# Are there area with no ancient tradition of making alcoholic beverages? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 26, 2006, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-area-with-no-ancient-tradition-of-making-alcoholic-beverages/341716 "2006-01-26T17:00:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ty\_Cobb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ee59a6/32.png) [@Ty\_Cobb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ty_Cobb)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2006, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-area-with-no-ancient-tradition-of-making-alcoholic-beverages/341716/1 "2006-01-26T17:00:53Z")
Asia, the Americas, Australia, Oceana … ? ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2006, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-area-with-no-ancient-tradition-of-making-alcoholic-beverages/341716/2 "2006-01-26T17:08:28Z")
How about North American Indians? I can’t think of any beverages originating with Plains Indians or Southwestern tribes or with Alaskan natives. ---
**Author:** ![BluePitbull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@BluePitbull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BluePitbull)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2006, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-area-with-no-ancient-tradition-of-making-alcoholic-beverages/341716/3 "2006-01-26T17:10:44Z")
> [@cher3](#): > > How about North American Indians? I can’t think of any beverages originating with Plains Indians or Southwestern tribes or with Alaskan natives. I would agree. I assume that the people of the Arctic circle would not have enough plant sugar for fermentation. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2006, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-area-with-no-ancient-tradition-of-making-alcoholic-beverages/341716/4 "2006-01-26T18:00:39Z")
Before European contact, it is my understanding that the Maori of New Zealand did not make alcoholic drinks. ---
**Author:** ![gaucho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@gaucho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaucho)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2006, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-area-with-no-ancient-tradition-of-making-alcoholic-beverages/341716/5 "2006-01-26T18:15:25Z")
I’ve read that, before contact with Europeans, the Eskimo were the only people with no tradition of psychoactive substances. ---
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2006, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-area-with-no-ancient-tradition-of-making-alcoholic-beverages/341716/6 "2006-01-26T19:31:32Z")
> [@gaucho](#): > > I’ve read that, before contact with Europeans, the Eskimo were the only people with no tradition of psychoactive substances. Well, when you’ve already got the Northern Lights… ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2006, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-area-with-no-ancient-tradition-of-making-alcoholic-beverages/341716/7 "2006-01-26T20:13:03Z")
What about Australian Aboriginals? A major problem today is that Aboriginals are very suseceptible to alcohol addiction because they have no genetic tolerance to alcohol IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![Ty\_Cobb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ee59a6/32.png) [@Ty\_Cobb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ty_Cobb)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2006, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-area-with-no-ancient-tradition-of-making-alcoholic-beverages/341716/8 "2006-01-26T20:27:31Z")
Yes, that’s what I want to know. Seems like the Europeans introduced “fire water” in North America. Is that true or did they have non-distilled wines and beers? ---
**Author:** ![Ty\_Cobb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ee59a6/32.png) [@Ty\_Cobb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ty_Cobb)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2006, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-area-with-no-ancient-tradition-of-making-alcoholic-beverages/341716/9 "2006-01-26T20:34:41Z")
Yes, that’s what I want to know. Seems like the Europeans introduced “fire water” in North America. Is that true or did they have non-distilled wines and beers? ---
**Author:** ![Agonist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@Agonist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agonist)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2006, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-area-with-no-ancient-tradition-of-making-alcoholic-beverages/341716/10 "2006-01-26T20:56:06Z")
You might want to research agriculture and alcohol together. I don’t have a cite, but I remember reading an article that claimed \*no \*society had ever invented agriculture and not \*also \*invented beer (or the local equivalent). The two go hand in hand, it seems. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2006, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-area-with-no-ancient-tradition-of-making-alcoholic-beverages/341716/11 "2006-01-26T21:16:51Z")
> [@Ty Cobb](#): > > Yes, that’s what I want to know. Seems like the Europeans introduced “fire water” in North America. Is that true or did they have non-distilled wines and beers? According to [this site](http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/naind/html/na_001100_alcoholandin.htm), from the Encyclopedia of North American Indians, the Indians of eastern North America did not use alcohol before the arrival of Europeans. Indians in the southwest, and those in Central and South America, fermented plants to make weak beers. Even today Indians in Panama make a traditional beverage called _chicha fuerte_ (“strong drink”) usually fermented from corn, which is consumed during ceremonies and fiestas. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2006, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-area-with-no-ancient-tradition-of-making-alcoholic-beverages/341716/12 "2006-01-27T01:26:57Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > What about Australian Aboriginals? A major problem today is that Aboriginals are very suseceptible to alcohol addiction because they have no genetic tolerance to alcohol IIRC. I have read several times that mead (meaning fermented honey drink) was known to at least some Australian Aboriginal groups but have seen nothing in the way of a substantive cite. ---
**Author:** ![CateAyo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@CateAyo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CateAyo)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2006, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-area-with-no-ancient-tradition-of-making-alcoholic-beverages/341716/13 "2006-01-27T01:46:59Z")
I do not know about all people indigenous to North America, but I do know that many of our tribes and Nations made beers, wines, purgatives introxicants and hallucinogens. Not a bad idea to ask an “Indian” when one has an “Indian” question. There are a few of us on the boards…Hey, maybe we should start “Ask the NDN” thread! ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2006, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-area-with-no-ancient-tradition-of-making-alcoholic-beverages/341716/14 "2006-01-27T03:21:15Z")
Wales? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2006, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-area-with-no-ancient-tradition-of-making-alcoholic-beverages/341716/15 "2006-01-27T03:31:15Z")
> [@CateAyo](#): > > Not a bad idea to ask an “Indian” when one has an “Indian” question. There are a few of us on the boards…Hey, maybe we should start “Ask the NDN” thread! Do you have a good recipe for curry? ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2006, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-area-with-no-ancient-tradition-of-making-alcoholic-beverages/341716/16 "2006-01-27T04:45:44Z")
> [@Beware of Doug](#): > > Wales? Why not Wales, for goodness sake? No beer, cider, mead, meddyglyn/metheglyn 😕 ---
**Author:** ![CateAyo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@CateAyo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CateAyo)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-area-with-no-ancient-tradition-of-making-alcoholic-beverages/341716/17 "2006-01-28T23:33:57Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Do you have a good recipe for curry? ahhh…the wit for which you are known. No. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2006, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-area-with-no-ancient-tradition-of-making-alcoholic-beverages/341716/18 "2006-01-29T00:18:48Z")
I can’t understand how alcohol would not be discovered, it is so simple, store something to long and it invents itself. Perhaps I can give the eskimos a pass as the low temps may have prevented this.