Nightcap (drink) Nightcap (drink) A nightcap is a drink taken shortly before bedtime. For example, a small alcoholic drink or glass of warm milk can supposedly promote a good night's sleep. Traditional nightcaps include brandy, bourbon, and cream-based liqueurs such as Irish cream. Wine and beer can also function as nightcaps. In folk medicine, consuming a nightcap is for the purpose of inducing sleep. Alcohol is not recommended by many doctors as a sleep aid because it may interfere with sleep quality. But, in low doses, alcohol has sleep-promoting benefits, and some popular sleep medicines include 10% alcohol, although the effects of
Barley The preparatory "kykeon" or mixed drink of the initiates, prepared from barley and herbs, referred in the Homeric hymn to Demeter, whose name some scholars believe meant "Barley-mother". The practice was to dry the barley groats and roast them before preparing the porridge, according to Pliny the Elder's "Natural History" (xviii.72). This produces malt that soon ferments and becomes slightly alcoholic. Pliny also noted barley was a special food of gladiators known as "hordearii", "barley-eaters". However, by Roman times, he added that wheat had replaced barley as a staple. Tibetan barley has been a staple food in Tibetan cuisine since