Our ancestors likely discovered fermentation tens of thousands of years ago, through ripe fruits covered by yeast. Widely available in nature, yeast is the microorganism responsible for turning sugar into alcohol. It has been around for hundreds of millions of years. Mankind’s very first binge drinking was likely a banquet of ripe fruits. Or perhaps it was [**honey**](https://moonshineuniversity.com/3-surprising-things-you-didnt-know-about-mead/#:~:text=Mead%20is%20the%20oldest%20known,hundreds%2C%20but%20thousands%20of%20years.)? Picture a honeycomb that has fallen into a trunk during a rainstorm. Add enough water to the mix, and your honey has now started to turn into mead. Experts now believe we could have made [**mead** ](https://www.batchmead.com/blogs/batch/mead-a-history)as early as 20,000 years ago.

In any case, our ancestors would probably have gone to great lengths to seek out the intoxicating effects of [**alcohol**](https://www.amazon.ca/Drunk-Sipped-Danced-Stumbled-Civilization/dp/0316453382), just as we do today in our drug-saturated society (Think of your morning coffee, your smoke break, and your after-hours drinks) In the days of shamans, before what we now call the agricultural revolution, small groups of people organized themselves around some kind of religious guide – or shaman – who communicated with the spirit world. [**Psychedelics** ](https://letempsdunebiere.ca/bacchus-god-of-psychedelics/)could certainly have helped establish the transmission.

https://letempsdunebiere.ca/who-invented-beer/