CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study.
An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol (commonly called alcohol), also called ethylalcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol or drinking alcohol. It is a volatile flammable colorless liquid. It is a powerful psychoactive drug and one of the oldest recreational drugs. It is best known as the type of alcohol found in alcohol beverages and thermometer. In common usage, it is often referred to simply as alcohol or spirit (Brain and Allan, 2005).
Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes, beer, wines and spirits. They are legally consumed in most countries and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production and consumption. In particular, such laws specify the minimum age at which a person may legally buy or drink the minimum age varies between 16 and 25 years, depending upon the country and the type of drink. Most nations set it at 18 years of age. Alcohol beverages are valued on account of their flavour and their stimulating effect and hardly at all as a source of energy; nevertheless, it is worth nothing that the energy value of dry wine is about equal to that of milk. The three classes of alcoholic beverages are all made from carbohydrate materials by fermentation and their particular ingredient used and the way in which it is processed chiefly determines the character of the drink. The starting material used depends upon the product required. For example whisky is made from grain, Rum from molasses, wine from grapes, beer from malt and cider from apples (Morris Jacobs, 2009). The production and consumption of alcohols occurs in most cultures of the world, from hunter gatherer people to nation states.