Widely used around the world, the practice of toasting before drinking is unifying ; anyone who does not toast becomes suspect of wanting to move away from the group and symbolically refusing to share. Nowadays, we only knock the glasses together once or we can even toast in the American style by simply raising the glasses without knocking them together. This practice is reserved for drinks resulting from an alcoholic fermentation, which formerly made it possible to inhibit the contamination of water and to make it drinkable, also explaining its association with the ritual health formula.