>>109
It's an overly simple hypothesis; I'd say that's mostly not right. But it's not completely wrong, either, as long as you mostly stick to Western cultures.

Admonitions against intoxication are perhaps older than writing but noticeably a minority opinion in many times and places. But it seems it wasn't super necessary to harp on it all that often, and so you get thinkers like Aristotle who aren't fans, and some Old Testament hard-asses, but for much of antiquity, getting crunk was usually limited to special occasions with religious meaning or something only the rich could afford. Though there were notable exceptions like the Dionysian cult, for example.

The bulk of ancient Greeks and Romans seem to have diluted their wine and practiced moderation for the most part. Some of the most temperate people of Western civilization, according to people who don't cite sources. Romans also, y'know, had aqueducts; relatively clean water. Even in medieval and early modern times the alcoholic drinks people had "instead of" water were really tame.

Of course in the Far East they used a lot of boiled water products, and while most interpretations of Islam view alcohol as ABSOLUTELY HARAM and their empires largely didn't revolve around its consumption, it is not surprising to find that there is a huge black market in Iran, where regretting drunk statements while sober and vice versa is a tradition older than the predominant religion.