This Is The World's Oldest Alcoholic Beverage, According To Historians

Humans have been making and enjoying alcoholic beverages for centuries, from cacao wine evidenced to have been made from 1,400 B.C. in Mesoamerica, Honduras, to Ancient Egyptian herbal wine dating back to 3,150 B.C. in Abydos, Upper Egypt. But the oldest alcoholic beverage in the world, according to historians who have found definitive proof, is a fermented beverage made from honey, rice, hawthorn fruit, and possibly with grapes. This dates back to the 7th millennium — between 7,000 and 6,600 B.C. — in the Jiahu Neolithic Village in China's Henan Province.

In Scandinavia (think Vikings), Teutonic Europe, Greece, and the Middle Ages, it was called mead, and has been known as "the nectar of the gods." We love this description because, interestingly, it is believed that mead actually naturally made itself before humans discovered it and started tinkering with adding herbs and spices to it. When bees left a hive, the sun would cause the beeswax to melt, basically encasing the remaining honey inside the hive. 

Raw honey is produced by bees, and contains natural yeast and enzymes that, when interacting with water (in this case, from the rain), and heat (from the sun), start to ferment. And there you have it — nature's mead. While these three ingredients formed the basis of mead, this kind of mead isn't really drinkable, which is where humans stepped in and turned what the bees left behind into what is still, to this day, a globally enjoyed alcoholic beverage.

Historians discovered traces of mead in ancient Chinese pottery vessels in archaeological digs. It is believed that the naturally-fermented mead was tasted by people in early times, and around 7,000 B.C., the Chinese replicated it using the water and honey base, then added rice and fruit. The ancient Greeks, meanwhile, believed mead to be dew that the gods sent from heaven that was then collected by honeybees, which were believed to be messengers of the gods.

Mead thus became revered for holding magical powers and immortality, and it was often used in Greek ceremonies. In fact, mead was believed to be the drink of choice for Aristotle somewhere between 384 and 322 B.C. — he even mentioned it in his book, "Meteorologica." In the 1st century B.C., mead was believed to have been deeply rooted in ancient Rome, being seen as a status symbol for the upper class, and enjoyed as a luxury. It was known as mulsum, or honey wine, and included spices like cinnamon, pepper, and cloves.

But taking it back even further, some scholars believe that mead was discovered even before then, around 20,000 B.C. in Africa. The story goes that locals in an African bush tribe noticed bears looking a little tipsy after drinking water from puddles into which old beehives had fallen. Curious about this effect, they allegedly sampled the water themselves, and so mead was discovered. Nonetheless, mead fell out of popularity in the 16th century, though it could still make a comeback as an eco-conscious libation.