Alcohol Basics

"Alcohol is both a beverage providing some sustenance and a drug. For thousands of years, alcohol has been consumed in a medicinal, celebratory, and ritualistic manner. It is drunk in just about every country and often in excessive amounts. Alcohol can be made from a variety of different starch foods through the process called fermentation. Fermentation of a starchy food such as barley or wheat can produce ethanol and CO2, which makes up what is commonly known as beer. The Native Hawaiians distilled a mash of fermented ti roots in iron try-pots pre-colonization in the 1700s. This form of alcohol was called “Okolehao.” This alcoholic beverage, more commonly known today as “moonshine,” is still made locally in the islands today. Alcohol is a psychoactive drug. A psychoactive drug is any substance that crosses the blood-brain barrier, primarily affecting the functioning of the brain, be it altering mood, thinking, memory, motor control, or behavior. Alcohols in chemistry refer to a group of similar organic compounds, but in beverages the only alcohol consumed is ethanol."