This is Sunday, so it's only appropriate for me to focus on how  religion was largely responsible for the beginning of alcoholic refreshments .  Why monastic origins? They owned vast tracts of land to plant grapes, barley, etc. There is a long institutional memory. Teamwork was part of their daily task. Alcohol for much of history promoted health to kill pathogens.  Roman soldiers were given a daily allowance of wine, more to purify water than to get drunk.  Whiskey, herbal liquers and bitters were invented for medicinal reasons. Water was dangerous to drink in Europe, so beer was the only safe thirst-quenching drink. Then, of course, the  Eucharist . Some history: Of course, alcoholic abuse can be a serious problem, but it is not sinful to drink and make merry, responsibly.  Wine was invented 6000 years before the birth of Christ, probably in Babylonia, but Benedictine and Jesuit monks preserved viniculture in Europe.  The motivation had to do with Eucharist celebration, which req