyptian drink whose contents scholars still debate. The term "shedeh" has no translation in modern English, and the only Egyptian text that chronicled how it was made said it was filtered and heated - but the papyrus it was found on was incomplete. Whatever it was, shedeh was apparently a beverage fit for the pharaohs: King Tutankhamun's tomb contained an amphora of the liquor.
* Soma - Soma appears in the Rigveda, a series of ancient religious texts from India. Soma was a plant that produced an intoxicating beverage with a hallucinogenic effect, as well as the god who personified both of these. Soma was seen to be a healer and a fertilizing force. In the Rigveda, soma (the drink) was made by squeezing liquid from the plant's stalk, which was combined with milk and water. The resulting beverage might have brought worshippers some pretty interesting visions.
* Kykeon - Kykeon was a psychedelic drink hailing from ancient Greece. What exactly went into it is a mystery, but it appears to have contained an unusual mix of barley, cheese, and wine. "Kykeon" might have been a generic word used to describe a potion with magical effects, but it was also often associated with "mysteries," or covert rites for a particular god. The most famous "mysteries" were the secret rites of the goddess Demeter at Eleusis, where participants downed an unknown hallucinogenic beverage to see visions. Scholars now think it might have been kykeon containing moldy grain, which was specially treated to yield psychedelic effects.
Our subject line said this was a special day so it seems appropriate - and more than a little serendipitous - that we conclude this brief discussion about beverages with a shout out to the fact that today is WORLD GIN DAY! Always the second Saturday in June, the date moves around a bit, but we can rest assured that there's always Sunday following it to recuperate. So, whether it's in a martini or a gin & tonic or however you most prefer that intoxicating juniper spirit, raise a toast - to the ancients and to your friends!
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