The following is an encore presentation of everything everywhere daily.

In the very early days of the United States, the country was mostly made up of farmers.

They primarily ate the food which they grew and maybe

hunted to supplement their diet. They also drank. Alcohol. A lot of alcohol. In fact, the amount of

alcohol consumed by early Americans, on average,

might have been more than any other people in human history. Learn more about the

alcohol consumption habits of early Americans on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. When the very first Europeans arrived in the Americas, they brought with them alcohol.

Getting from Europe to America would take months and that meant sailing and that meant lots of alcohol in the ship.

Most ships didn't carry very much or any water with them. For example, when the

pilgrims set off for the New World, they brought with them more ale than water.

Despite the very strict religious beliefs of early American settlers.

Their religious beliefs didn't include abstaining from alcohol.

Far from it, they saw alcohol as natural and a gift from God.

Jesus both consumed wine as well as made it at the winning a cana. So long as you

consumed it in moderation, they had no problem with alcohol. The rationale for drinking

alcohol was that water wasn't considered safe.

This belief wasn't totally wrong.

Prior to the development of modern water purification methods, the simplest and easy way to

kill microbes in water was with alcohol. Straight water was almost

never consumed. One story is told about an Italian immigrant named Philip Massey

who caused a stir at a large dinner party in Philadelphia where he asked for a glass of water.

He recounted, quote, I perceived some confusion among the servants and the water did not arrive.

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