<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 11.00.9600.16521"></HEAD>
<BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #000000"
bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 rightMargin=7 topMargin=7><FONT id=role_document
color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10">
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2
face=Arial>From: Zev Sero <zev@sero.name><BR><BR>>>It's
inconceivable that yeast became *less* hardy over the past 2000 years.<BR>If the
yeasts common before modern breeding projects used to die at around<BR>12-13%
alcohol, theirs can't have lasted any longer. So we know their
wine<BR>can't have been any stronger than that. That their wines were
undrinkable<BR>without dilution was mostly because even their "good" wines were
half vinegar.<BR><BR>But part of it was simply that they regarded an 12-13%
alcohol as too strong,<BR>something only a barbarian would drink, even if it
tasted good; they *preferred*<BR>to drink their wine at beer strength.
Spirits would have been beyond their<BR>comprehension
altogether.<<<BR><BR>-- <BR>Zev
Sero
<BR><BR></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>>>>>></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Kohanim were not allowed to drink "yayin" or "sheichar" -- wine or
intoxicating liquor -- when doing the avodah. It could be that yayin is
only grape wine while sheichar is beer and/or wine made from other fruits or
honey, but it could also be that sheichar would include spirits.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff></FONT><BR><FONT color=#0000ff><STRONG>--Toby
Katz</STRONG></FONT><FONT lang=0 color=#ffffff size=2 face=Arial
FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><BR><STRONG>..</STRONG></FONT><FONT lang=0
color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><BR><STRONG>=============</STRONG><BR><BR><BR>-------------------------------------------------------------------</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT
lang=0 color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2
face=Arial><BR></FONT> </BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>