Having an interest in the beverage industry, I’ve been reading about the beginnings of the American soft drink industry that is warring on the teeth of the world. In contrast to pop, beer has no sugar. But, even some soft drinks have their beginnings from types of “beer” such as root beer and ginger ale/beer–which are now usually entirely non-alcoholic and the colas have their origins in a mixture of wine and cocaine (if the old formula would have stuck, we’d be talking about the hard drink industry–with hard drugs!). Interestingly, only one of the firsts was not invented/founded by pharmacists trying to make you think you’re going to be healthier drinking their stuff. Only one of them was made with the expressed intent of just having fun and drinking a sugar packed drink.
Moments from the History of American Soft Drinks.
June 2, 2008 at 7:39 am (History, Pop)
Tags: beer, Carbonated Beverage, Ginger Ale, Pop, Root Beer, Soda, Soft Drink, Wine
Monks and Beer.
March 25, 2008 at 7:39 am (History, beer)
Tags: American colonies, monastaries, small beer
“He who drinks beer sleeps well. He who sleeps well cannot sin. He who does not sin goes to heaven. Amen.” -Anonymous Monk
The first commercially sold beers were brewed by monks. Until then, people brewed their own beer at home or the neighborhood eatery brewed beer for their patrons who did not have a kitchen of their own. Beer was largely seen as something drunk with food (not to get drunk) and generally had a low alcohol content. Read the rest of this entry »
