False assumption. The Aztecs have been producing alcoholic beverages for thousands of years.

If one theory is correct, the Mesoamericans could have even discovered how to make alcohol before the Sumerians, Chinese, or Egyptians. Maize (corn) was first cultivated about 9000 years ago in central Mexico, and developed into its modern form through several millennia of selective breeding. However, since its wild ancestor isn't very edible, it's still a mystery what people first used it for. Some researchers have pointed out that, though its grains are too small for humans to use as food, it makes an excellent source of sugar for fermenting into beer.

Pre-contact Hawaiians drank an alcoholic “beer” based on the fermented juice of the ti plant. The root was baked, changing its starch into sugar at the surface of the root. The roots were then soaked in water, and fermented. After English sailors introduced steam distillation to the islands in the 1790s, this ti beer was distilled into a highly alcoholic spirit that came to be called Okolehao.

I have never sampled Okolehao, but I bet it’s good. Each maker had their own recipe, and some people added cane or pineapple or other ingredients to the fermenting mash.

Keola Beamer has recorded a lovely instrumental piece called Papa’s Okolehao.

Papa's 'Okolehao

It was fun studying up on this subject. Mahalo.