Alcohol was not “invented” at a single moment; humans gradually discovered it when naturally fermenting fruits, grains, and honey produced intoxicating liquids, with the earliest strong evidence of deliberate brewing dating to around 7000–6600 BCE in Neolithic China. Over the following millennia, different cultures independently developed their own alcoholic drinks—such as early wines in the Caucasus and Middle East and beers in Mesopotamia and Egypt—so there is no single inventor, just many early experimenters across time.