This seems like an example of black and white thinking. Did they never drink water? beer? wine? Of course not. A better question - under what circumstances did they prefer beer? wine? cider? water? And later on tea? coffee? Etc?
The great medieval water myth (2013)
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Re: The great medieval water myth (2013)
#22The relevance of beer with regard to water conservation and safe consumption is _not_ because the alcohol sterilizes the fluid. It's because successfully brewed and unfiltered beer forms a relatively stable ecosystem of unproblematic yeasts and lactic acid bacteria which prevent other unsafe micro organisms to take over and multiply. The hop is actually contributing to chemical conservation, though.
Also, beer production started with boiling the water. So in a sense you sterilize the water and the beer helped preserve it for storage.
Watering down wine was also common in the era though, and the mechanism there implies the alcohol and acidity of the wine acted as a minor sterilizer.
Re: The great medieval water myth (2013)
#23Something to ponder
Beer and wine, watered down, are medieval forms of soft drinks. People simply got tired of just drinking boring water. On top of that, you got a little buzz or it made you feel good like a soft drink might
Re: The great medieval water myth (2013)
#24[dead]
Re: The great medieval water myth (2013)
#25Was there ever a serious belief that nobody drank water? That seems a bit much. I can think of a fiction book that rather heavily pushed the idea, but it seems like a few minutes of thought would show that there's no way to produce/transport/store enough beer-type liquid for people working on a farm. Conversely, an aristocrat/noble who travelled to a different continent might conceivably attempt to only drink beers/e…
Interestingly enough this is my first time hearing about this whole drinking alcohol theory and its whimsical
Re: The great medieval water myth (2013)
#26I always thought it quite weird that somehow by virtue of being in beer, that the water somehow becomes sterilised. If you've ever tried home brewing, you'll know that non-sterile conditions lead to foul rancid filth due to all the bacteria etc. I'd find it odd if the people then knew to sterlise the water and equipment to make beer, but then not do the same to drink it.
The idea is by making it beer you keep safe water safe for longer. It doesn't sound particularly weird to me (I don't know if it was really a common practice in medieval Europe.)
Before hopping and such (didn't become widespread until the 1200-1400s) beer didn't really last that long. Without refrigeration, modern bottling and almost sterile conditions in modern factories beer will go bad very fast.
Re: The great medieval water myth (2013)
#27I always assumed that it was more a case of behavior selection:
Yes, people did drink water frequently, but those societies and groups that regularly consumed fermented drinks like wine or beer, had on average a lower chance of consuming polluted water.
As a result behavior that favored drinking slightly alcoholic drinks became more widespread by selection.
This doesn’t require that people actually knew their water sources were polluted.
Re: The great medieval water myth (2013)
#28This isn't really a slam dunk debunking. I get that medieval people knew about good and bad water, and that they had other reasons to prefer small drinks. But it doesn't change the facts that: - Medieval people DID drink constantly (mostly in the form of small drinks) - SOME medieval didn't have access to consistently good water. - Even good water supplies can be tainted There are cases were it was noted that a disea…
Yeah, the article text seems to suggest that beer and wine are almost never drank in preference to water (though it never quite comes out and says that explicitly). But all the quotations put water, at best, as just a reasonable competitor, not a clear winner.
Re: The great medieval water myth (2013)
#29I always assumed that it was more a case of behavior selection: Yes, people did drink water frequently, but those societies and groups that regularly consumed fermented drinks like wine or beer, had on average a lower chance of consuming polluted water. As a result behavior that favored drinking slightly alcoholic drinks became more widespread by selection. This doesn’t require that people actually knew their water s…
This is basically the argument for respecting and following traditions even if nobody can explain why they're done.
Re: The great medieval water myth (2013)
#30This isn't really a slam dunk debunking. I get that medieval people knew about good and bad water, and that they had other reasons to prefer small drinks. But it doesn't change the facts that: - Medieval people DID drink constantly (mostly in the form of small drinks) - SOME medieval didn't have access to consistently good water. - Even good water supplies can be tainted There are cases were it was noted that a disea…
The myth often states that water was unsafe to drink, so they drank beer. Suggesting water was never drank. Showing that water was regularly consumed does debunk the myth even if the truth is perhaps in the middle.