DrinksGiving is celebrated the night before Thanksgiving, which falls on November 27th this year, Did you know DrinksGiving is the ultimate homecoming celebration? Local bars are packed as adults returning home for Thanksgiving weekend meet up with friends and family and catch up over drinks and laughter. It’s like a Springsteen song plays out in real life every year. Remember, drink responsibly and assign someone to be D.D. (designated drinker if you‘re driver is drinking. Thank god for Lyft and Uber!
Drinksgiving may have an unofficial history but if you’re doing it right nothing gets recorded (or remembered for that matter). However, the history of Alcohol is something we can talk about. Did you know the world’s oldest Brewery was discovered in 2018 in a prehistoric burial site in a Cave near Haifa in Israel.
Researchers found residue of 13,000 year-old Beer that they believe might have been used to honor the dead. The traces of Wheat and Barley based Alcohol were found in stone mortars carved into the Cave floor. It had originally been thought that Beer making originated in Babylon 5000 years ago, however this new discovery precedes that by about 8000 years!
Evidence of Alcoholic beverages has also been found dating from 5,400-5,000 BCE in Hajji, Firuz Tepe in Iran, 3000 BCE in Babylon, 2000 BCE in pre-Hispanic Mexico, and 1500 BCE in Sudan. According to Guinness, the earliest firm evidence of Wine production dates back to 6000 BCE in Georgia.
Wine was consumed in Classical Greece for breakfast or at Symposia, and in the 1st Century BCE it was part of the diet of most Roman citizens. Both the Greeks and Romans generally drank diluted Wine, which varied between being one part Wine and one part Water to one part Wine and four parts Water.
The medicinal use of Alcohol was mentioned in Sumerian and Egyptian texts dating back to about 2100 BCE. The Hebrew Bible recommends giving Alcoholic drinks to those who are dying or depressed so that they can forget their misery.
In Europe during the Middle Ages, Beer (of very low strength) was an everyday drink for all classes and ages of people. A document from the time mentions Nuns having an allowance of six pints of Ale each day. Cider and Pomace Wine were generally widely available and Grape Wine was the prerogative of the higher class. This is all a long winded way of saying that grabbing Beers with your buds is about as ancient a tradition as there is.
DrinksGiving Activities
Visit that Bar you were too young to drink at growing up at because you’re old enough now. You won’t even get carded. Gather around the adult hang out spot, now that you’re all officially adults yourself. Talk about old times, the present, and the future as you think to yourself, “Man. Was high school really that long ago?”
If you not going to your hometown for the holidays there is no worries, because home is where the heart is. And your heart is currently in your kitchen as you make homemade Cocktails for your friends. Show off your Bartending skills and experiment with whatever is in your fridge. Somehow, last minute fridge treasure hunt drinks are always the best drinks.
Let’s be honest, we haven’t gone this crazy since college, so make sure you have a few bottles of Water on standby to keep your wits about you. Everyone enjoys a social drinking game, even the one friend who doesn’t drink but has a cup of Soda to play along.
Why We Love DrinksGiving
For a lot of us its probably been a year or two since we’ve last seen our childhood friends because life gets in the way and adulting takes up all of our time. Not to mention the cost of travel today is the time to catch up in person, share our respective tales of responsibility, and recollect on childhood shenanigans.
Everyone loves there loves there families but sometimes we need a moment to breathe and decompress before we spend an entire day with a large amount of family at a time. And who better to commiserate with than the friends who grew up with us?
If your like me then you can never get enough holiday cheer, especially when there’s a day specifically meant for us to have fun with our friends if you have the means today then you should take the opportunity to get out there and embrace the holiday spirit!
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
