Found an interesting book entitled, “Drinkwater: A Sobering Tale About A Medieval Knight” by Otto Scamfer.  The concept is fascinating although the book reviews are not glowing.

Nevertheless, the topic of a medieval drunk made for an interesting search on the Internet and came across: “History of Alcohol and Drinking around the World.” It’s not a long essay, and worth taking a look.  The Neolithic period (cir. 10,000 B.C.) had it’s Stone Age beer and further along into more modern times, the industrial age caused pressure to sober up:

“While drunkenness was still an accepted part of life in the eighteenth century (Austin, 1985, p. xxv), the nineteenth century would bring a change in attitudes as a result of increasing industrialization and the need for a reliable and punctual work force (Porter, 1990, p. xii). Self-discipline was needed in place of self-expression, and task orientation had to replace relaxed conviviality. Drunkenness would come to be defined as a threat to industrial efficiency and growth.”