Help with a sci-fi novel passage

Someone else just asked me that same question a few days ago. Well, here's a website showing all the non-alcoholic beverages of the middle ages. It's a start for your research. Hope it helps! Good luck!

http://forgottensea.org/medievalbrewers/noalcohol.html

Also, there was "mulled wine" which dates back to medieval times, when it was considered to be a very healthy beverage. The word "mulled" simply means heated and spiced.



Edited by morticia

In ancient and medieval times alcoholic drinks were preferred because they were antiseptic and thus didn't contain the many waterborn diseases, parasites etc...  Fresh milk was too valuable to drink and, in many places, unboiled water was simply too dangerous to drink.

Most people in Western Europe drunk 'small beer' or similar.  This was just a weak beer (no added source od sugar and no secondary fewrmentation) but the boiling, fermentation etc killed the bacteria and parasites.  In the Mediterranian regions wine and water (cheap local wines that were heavy and resinous mixed with water) or 'vinegar' (sour wine mixed with water) were drunk.

Historical records show very high consumption of alcoholic drinks throughout the period..