For centuries people have gathered to cultivate community over beverages. In the Middle Ages ale-houses and taverns dotted the landscape of Europe. These often raucous establishments offered a home-away from home for travelers, townspeople, and regular patrons. The most common of beverages was beer, a safe alternative to often polluted drinking water, as the fermentation process and presence of alcohol diminished potential water-borne illnesses - something all too common in the squalid conditions of Europe in the Middle Ages. The sense of community that developed at such establishments was surely varied and most likely of lesser importance in a day and age when rural communities were closer-knit and religious rituals and ceremonies brought the local community together on a regular basis.

Across the world in Africa, Asia, and the “New World” of the Americas, local populations surely gathered around fermented beverages, be they wine, hard cider, mead, sake, chicha, mosato, and others......