Trivia

Fun Beer Facts

In no particular order - no claim is made as to the accuracy of these factoids

In 1856 a scottish-born journalist named James Harrison was commissioned by a Bendigo, Australia brewery to build a vapor compression machine to cool beer. This was the first recorded practical use of refrigerator technology.
Studying the experimentally induced intoxicated behavior of ants in 1888, naturalist John Lubbock noticed that the insects that had too much to drink were picked up by nest mates and carried home. Conversely, drunken strangers were summarily tossed in a ditch.
The familiar Bass symbol, a red triangle, was registered in 1876 and is the world's oldest trademark.
According to a journal entry from 1636, farm workers in the colony of Quebec not only received an allowance of flour, lard, oil, vinegar, and codfish; they were also given "a chopine of cider a day or a quart of beer."
The original text of the Reinheitsgebot only had three ingredients: Barley, hops, and water. Yeast wasn't mentioned for another 35 years.
Thomas Jefferson wrote much of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia's Indian Queen Tavern. Later, after two terms as President, he experimented with brewing techniques during his retirement years at Monticello.
The Pilgrims had much to be grateful for at the first Thanksgiving. High on the list was something the Indians taught them: how to make beer from corn.
Homebrewing has become a very popular hobby in Norway because drinking taxes there are based on the amount of alcohol in a drink.
In 1607 the first shipment of beer for the Virginia colony arrived from England.
British brewers who practice cask conditioning sometime have trouble getting the yeast to settle in a keg, resulting in the condition known technically as "fluffy bottoms."
The Chicago fire of 1871 destroyed the Doyle, Huck, Jerusalem, Lill & Diversey, Metz, Mueller, Sands and Schmidt breweries.
In 1900, Carrie Nation took a hatchet to the Carey Hotel in Wicheta, Kansas. All told, this member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union was arrested 30 times for what she called "hatchetations."
The first person in Britain to be diagnosed with Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) became so afflicted as a result of regularly hoisting six pints of ale, four times a week at his local. He is quoted as saying, "I suppose pint pots are quite heavy."
In 1789, George Washington presented a "Buy American" program and stated that he would buy only porter made in the United States.
In what was an important stride forward in the brewing industry, Louis Pasteur, in 1876 published his "Studies on Beer" which showed how yeast organisms may be controlled.
In 1829 David G. Yuengling opened a brewery in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. Still in operation today, it is the oldest operating brewery in the United States, and is still owned by the Yuengling family.
The 1862 Internal Revenue Act taxed beer at the rate of one dollar per barrel to help finance the government during the American Civil War.
In 1943 Brewers were required to allocate 15% of their production for military use.
October 16, 1814 in St Giles, England, a massive beer flood killed 9 people when a vat burst, causing others to burst and ultimately resulting in a wall of beer that swept away two homes. More about this tragic loss of beer (and of lives) is here.
The first canned beer was sold January 24, 1935, in Richmond, VA. It was brewed by Gottfried Krueger Brewery of Newark, NJ. (thanks to Brian for putting me onto this fact). In 1960 the soft top aluminum end was introduced. It was not until 1969 that canned beer outsold bottled beer for the first time.
The first canned beer in Canada was Molson Export - introduced in the can in 1948.
In 1868 John Siebel opened a brewing school which later became known as the Siebel Institute of Technology.
In Bavaria, rather than being defined as an alcoholic drink, beer is legally defined as a staple food.
In 1977 the first American craft brewery was born in Sonoma, California. The New Albion Brewery, owned by Jack McAuliffe's did not last long.
In 1982, Bert Grant's Yakima Brewing and Malting Co., Inc., the first modern brewpub opened. For the first time since prohibition, a brewery was allowed to sell its beer on its own premises and to serve food.
Dispelling the stereotypes:
In the mid 70's, Australians were the 3rd biggest beer drinker in the world. (behind Germany and Belgium). In the late 90's, they don't even get into the top ten!
It is always helpful to have a law that clearly defines when a person is legally intoxicated. In Kentucky, anyone who has been drinking is considered sober until he or she cannot hold onto the ground.
Attila the Hun was suspected of suffocating from a bloody nose after passing out from alcohol at his 'bachelor party.'
The term 'toddlers' originated in England. There were impurities in the drinking water that disallowed the water to be used for drinking. A common alternative drink was beer (it was cheep, plentiful and the water used to make it was treated during the initial boiling during brewing). Toddlers, just weaning off of mothers milk were unaccustomed to the effects of beer. This coupled with the fact that they were just learning how to walk really made them toddle......

Beer by any other name ....... as per various languages:

Afrikaans = Bier	French = Biere	Maori = Pia
Bosnian = Pivo	German = Bier	Norwegian = Øl
Chinese =	Greek =	Polish = Piwo
Croatian = Pivo	Hawaiian = Pia	Portuguese = Cerveja
Czech = Pivo	Hungarian = Sör	Russian =
Danish = Øl	Icelandic = Bjór	Scots Gaelic = Beòir
Dutch = Bier	Italian = Birra	Spanish = Cerveza
English = Beer	Japanese = Biiru	Swedish = Öl
Esperanto = Biero	Korean = Megju	Turkish = Bira
Estonian = Õlu	Latvian = Alus	Welsh = Cwrw
Finnish = Olut	Lithuanian = Alus	Yiddish = Bir
Flemish = Bier	Manx = Lhune

According to an ancient Assyrian tablet concerning Noah, beer was one of the staple food items carried on the ark. Translated in part: "For our food, I slaughtered oxen and killed sheep -- day by day. With beer and brandy, oil and wine I filled large jars ..."
Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States, wrote "I wish to see this beverage become common instead of the whiskey that kills one third of our citizens and ruins their families."
In England, beer is equated with quality of life...
- Cakes and Ale: A British phrase referring to the good things in life.
- Beer and Skittles: Another British phrase meaning amusement, fun- with or without beer.
- Small Beer: A person or thing of little importance.
Estimated amount of homebrew produced in 1929, during the prohibition: 700,000,000 gallons.
In the middle ages, nunchion was the word for liquid lunches. It was a combination of the words noon scheken, or noon drinking. In those days, a large chunk of bread was called lunch. So if you ate bread with your nunchion, you had what we still today call a luncheon.
In 1614, the first non-native American was born in New Amsterdam, at the Block & Christiansen's brewhouse. Jean Vigne grew up to become the first brewer born in the New World.
The name of the beer paid to stonemasons working in the Pyramids of Ancient Egypt was KASH, from which comes the modern name for money. Another name for beer in the Ancient World was BOOZAH, which survives today as both a slang name for a British pub and for a heavy drinker.
In Anglo Saxon times, drinking goblets were marked with pegs to show how much a person had drunk. This gave rise to the expression "To take someone down a peg or two".
In England, inns in towns had to pay a tax known as a "Scot". Drinkers who went out of town to rural inns were described as drinking "Scot-free".
During the Middle Ages, governments and town councils in the British Isles and mainland Europe employed officials known as "Ale Conners" to test the quality of the ale brewed commercially. They would test it by pouring it onto a wooden bench, then sitting in the puddle. If their leather breeches stuck to the seat, the ale was considered to be of good quality.
It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer, and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the "honey month" or what we know today as the "honeymoon".
Another matrimonial word that derives from brewing-related customs is Bridal. From an eleventh century English custom in which the bride, on her wedding day, would distribute rounds of ale for which friends and guests were expected to make contributions to help her set up housekeeping. The custom was known as Bride Ale.
Before thermometers were invented, brewers would dip a thumb or finger into the mix to find the right temperature for adding yeast. Too cold, and the yeast wouldn't grow. Too hot, and the yeast would die. This thumb in the beer is where we get the phrase "rule of thumb".
In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So, in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them to mind their own pints and quarts and settle down. It's where we get the phrase "mind your P's and Q's".
Beer was the reason the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. It's clear from the Mayflower's log that the crew didn't want to waste beer looking for a better site. The log goes on to state that the passengers "were hasted ashore and made to drink water that the seamen might have the more beer". Furthermore, some anthropologists speculate that Neolithic people made the switch from wandering and hunting-gathering to farming in order to raise grain to brew beer.
After consuming a bucket or two of vibrant brew they called aul, or ale, the Vikings would head fearlessly into battle often without armor or even shirts. In fact, the term "berserk" means "bare shirt" in Norse, and eventually took on the meaning of their wild battles.
In 1740 Admiral Vernon of the British fleet decided to water down the navy's rum. Needless to say, the sailors weren't too pleased and called Admiral Vernon, Old Grog, after the stiff wool grogram coats he wore. The term "grog" soon began to mean the watered down drink itself. When you were drunk on this grog, you were "groggy", a word still in use today.
Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim or handle of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service. "Wet your whistle", is the phrase inspired by this practice.
During World War II, American breweries that wanted to supply beer to the troops had to can them in special camouflage cans. Today, these cans are sought-after breweriana.
The term Growler was originally used for the tin buckets used to carry beer away from the tavern at which it was purchased. It was common for young (10-13) men and women to be employed to carry beer for the employees at factories. During the 1940's, both Manhattan Brewing Company (In Chicago) and Old Milwaukee were marketed in large cans with the word "Growler" printed on them.
In Texas, it is not legal to take more than 3 sips from a beer while standing.
The Code of Hammurabi, established around 1780 B.C., specified among other laws that owners of drinking establishments who overcharged their customers were to be sentenced to death by drowning.