Its development was supported by the Brazilian Government. They weren't looking for a new drink. They wanted an alternative to petrol for running vehicles. They plumped for ethanol and developed an efficient way of making it from sugarcane. 16 billion litres are produced annually.
Cars can run on pure ethanol or a mixture of petrol and ethanol.
Ethanol is more environmentally friendly than petrol because the amount of carbon dioxide emitted, when ethanol is burnt in an engine, is balanced by the carbon dioxide absorbed when the sugarcane is growing.