Beer Trivia

Anything popular develops a history of facts, trivia and folklore, and beer is no exception.  Over the years beer has had many "firsts", and has inspired an equal number of tall tales.  So what is fact and what is fiction? Here's a few nuggets from the vault on the history and trivia of beer:

Over 1.4% of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product comes from the beer industry. (2007)

U.S. beer sales surpass that of both wine and spirits combined. (2007)

Beer Sales: $98 billion

Spirits Sales: $62.6 Billion

Wine Sales: $28.1 Billion

Why beer is better than wine?  Human feet are conspicuously absent from beer making.

California has more breweries in the U.S. than any other state

(279 brewing companies in California in 2007).

This Rheinheitsgebot (purity law) was the world's first consumer protection law.

The oldest known code of laws is the Code of Hammurabi from ancient Babylonia, about 1750 B.C.

It regulated the practices of drinking houses, and called for the death penalty for proprietors found guilty of watering down their beer.

Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer

At the 1893 Chicago Fair, Pabst beer won a blue ribbon, and was called 'Pabst Blue Ribbon"

from then on.

Ale is the primary style of beer consumed in England. Lager beer is the dominant beer style throughout

the rest of the brewing world.

The Czechs know a thing or two about beer -- the Czech Republic has the largest beer consumption per capita in the world.  They consume at a level that is almost double the yearly consumption level of the United States.

Pilsner Urquell was the number one import beer in the U.S. before Prohibition.

In a Czech beer house, the bartender will refill your glass every time you empty it - until you place your coaster

on top of your glass, signaling that you have had enough.

Cheers!

Beer is defined as a staple food in Bavaria.

The most popular beverage in the world is tea, and beer is number two. However, in England and Ireland, beer is the most popular beverage.

The ancient Babylonians were making more than a dozen different varieties of beer from various grains

and honey in 4000 B.C.

Osiris

The Egyptians believed that the god of agriculture, Osiris, taught humans how to make beer.

Historians report that during the Middle Ages, when monks were brewing their beer in their monasteries, each monk was allowed to drink 5 quarts of beer a day.

In 1900 there were over 1,800 breweries in the U.S. In 1980 there were 44.  According to The Brewers Association, there were 1,449 breweries in the U.S. in 2007. This included 1,406 small, independent and traditional craft brewers.

Part of a 19th century BC epic poem (hymn) is devoted to the ancient Sumerian goddess of brewing.

One of the reasons the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620, rather than sail further south to warmer climate, was because their supplies were dwindling, "especially our beer"

Beer Barrels a.k.a. Kegs

Annual 2001 beer production in the U.S.: 195,000,000 barrels.

Annual 2001 beer production of Anheuser-Busch: 93,000,000 barrels.

According to the Census Bureau, U.S. per capita beer consumption in 2004 was 21.6 gallons.

The largest brewery in the U.S. is the Anheuser-Busch brewery in St. Louis, Missouri.

Lager is a bottom fermented, lightly hopped beer originally brewed in Germany.  Lager is aged under refrigeration for 6 weeks to 6 months (lager is German for storehouse).  Most lagers are fairly light in color, highly carbonated with a medium hop flavor.  The original German lager was dark in color.

The people at Guinness, Ireland's most famous brewery, estimate that in Great Britain alone, 92,749 liters of beer each year are lost in beer drinker's moustaches and beards. They estimate that each pint (approx. ½ l) is raised 10 times, and each time, 0.56 ml is absorbed into the facial hair.

To get rid of the foam at the top of beer (the head), stick your fingers in it.  The oil in your skin will make the head go away.

Monks brewing beer in the Middle Ages were allowed to drink five quarts of beer a day.

To keep your beer glass or mug from sticking to your bar napkin, sprinkle a little salt on the napkin before you set your glass down.

Babylonian Beer Recipe

The oldest known written recipe is for beer.

The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock because of beer.  They had planned to sail further south to a warm climate, but had run out of beer on the journey.

The longest bar in the world is the 684 foot long New Bulldog in Rock Island, IL.

As of 2001, 62% of Americans reported using a designated driver at least once.

The first United States Marine Recruiting Station was in a bar.

Tossing salted peanuts in a glass of beer makes the peanuts dance.

Samuel Adams Triple Bock

Samuel Adams Triple Bock is the strongest beer in the world with 17% alcohol by volume.  The strength is achieved by using champagne yeast.

In Japan, beer is sold in vending machines, by street vendors and in the train stations.

Bourbon is the official alcohol of the United States, by an act of Congress.  Many people have attempted to have that overturned in favor of beer instead throughout the years.

Many actors started out as bartenders: Sandra Bullock, Bruce Willis, Tom Arnold, Chevy Chase, Kris Kristofferson and Bill Cosby are a few of these.

Michelob was invented during a brewer's strike in the 1930s from a recipe tossed together by the untrained workers left behind to run the brewery.  It was so bad local taverns tossed their delivered barrels in the gutter until the streets ran with beer.  When the strike was over, the brewery didn't want to lose all that beer, no matter how bad, so they repackaged it and sold it as Michelob.

If you collect beer bottles you are a Labeorphilist.

The portable beer cooler was invented in Australia in the 1950s.

Mystery of the Rolling Rock "33"

The '33' on a bottle of Rolling Rock was originally a printer's error.  It refers to the 33 words in the original slogan.  It has generated enough mystery over the years that the company left it in the label.

In Germany there is a beer ice cream in Popsicle form. Its alcohol content is lower than that of classic beer.

In Medieval Europe, brewing and baking went together. Thus women were the first European brewers and were often called ale wives.

King Frederick the Great once banned coffee to bolster sagging beer sales.

In Babylon over 4000 years ago, it was customary for the bride's father to supply his new son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. As mead is a honey beer and their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the 'honey month' - or what we know today as the 'honeymoon'. In fact, Babylonians believed if the groom drank mead for an entire month, it enhanced the chances of his wife bearing a male heir.

After consuming buckets of aul (or ale), the Vikings would head fearlessly into battle, often without armor or even shirts. In fact, "berserk" means "bare shirt" in Norse, and eventually took on the meaning of their wild battles.

Historians report that during the Middle Ages, when monks were brewing their beer in their monasteries, each monk was allowed to drink 5 quarts of beer a day.

King of Flanders Gambrinus

Legend has it that Gambrinus, the god of beer, challenged the devil to produce a "wine without grapes." The historical origin of the concoction we know today can be found in 12th-century Belgium, although the Egyptians had already created fermented-grain beverages well before then.

The Egyptian pyramids were built on beer. Stonecutters, slaves and public officials were paid in a type of beer called "kash" - which is where the word 'cash' originated.

The familiar Scandinavian toast sköl derives from scole, the drinking bowl shaped like the upper half of a human skull. Originally, these bowls were fashioned from the actual skulls of enemy killed in battle.

Before thermometers were invented, brewers would dip a thumb 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 ancient practice is where we get the phrase 'rule of thumb'.

What is the most expensive beer in the world? It's called "Tutankhamen" and is prepared according to the recipe recovered by a group of University of Cambridge archaeologists in Queen Nefertiti's Temple of the Sun in Egypt. It costs US $52 a bottle, and is produced in limited and numbered edition.

The music for "The Star Spangled Banner" was derived from a British drinking song called "Anacreon".

King of Spain Carlos V

Carlos V: This emperor was the first beer importer, and one of its most illustrious drinkers and aficionados. It's said that even in his retirement in Yuste, he kept a Flemish brewer in his reduced entourage.

The United States two-dollar bill features three brewers: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Samuel Adams. In fact, George Washington installed a brew house on his grounds at Mount Vernon.

Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim 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.

Ale was brewed for centuries without hops. Before the 1400s, ale was flavored with herbs such as rosemary and thyme. Yet the antiseptic quality of hops helped to preserve ale from spoiling and later became a vital part of its flavor.

In the Czech Republic, beer is cheaper than Coke. A half litre at the local pub costs just 30 cents (10.50 CZK) while a half litre of Coke costs 85 cents (30 CZK). Beer is a little more expensive than club soda (which costs 29 cents, or 10 CZK, for a half litre).

In English pubs, unruly customers were told to mind their own pints and quarts and settle down - and so began the phrase "mind your P's and Q's".  Another explanation is customers were being warned about the potency of the beer.  At "free-houses" where people could make and sell their own beer, there was less control on the alcohol content.

Medieval Monks

In ancient times, monks who fasted or abstained from solid food subsisted on beer.

A Tegestologist is a collector of beer mats.

Universities in Europe and America from the 1300s through the 1700s had in-house breweries to provide beer to the students. Harvard had its own brew house in 1674 and five beer halls, each burned down by rioting divinity students.

The first six-pack of beer was produced by the Pabst Brewery in the 1940s. The brewery conducted numerous studies, which found six cans were the ideal weight for the average housewife to carry home from the store.

Ancient Egyptians brewed beer in just three days, due to the hot climate. Served as a still fermenting cereal mash, they would drink it through straws from a communal bowl.

In eleventh-century England, a bride would distribute ale to her wedding guests in exchange for donations to the newlyweds. This brew, known as Bride Ale, is the origin of the word 'bridal'.

One method of checking a beer's quality is the way in which the foam adheres to the side of the glass after each sip. Beer connoisseurs call this "Brussels lace."

Czechs drink the most beer in the world per capita - an average of 160 litres a year per person.

In Old England, town inns paid a government tax known as a 'scot' for serving beer. Beer lovers who left town to drink at rural pubs were said to be drinking 'scot free'.

Root Beer was originally called Root Tea, however the name was changed to Root Beer to get more people to take interest in it.

Beer recipes have been found on Babylonian clay tablets from over 6000 years ago.

Guinness sells an average of 7 million glasses a day.

The British Army supplied its men with a cash allowance for beer, considered a vital nutritional staple on long overseas missions. With this allowance of one penny, soldiers enjoyed six pints of ale every day.

King Wenceslas

In the 13th century, King Wenceslas convinced the Pope to revoke an order banning the brewing of beer in Czech territories (no wonder he was known as "Good King Wenceslas").

In Egypt, two containers of beer were the minimum wage for a day's labor.

American beer is predominately made from rice. That is why it tastes so light compared to foreign beers. This is purely an American invention to increase profits as they hoped a lighter beer would also draw women to purchase.

Beer was often served for breakfast in medieval England.

It was customary in the 13th century to baptize children with beer.

Beer, as all alcoholic drinks, is made by fermentation caused by bacteria feeding on the yeast cells, then defecating. This bacterial excrement is called alcohol.

Modern breathalyzers work on a clever electrochemical principle. The subject's breath is passed over a platinum electrode, which causes the alcohol to bind with oxygen, forming acetic acid. In the process it loses two electrons, a process that sets up a current in a wire connected to the electrode (the higher the concentration of alcohol in the breath, the greater the electrical current, which can be read by a simple meter to indicate intoxication levels).

Attila the Hun

Attila the Hun was suspected of suffocating from a bloody nose after passing out from alcohol at his 'bachelor party'.

     Reno, Nevada has the highest rate of alcoholism in the U.S., Provo, Utah has the lowest.

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.

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!

During the European Middle Ages and the Renaissance, beer was often a nutritional necessity and was sometimes used in a medicinal setting. It could be flavored with almost anything, from the bark of fir trees to fresh eggs and thyme. Everyone drank beer, including children.

U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt

President Theodore Roosevelt took more than 500 gallons of beer with him on an African safari.

Most saloons were owned by the breweries by the 1900s. The bartenders earned $10 to $15 per week, with Sunday bringing in the most business.

There is an Egyptian beer, called "Bousa" that is brewed from millet and has been a favorite drink of many for over 3,000 years. Modern Ethiopia has a version made from wheat. It has been hypothesized that this might have been the origin for the word "booze." Other spellings used are boza, bouza, and booza.

One of George Washington's first acts as Commander of the Continental Army was to proclaim that every one of his troops would receive a quart of beer with his daily rations.

There are 27 different styles of beer, with a further breakdown of 49 sub-styles.

If you have some Beer Trivia we have left out, please send it to us- beer@howsaboutabeer.com

Disclaimer: We pillaged and plundered the web for this content and make no guarantees to the accuracy or truthfulness of any of it but it does make for interesting reading and a few laughs.