ABSTRACT
Before we pay too much attention to the great variety of alcohol beverages that people drink, it is important that we get some better idea of just what is meant by a drink, or beverage alcohol, or alcoholic beverages. The category is vast, with different drinks having very different meanings and uses and with people reacting very differently to them in various contexts throughout the world. Let us start from the premise that a drink is any beverage that contains enough ethanol (or alcohol) to be psychoactive, that is, to affect the mind if taken in sufficient quantity. Virtually any fruit juice, like most vegetables, contains some alcohol, but so little that one could fill one’s stomach before feeling it. Even within such a broad definition, there is a host of different drinks around the world that could command our attention.
