[OfSanguineFire]

I specifically said small beer, and that is something that has been commonly served to children in various places even into modern times. Your claim that beer was too costly also seems to be based on how beer is made and sold today: back then, beer was made without hops, and grain was available to medieval peasants because they were growing it themselves. A sort of beer was drunk by the working classes in Ancient Egypt, it has never been an elite drink.

[User23]

Many people don’t realize that yeast leavened bread is about 1% alcohol and as high as 2%. Obviously we let children eat it. Why would small beer at the same percentage be a problem?

[elcomet]

Alcohol evaporates when the bread cooks

[jameshart]

Seems like the consensus is that some remains.

A lot of online sources cite a 1926 study that said bread can have ‘up to 1.9%’ alcohol content. This more recent study from 1998 suggests that 0.4-0.6% ethanol by mass is more typical: https://auventdunord.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/food-alco...

[User23]

Some of it, but not all of it or even the majority[1]. For reference some breads bake in as little as 20 minutes so a fair bit of alcohol remains.

[1] https://www.isu.edu/news/2019-fall/no-worries-the-alcohol-bu...

[groestl]

And a very ripe banana can have an ABV value of 0.4%.

[jameshart]

That sugar in fruit gradually turns into alcohol should not be a surprise to anyone. Really ‘ripe’ grape juice can have an ABV of over 14% :)

[groestl]

;) It hardly resembles the fruit anymore though :)