On 8/2/2020 7:19 PM, xxxxxx@gmail.com wrote:
> I imagine it was mandatory at one point.
>
> The British Army in North America at one point was being made to drink
> pine or spruce beer. I listened to a couple of history buffs after they
> used a traditional process to make some.... it was pretty awful stuff.
> But it had a medicinal purpose and it served that role well enough
> despite its undesirable taste. It was a way to deal with scurvy on the
> North American land mass without having to try to import Citrus to the
> US East Coast and Canada.

With the "bonus", from some perspectives, that they're not going to try
sneaking, breaking into, or otherwise overindulging in the "medicine" if
it tastes bad enough.  (Well, not habitually at least.  You know there's
always gonna be someone who'll drink anything if it gets them hammered.)

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Kelly St. Clair
xxxxxx@efn.org