On Sat, 16 Mar 2002, Richard Geller wrote:

> Alcohol for instance kills harmful bacteria and lets you survive while
> eating and drinking a lot of dirty stuff.

For a long time, alcoholic beverages on sea voyages were an
absolute necessity, because plain drinking water would quickly
become infested with bacteria.  The hops in beer have excellent
preservative qualities.  Some heavily hopped ales were brewed
specifically for that purpose, such as "India Pale Ale."
Old-fashioned bottle-conditioned and cask-conditioned beers also
retain some yeast in suspension, which would provide badly-needed
vitamins.

Todd Moody
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