The alcohol word has its origin in the Arabian language - the "al" article and the "cohol" word - meaning a subtle thing.

When we talk about alcohol, we mean the ethylic alcohol. The ethylic alcoholo formula is C2H5OH.
Ethylic alcohol's structure:

cozmase (the beer yeast metabolism product) is present.

It is interesting to analyze the alcohol's function related to the beer yeast. The beer yeast has different enemies like the mould and other glucofag micro-organisms, and uses alcohol to kill them. This is the reason why alcoholic drinks resulted from a natural fermentation process, do no exceed more than 15% alcoholic density. If this density is to high, the micro-organsims that produce it die.
When fermentation products are distilated, the result is a higher density alcoholic drinks.

The alcohol can also be synthetically produced through a acetic aldehyde's catalytic hydrogenation or ethylene's hydration. The synthetic alcohol is used in chemical, pharmaceutic and food industry.

Alcohol can result in nature without human intervention. According to an African documentary film, there are few exotic fruits that once they fall down the tree, they start fermenting. Those animals that eat these fermented fruits, display obvious signs of drunkness.

Maybe, humans descovered the alcohol the same way. However, there is a thousand years distance between the moment when humans have descovered the alcohol and the moment when they start producing and consuming alcohol.

There are some sings that Cro-Magnon man (starting with 40,000 b.c.) knew how to prepare some fermentation drinks.

Similar fermentation drinks were deliberately produced using water with honey (hydromel), barley or mare milk during Mesolithic (between year 10.000 and 5.000 b.c.) at the beginning of the agriculture movement. This drinks were used as aliments, gods tributes or during magic rituals.

The oldest historical documents that mention alcoholic drinks dates from almost 6.000 years ago. In old manuscripts from Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, Greece and even in Bible, there are evidences of the alcohol use and alcohol consumption abuse.

The alcohol, as an ingredient, was produced later around the year 1.000 when the distillation technique was invented. This proves that alcoholic drinks were produced starting with the Middle Ages. Since then, the alcohol is also used as a solvent.

We can conclude that alcohol was initially used to reduce the antients fear in front of nature's forces and life's incertitude, and to overcome the interpersonal contact barriers. It seams that alcoholism was not a major problem during antient years, like it became during the last centuries and in present.

I think is worthy to ask ourselfs which are the conditions that lead to an increased and widespread alcohol consumption amoung the members from our society.