Quote:
Originally Posted by Lotrelf
Another question that has never been answered to me. What about wine? Wine contains alcohol. Did the Hobbits, Dwarves and Men really drink "alcohol"? Alcohol is prepared chemically, in Labs. Did people in Middle-Earth prepare it chemically? How?
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Alcoholic drinks definitely were known and imbibed in Middle-earth. In
The Hobbit, the butler and chief guard of the Wood-elves had enough wine to make them pass out, allowing Bilbo and the Dwarves to escape.
In
FOTR, it was noted that in the aftermath of Bilbo's party, wheelbarrows had to be used to remove guests that had "inadvertently remained behind", and when Frodo jumped onto the table at the Prancing Pony in Bree, it was surmised that he was drunk. In
The Two Towers Faramir gave wine to Frodo and Sam, and drank it in Minas Tirith himself.
Why would it take a laboratory to produce ethyl alcohol? Drinks containing it have been made by various processes for thousands of years in our world. There are still peoples that utilize traditional methods even today. Why should it be any different in Tolkien's world?