Overview:
Ethanol, also known as ethyl alcohol, drinking alcohol or grain alcohol, is a flammable, colorless, slightly toxic chemical compound with a distinctive perfume-like odor, and is the alcohol found in alcoholic beverages. In common usage, it is often referred to simply as alcohol.
Alcohol has been widely consumed since prehistoric times by people around the world, as a component of the standard diet, for hygienic or medical reasons, for its relaxant and euphoric effects, for recreational purposes, for artistic inspiration, as aphrodisiacs, and for other reasons. Some drinks have been invested with symbolic or religious significance suggesting the mystical use of alcohol, e.g. by Greco-Roman religion in the ecstatic rituals of Dionysus (also called Bacchus), god of drink and revelry; in the Christian Eucharist; and on the Jewish Shabbat and festivals (particularly Passover).
