Why Did People Drink Alcohol?

The Ananya has asked, why did people drink alcohol originally? Do we have any evidence that gives us a suggestion of that? In terms of the archaeological evidence, it's obviously very difficult to fit. A lot of this consumption does seem to relate to ritualised sociability and kind of ritualised worship. You still have those kind of factors as a reason for consumption. Alcohol is a hugely important feature of diet for nutrition and for calories until the 19th century.