Following is an email from Loren Cordain on the alcohol issue:

Hi Jim,

    There is some evidence in South American Indians that mildly intoxicating
drinks (~3% ethanol) were made from fruits which were allowed to
decompose.  Yeast frequently clings to grape skins, and if the grape
matures to the point where there is sufficient sugar, the next step in
making alcohol would be easy.  It seems likely that some pre-agricultural
people would have known about this process, however there is little
evidence for it's regular consumption in hunter-gatherers.  Fruit
typically ripens only seasonally & storage issues for large liquid volumes
are problematic in hunter gatherers.  Hence, regular alcohol consumption
would have been absent in all pre-agricultural people.
     Saliva contains an enzyme (amylase) that can break down starches in
grains to simple sugars.  South American Indians make a mildly
intoxicating drink by chewing on corn and then spitting out the gruel and
allow it to ferment.   However, grains were infrequently or never
harvested by hunter-gatherers during the Paleolithic.
    All mammals have genes coding for the synthesis of alcohol dehydrogenase,
an enzyme which catalyzes the conversion of alcohols to aldehydes.  There
are 7 known alcohol dehydrogenase genes in humans that evolved from
ancestral primate genes.   The ADH1B gene exists in high frequency rates
(>65%) in Eastern Asians and reduces the ability to breakdown acetaldehyde
(the by product of ADH metabolism of ethanol).  Acetaldehyde is a toxin
causing unpleasant symptoms & may be why eastern Asians do not develop
alcoholism as frequently as populations without ADH1B.  It is unclear
whether the selection for this gene occurred prior to the introduction of
agriculture in these people.

Hope this helps!

Cordially,

Loren Cordain, Ph.D., Professor
Department of Health and Exercise Science
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO 80523
tel: (970) 491-7436
fax: (970) 491-0445
email:[log in to unmask]
http://www.cahs.colostate.edu/hes/cordain.htm