Random  | Best Random Tools

  • Louis Pasteur Studied Wine and Beer to Invent Pasteurization on Random Alcohol Profoundly Changed History

    (#15) Louis Pasteur Studied Wine and Beer to Invent Pasteurization

    Pasteurization has become synonymous with dairy products, but it was the harder stuff that pushed Louis Pasteur toward his most famous discovery. Pasteur’s original work as a chemist involved the study of fermentation and the souring of wine. It was Pasteur who proved that bacteria in liquids like beer and wine were the cause of spoilage.

    To counteract it, he tested the process of boiling liquids and then cooling them, a process now known as pasteurization. He completed his first successful test in 1862 and the world has been a safer place thanks to alcohol ever since. 

  • Wine Helped Scotland and France Build the Auld Alliance on Random Alcohol Profoundly Changed History

    (#12) Wine Helped Scotland and France Build the Auld Alliance

    In an effort to get out of the shadow of England, Scotland sought out France at the end of the 13th century to build the Auld Alliance. This partnership became one of the most important strategic alliances in Scotland’s history and wine helped make it happen. Wine figured heavily into the negotiation process, with France promising Scotland first pick of Bordeaux’s best wines.

    With the alliance cemented, Scotsmen got top notch wine in exchange for aid to the French military, including relief at the Battle of Agincourt and assisting Joan of Arc in Orleans. The nations worked together for many years to suppress English expansion and to make England jealous of Scotland’s superior wine cellars. 

  • Rum Kept the World's Most Powerful Navy Happy and Healthy for 300 Years on Random Alcohol Profoundly Changed History

    (#6) Rum Kept the World's Most Powerful Navy Happy and Healthy for 300 Years

    It wasn’t just pirates who had a taste for rum on the high seas. For more than 300 years, rum served as the main fuel of the British Navy. Beginning with England’s acquisition of Jamaica in 1655, sailors received a pint of rum as their daily ration. Sailors made sure the rum wasn’t diluted by adding gunpowder and setting it on fire, giving us the origin of the term “proof.” Rum didn’t just keep sailors safe from low morale; it also kept them safe from scurvy. When the higher-ups deemed rum too strong for duty in its purest form, Admiral Edward Vernon invented “grog,” a mixture of rum, water, lemon juice, and brown sugar.

    The vitamin C in the lemon juice actually helped fight scurvy, which gave the sailors more than enough reason to keep imbibing. 

  • George Washington and Other Early American Politicians Bought Votes with Booze on Random Alcohol Profoundly Changed History

    (#11) George Washington and Other Early American Politicians Bought Votes with Booze

    As a politician, it’s important to know what your constituents like. When it came to George Washington and his fellow Virginians, the answer was alcohol. Early in his career, Washington used all of his campaign funds to buy enough liquor to convince voters to elect him to the House of Burgesses in 1758. Perhaps if the American colonists didn’t have such a taste for the hard stuff, George would have lost his early election, faded into obscurity, and America would have missed out on electing one of it’s best presidents.

    This practice of exchanging liquor for votes carried on all the way until the 18th Amendment banned alcohol in 1920. Until then, you were just as likely to see a barroom brawl as you were a ballot on Voting Day. 

  • The Fight Over Alcohol Gave Us Everything Good and Bad About the Roaring '20s on Random Alcohol Profoundly Changed History

    (#16) The Fight Over Alcohol Gave Us Everything Good and Bad About the Roaring '20s

    The unintended consequences of prohibition ushered in some of the most romanticized figures of the 1920s: the bootlegger, the flapper, the gangster, the Untouchable Eliot Ness. When America went dry, the crime and chaos of the underground alcohol scene flourished. Social and sexual norms eased and people began to shed the stiff skin of the Victorian age.

    As the Great Depression hit, politicians were forced to understand that the legalization of alcohol meant the taxation of alcohol. 

  • Rum Bolstered the International Slave Trade on Random Alcohol Profoundly Changed History

    (#13) Rum Bolstered the International Slave Trade

    As much as alcohol contributed to history’s happy times, it also played a part in some of its darkest. After Colonial Americans learned how to make rum from molasses, rum distilleries became big business in New England. The West Indies overflowed with molasses as a result of the vast sugar plantations there. Both the West Indies and America used slaves to sustain their cash crops.

    From these roots, a triangular trade system formed: New England exchanged rum and slaves in Africa, slave traders shipped slaves from Africa to the West Indies through the Middle Passage, and the West Indies exchanged molasses and slaves with the American Colonists. This dark chapter of rum history flourished until the American government abolished the slave trade in 1807.

New Random Displays    Display All By Ranking

About This Tool

Alcohol is not only an important ingredient of edible wine but also an important material in the medical field. In ancient times, there were 3 main types of alcohol, beer made from grains, wine made from fruits such as grapes, and distilled spirits. It can be said that wine has existed since the beginning of human civilization. Therefore, wine is considered an important physical proof of human material culture. Alcohol has always played an important role in people's lives.

Do you want to know more about the history of alcohol? The random tool collates 16 times about alcohol profoundly changed history. You could use the tool to search for what you want to know.

Our data comes from Ranker, If you want to participate in the ranking of items displayed on this page, please click here.

Copyright © 2024 BestRandoms.com All rights reserved.