Alcoholic drinks in China Cuisine, Fermented Beverages, and Health at the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia. Professor McGovern explains: “The earliest chemically confirmed alcoholic beverage in the world was discovered at Jiahu in the Yellow River Valley of China (Henan province), ca. 7000-6600 B.C. (Early Neolithic Period). It was an extreme fermented beverage made of wild grapes (the earliest attested use), hawthorn, rice, and honey.” And, Professor McGovern continues: “The Jiahu discovery illustrates how you should never give up hope in finding chemical evidence for a fermented beverage from the Palaeolithic period. Research very often has big surprises in store. You might think,
Sura (alcoholic drink) Sura (alcoholic drink) Surāh (Sanskrit and Pāli; Devanāgarī: सुरा) is a strong distilled alcoholic drink. It is referred to as an anaesthetic by Suśruta (a surgeon in India circa 400 BCE). Other ancient medical authorities also mention it; Charaka referred to making a woman with a miscarriage senseless to pain by administering alcoholic drinks like "surā", "sīdhu", "ariṣṭa", "madhu", "madirā" or "āsava". The method for preparation appears in the Atharvaveda in the Kandas 5 and 8. In Buddhist texts "surāh" is mentioned as one of intoxicating drinks, along with (Pali) "meraya" (Sanskrit "maireya", a drink made with sugar cane and