If corn and potatoes are from the Americas, why weren’t Native Americans making whiskey and vodka before the Europeans showed up?

Question

If corn and potatoes are from the Americas, why weren’t Native Americans making whiskey and vodka before the Europeans showed up?

In: Other

Answer 1

Whisky is typically made from barley which the Native Americans didn’t have, vodka is typically made from wheat or rye, not potatoes, which they also didn’t have. The Native Americans did make their own alcoholic drinks from their own sources of sugars but there’s very limited evidence for distillation and it certainly wasn’t widespread. There was also less water bourne disease in Pre-Colombian America and therefore less need to make alcoholic drinks.