Beer

Old Major, in his foundational speech to the animals, explicitly prohibited alcohol, declaring it one of the evil habits of Man that no animal must adopt. This injunction was inscribed as the Fifth Commandment: "No animal shall drink alcohol."

In late February of the second year after the Rebellion, the pigs began brewing beer. A warm, rich scent wafted from the long-disused brew-house, and the hungry animals hoped for a warm mash, but instead the pigs announced that all barley would be reserved for themselves. Soon it leaked out that every pig received a daily ration of a pint of beer, with half a gallon for Napoleon served in the Crown Derby soup tureen. Even Moses, the tame raven who did no work, was allowed a gill of beer each day, a privilege that bought his continued presence and his tales of Sugarcandy Mountain. The beer ration became a vivid marker of the pigs' privileged status, directly contradicting the original prohibition and foreshadowing the later alteration of the Commandments to permit alcohol "to excess."