Sycera, or beer in the Bible

I always thought that the Israelites only drank wine. Until today, when I read about the sicera in the Septuagint.

Sycera is a beer of biblical times. Its composition and potential amount of alcohol indicate that it was a beer.

Book of Numbers 6.1

"(1) The Lord spoke again to Moses in these words: (2) Speak thus to the Israelites: when any man or woman takes the vow of nazirite to consecrate himself to the Lord, (3) he must abstain from wine and syria, he must not use wine vinegar and syria vinegar or grape juice; he must not eat grapes either fresh or dried."

"Sycera (also called szekar) - a strong fermented drink made from fruits, especially dates, from certain cereals or honey.

The term dates back to biblical times, so it does not refer to high alcohol as we understand it today (e.g., vodka or spirits), but to high alcohol wines, or most likely beer. It is one of the drinks not to be consumed after the vow of nazirite." wikipedia

As you can see above sycera was made from grains just like beer. The main ingredient in beer is barley malt.

Thus, during the time of Moses, beer was already drunk. However, the history of this drink goes back even further:

"While up to 4000 B.C. we can only speculate, because there is no clear evidence of beer so far, later times provide documents that prove beer production in its original form. At that time, in Mesopotamia, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (today's Iraq), the culture of the Sumerians began to develop - people who were the first in history to create the nucleus of city-states. The Louvre in Paris preserves small Sumerian clay tablets, called "Monument bleu" and dated to around 4000 BC, on which figures are engraved preparing ancient beer from spelt."