Are we genetically pre-disposed to be beer drinkers?

Apparently so.

Here's a link to an article by political commentator George Will in which he relates two extremely important facts about beer drinkers.

#1. Investor's Business Daily (which I, of course, read just for my horoscope and the crossword puzzle) reported recently, in commenting on the efforts (now complete) of InBev to purchase Anheuser-Busch, that:

"The (alcoholic beverage) industry's continued growth, however slight, has been a surprise to those who figured that when the economy turned south, consumers would cut back on nonessential items like beer."

Non-essential. Right. True beer lovers could make a list a mile long of things they would consider non-essential, before they would give up their beloved brews. Ice cream. Vegetables. Socks. Deodorant. Pets. The list is endless. During Prohibition, we didn't let a pesky little thing like Federal law stop us from drinking alcohol. A weak economy? Please.

#2. More importantly, according to Mr. Will's research, we are actually genetically bred to hold our alcohol. I won't go into great detail. Just read over the article. The meat of it, though, is that, due to the lack of methods to sanitize water until recent years (relatively speaking) people normally drank alcohol, especially beer. Lots of it. Some peoples' bodies were able to respond to the intake of alcohol by increasing the production of particular enzymes controlled by certain genes found in human DNA. Those who lacked this ability, though, usually died early and childless, either from alcohol poisoning or from waterborne diseases. Survival of the fittest, at its best.

God Bless the DNA.