Re: Pleasure pathways...
Abundant Clean safe drinking Water, is historically speaking, a new thing ......
In Australia, Wheat/Barley etc, falls off trucks, out of fields, gathers in drainage ditches, if they have water, alcohol will be produced, the water hole/ditch will fill with drunk/drowned dead birds, and other wildlife ...
I think this happen before humans, naturally, however we learned to use it, the brewing process, helps purify the water content a little, so it was better than drinking from a stream/creek/river which may be a sewer ....
I seem to remember some TimeTeam, regarding this, that their where 3 batches of the mash, 1st Beer, 2nd Dinner Ale, 3rd Kids beer, Cause nobody could drink the water, without some risk ....We managed the risk, with Alcoholism ....