Alcohol, especially beer, allowed communities to scale their size and increase population densities. Societies without alcohol often failed to grow because the increased population density contaminated the water supply, increasing sickness from polluted water. By drinking beer instead, organisms in the drinking water were killed, which allowed more people to live in a smaller space. Instead of a frontiersman life where they had to do all things themselves, population growth allowed specialization and shops that specialized (bakeries, blacksmiths, food vendors, etc.) in specific markets resulted in scale economies and rising incomes.
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...alcohol greatly increases the chances of ugly people having sex.