History of alcoholic drinks but would compound the situation by creating additional problems wherever it was implemented. Alcoholic beverages played an important role in the Thirteen Colonies from their early days. For example, the "Mayflower" shipped more beer than water when it departed for the New World in 1620. While this may seem strange viewed from the modern context, note that drinking wine and beer at that time was safer than drinking water - which was usually taken from sources also used to dispose of sewage and garbage. Experience showed that it was safer to drink alcohol than the typically polluted water in Europe.
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