27
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Strong drink at the time of St John the Baptist
The Quotation
Firstly, I shall examine the passage in the original Greek:
ἔσται γὰρ μέγας ἐνώπιον τοῦ Κυρίου, καὶ οἶνον καὶ σίκερα οὐ μὴ πίῃ, καὶ Πνεύματος Ἁγίου πλησθήσεται ἔτι ἐκ κοιλίας μητρὸς ...
- 386
16
votes
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Why do France and Italy have so much lower beer consumption than their neighbors?
You are correct that in countries like France and Italy, beer consumption is replaced by much higher wine consumption.
Why? Because they can.
It's a cultural difference that has been developed ...
- 4,045
9
votes
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Do wines from grafted vine stock taste different from non-grafted?
Oh... something I am a real expert at! You are mixing your context when calling vines hybrids. There are three ways you can grow grapes for fruit. 100% original "own rooted" vines, grafted vines and ...
- 7,049
8
votes
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What is the difference between historical beer and 'modern' beer?
Not only has variety improved, but so has the technology and agronomy of brewing.
Malt variety, yield, and efficiency
Crop science has increased the size of barley kernels and the amount of starches ...
- 930
8
votes
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When the Trappist foundation was founded in 1997, were there breweries which didn't get the label although they succeeded to the conditions?
The explication to your question is multi-faceted and not so easy to understand if one is neither Roman Catholic nor understanding of the nuances of religious life (Trappist).
The Trappists were ...
- 10.7k
8
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Why are there so few "real" trappists and why are six from them from belgium
The Trappists are members of a Roman Catholic religious order. Trappists follow a rule of St. Benedict stating that they should "live by the work of their hands", which means many Trappist monasteries ...
- 644
8
votes
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When and why did wineries start diluting wine?
There are several factors at play here. If we think about how grapes were maintained hundreds or thousands of years ago, it was kind of a slapdash affair. In the beginning they probably just grabbed ...
- 7,049
8
votes
What is "Five Fruits" in this 1920s cocktail recipe?
Old advertisements show that it was made starting in 1900 in Portland, Maine. It consisted of a syrup made of pineapple, orange, lemon, raspberry, and strawberry juices with sugar, red food coloring, ...
- 81
7
votes
Why do steins have lids?
The steins with their lids seem to have come about as a result of the
bubonic plague to serve as sanitary measure and thus keep flies and other insects (fleas) out of the beer.
From about 1340 ...
- 10.7k
7
votes
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Has Prohibition ever worked?
Prohibition was an Era in American history from 1920-1933 - and - it failed miserably. If anything, it made alcohol more popular.
Prohibition, in general, also means to prohibit something via law ...
- 2,364
7
votes
Strong drink at the time of St John the Baptist
There were two types of drinks back in that time. Beer and Wine. Both hardly resembled what they are today. Beer was very weak, under 4% alcohol, while wine was probably in the normal range of 12-14%. ...
- 7,049
7
votes
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Can wine be made from all edible fruits?
Yes, wine can pretty much be made from all edible fruit, including tomatoes. But the reason we make wine out of grapes is three fold. Sugar, tannins and acids.
Sugar. Grapes produce the highest ...
- 7,049
7
votes
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Is Budweiser really the most expensive beer to brew?
The answer may be in the question you asked:
it’s brewed in enormous quantities
If you look at the aggregate cost, it is indeed almost certainly the most expensive beer in the world to brew and ...
- 4,045
6
votes
Strong drink at the time of St John the Baptist
Surely mead, honey wine, should be considered. Okay, I had to google this one: Wiki says that residual evidence has been found in northern Chinese pottery vessels dating from 6500–7000 BC, and in ...
- 541
6
votes
What wine did people drink during the Roman empire?
You have a lot of information right out of Wikipedia when searching for Ancient Rome + wine, and too much for it to be copied or gathered here. But here is some information I also learnt from History ...
- 211
6
votes
What kind of alcoholic beverages would've been common in a 1950s-1960s USA home?
What kind of alcoholic beverages would've been common in a 1950s-1960s USA home?
As far as beer goes in 1950, the top brewer was Jos. Schlitz Brewing Co., produced 3.4 million more barrels than the ...
- 10.7k
5
votes
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How did South Australia come to have smaller measures of beer?
In short, it's because of taxation.
In the Commonwealth of Australia's Parliamentary Debates of 1904 (p.8534), The Honourable Chris Watson (who went on to become the 3rd Prime Minister) made a ...
- 1,189
5
votes
Why do France and Italy have so much lower beer consumption than their neighbors?
It is curious to note that much to the chagrin of the Lowlanders some of the earliest beer history dates from the Roman empire. These types of beers did not use hops.
The hop beers dated from 8th ...
- 409
5
votes
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Was beer conceived to be a bitter drink?
So I'm going to assume you mean historically...
The Wikipedia page has a ton of good info but basically, beer was originally a very sweet beverage due to the wild yeast and under modified malt that ...
- 930
5
votes
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Is the saying true that drinking absinthe drives a person insane?
The answer is no; drinking traditionally prepared absinthe causes no more brain-damge or insanity than any other alcoholic beverage...
...absinthe languished in exile for nearly a century, a ...
- 1,680
5
votes
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What was the most common hard liquor of the Late Middle Ages?
I finally did a little digging. The Late Medieval Period is generally considered from 1300-1500. Whisky, did not become wide spread until the 1700s. The first recorded instance of Whisky production ...
- 7,049
5
votes
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When, where and why did the tradition of clinking glasses and saying "cheers" or "to your health" first start?
There is the usual great stuff relating to 'Toasting'. From wikipedia - which is normally correct.
I then had a quick look at snopes.com, they proclaim the following to be false:
Q: Why do people ...
- 2,009
5
votes
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What is a “Boston Particular?"
What is a “Boston Particular?”
First of all here is the exact quote in question:
It is almost certain that “the first Americans and Persians to interact in person” were not missionaries but “rum ...
- 10.7k
4
votes
Why are there so few "real" trappists and why are six from them from belgium
The Trappist designation is monitored by the International Trappist Association. Here are the criteria set forth by them for an abbey to maintain their Trappist label:
The beer must be brewed within ...
- 41
4
votes
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The King's Shilling
The origins of the King's Shilling seems to have appeared about the time of the War of 1812, because of the need for recruitment was so necessary due to the fact that the English were already at war ...
- 10.7k
4
votes
Does anyone here still use bitters as medicine? Which ones do you use and for what ailments?
I usually use either Jägdbitters (a Jägermeister-like bitters sold at Aldi) or my family's version of Bärenjäger (which I prepare at home - nope, it's not bitters, but it was also used historicaly for ...
- 41
4
votes
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Who made or makes spirits from poisonous Heracleum?
This book "Reise Um Die Erde Durch Nord-Asien und Die Beiden Oceane ..., Part 1, Volume 3 By Adolph Erman", available on googleBooks, which describes a trip to Russia in 1828-30 quotes yet another ...
- 160
4
votes
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Japanese beers historic evolution
What is the evolution of brewing beer in Japan?
Beer in Japan seems to have had its start in the 17th century during the Edo period when Dutch traders stationed at Dejima in Nagasaki opened a beer ...
- 10.7k
4
votes
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What is the strongest alcoholic drink that existed during the Middle Ages in Europe?
In the History and Taxonomy of Distilled Spirits There is ample evidence that distilled spirits were available during the time period you mentioned in a variety of places. We know that that Greek ...
- 7,049
4
votes
Is there a modern wine that is designed to resemble Noah's wine?
These guys aren't claiming that it's Noah's wine, but they are saying they are using the same methods that they used 8000 years ago to make wine and you can buy it in the Republic of Georgia. Is ...
- 7,049
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible