You might like an alcoholic drink or two at night, but did you know that alcohol was on its way to extinction in the 1920s? Or that it serves many more purposes other than booze, and do you know how many millions of bubbles there are in just one champagne bottle? Let’s dive into 10 of these interesting facts about alcohol you didn’t know about yet!

#1. Native American civilizations created their own alcoholic beverages long before Columbus arrived. They used corn, grapes and apples to create the fermented beverages called “chicha.” How inventive!

#2. Alcohol is actually ethanol, or ethyl alcohol. It is created through a fermentation process using wheat, sugar cane, sugar beets and other raw materials.

#3. In 1920 there was a US law that prohibited any manufacturing, selling, importing and exporting of intoxicating liquors. However this law boosted the illegal alcohol trade which then boomed and flourished by 1933, leading to the cancellation of the law after all (lucky for us).

#4. Alcohol serves different purposes, far more than just creating booze, ranging from being a solvent for lotions or food colorants, to cosmetics, medicines and disinfection gels. The average alcohol supplier therefore delivers alcohol to companies for all these various applications.

#5. The cosmopolitan cocktail is one of the most popular cocktails around the world. This beverage consists of vodka, triple sec, lime juice and cranberry and is much loved by many people. 

#6. Alongside water, tea and coffee, beer is one of the most popular beverages around the world. In the Czech Republic people drink the highest number of liters of beer per person: 142.4 liters per year!

#7. The pressure in a champagne bottle is 90 PSI, being 3 times more intense than your car tire. It contains 49 million bubbles too! Is it any wonder that people hold their breaths before a champagne bottle is opened? 

#8. It only takes 6 minutes until the brain starts to react to alcohol. Better slow down your drinking speed!

#9. Milkshakes used to contain alcohol. Between 1880 and 1930, the ‘milkshake’ was an alcoholic whiskey drink, described as a ‘sturdy, healthful eggnog type of drink’. It was both a tonic and a treat!

#10. Red, red wine….. to make a bottle of delicious red wine, one needs around 600 grapes! Red wines also have a higher alcohol content than their white siblings.