Who invented fizzy drinks?

[Hemlock]

After a big burp over a beer this evening, I couldn’t help wondering - where did the idea of fizzy drinks start? Fermented drinks like beer would not have been fizzy in ancient times, because they brewed the stuff in barrels and slurped it down without bottling it. I don’t think mineral waters like Perrier come out of the ground already fizzy - they add CO2 later. You can make a drink fizzy by adding a mix of acid and alkali (eg citric acid and sodium bicarbonate, as in Alka-Seltza), but I’ve never heard of ancient gourmands doing that for the joy of imbibing a bubbly concoction. The monk Perignon, who invented fizzy champagne in the 17th century, is the earliest I’ve heard of. And even then, no-one seems to have shown any interest in producing other fizzy drinks - orange pop, etc - until the 19th century when soda, Coke, etc hit the scene.

Had I not been drinking a burp-inducing, alcoholic beverage, I wouldn’t be asking…

[BMalion]

Monks.

From here:

These early sparkling wines were the result of an accident. Most ‘vin gris’ in France was drunk young; but when shipped abroad in cask, the warm spring weather frequently set off a secondary fermentation, still underway when the wines arrived. Through trade with Spain and Portugal, the cork stopper was already in common use in England for ales, an advantage the landlocked provinces of France did not yet enjoy. These delicate new wines were bottled immediately upon their arrival, and retained, in more or less haphazard fashion a lively sparkle. The phenomenon aroused considerable academic and commercial interest on the part of the Champenois.

[Exapno_Mapcase]

@Hemlock

I don’t think mineral waters like Perrier come out of the ground already fizzy - they add CO2 later.

Yes, they do and yes, they do. From the Perrier site:

Is Perrier naturally carbonated?

One of Perrier’s most distinguishing attributes is its carbonation, which comes from a naturally occurring source found deep beneath the spring. This begins as volcanic gases, trapped within the geologic strata. Originally, these natural gases met and mingled together with the spring underground, rising at a constant pressure and temperature (60 degrees Fahrenheit). Up through the last century, in fact, they formed a cool, bubbling pool (“Les Bouillens”) in which locals and health-seekers often bathed.

A desire for consistency, plus Perrier’s growing public demand as an international beverage, led French scientists to devise a more efficient means to capture the water’s perfect balance of minerals and carbonation in the bottling process. Both the water and natural carbonic gas are now captured independently. They come from isolated points at different depths, within the same geologic formation. Before they come together for bottling, a filter is used to remove any natural impurities in the gas.

Once combined in the bottling process, the level of carbonation found in a Perrier bottle is exactly as it is at the spring.

[RealityChuck]

Champagne and Perrier are both naturally carbonated. I’ve drunk mineral water from Saratoga Springs stright from the spring; it, too, is carbonated.

Artificial carbonation (like in soft drinks) was invented by Joseph Priestley in 1767, and seems to have first been used in a beverage in 1807 when the first seltzer water was bottled.

[Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus]

Why would beer not be naturually sparkling? The carbon dioxide is a natural by-product of fermentation. Having said that, though, I have to admit I don’t know why beer would have bubbles and most wine not.

[Dr.Lao]

@Spectre of Pithecanthropus

Why would beer not be naturually sparkling?

Because, unless you put beer into airtight containers, the CO2 goes off into the atmosphere. Beer was traditionally brewed and drunk from the barrel, and therefore flat. It wasn’t until the innovation of cork-stoppered bottles did beer become carbonated. According the Harold McGee in On Food and Cooking:

Sometime around 1600, it was discovered that ale kept in a corked bottle would become sparkling…by 1700 glass-bottled beer sealed with a cork and thread had become popular, just as champagne had during the same period, but both were largely novelties. Most beer was drunk flat, or close to it, from barrels. With the increasing development of the airtight kegs, of carbonation (around 1900), and the increasing tendancy to drink beer at home instead of at the tavern, bubbling beer has become the rule. (p 468)