> Suggesting water was never drank.

Sounds like a straw man, or at least a weak man [1], debunked, and then the debunking is falsely applied to the whole category.

[1] https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/05/12/weak-men-are-superweap...

Perhaps, but you often see the myth written as a quick sentence or two before some beer related article. Academics may not be writing that, but lazy writers will repeat it often.

Also known as the "no true Scotsman" fallacy.