WEIRD FACTS ABOUT
BEER
The total amount of beer drunk in the world in 2007 was a record 180 billion litres.
The United States is the biggest consumer, followed by China.
The biggest consumers per head of population, however, are the Czechs, who each drink more than 35 gallons of beer a year.
The British drink 21 gallons each, and the habit seems to be an old one:
records show that the weekly ration allocated to each child in Norwich children's hospital in 1632 included two gallons of beer.
Deprivation from beer is also an old British punishment.
Among the regulations applying to Officers of the Bedchamber at the court of Henry VIII was this: 'Such pages as cause the maids of the King's household to become mothers shall go without beer for a month.'
Beer also has a fine tradition across the Irish Sea.
One of the miracles that led to the canonisation of the 16th-century abbess St Brigid of Ireland was her feat of transforming her bath water into beer for visiting clerics.
Louis Pasteur developed pasteurisation for beer more than 20 years before he did it for milk.
The Sumerian goddess of beer was called Ninkasi.
There is a type of flea that lives and breeds only in beer mats in Germany.
Octopuses in Monterey Bay in California have shown no particular fondness for beer mats but have been observed making their homes in discarded beer cans.
The hobby of collecting beer mats is called tegestology.
Related links:
ALCOHOL
Research has shown that around 4,500 years ago workers on the pyramids had three drink-breaks... MORE
ALE
The Aberdeen brewery Brew Dog in July 2010 created 12 bottles of a super-strength ale... MORE
BASTARD
In 2012, the Alabama State Alcoholic Beverage Control Agency banned the sale of Dirty Bastard... MORE
BEER MATS
The first modern beer mat, made of wood pulp, was made by Robert South of... MORE
DUBLIN
The O'Connell Bridge in Dublin is the only traffic bridge in Europe which is wider... MORE
DRUNKEN DRIVING
In July 2000, German Police arrested a drunken cyclist who had modified his helmet to... MORE
GHOSTS
Former Swaziland Prime Minister Prince Bhemkimpi was reported in 1995 to have complained about ghosts... MORE
HAMBURGER
At the beginning of the 19th century, the Oxford English Dictionary defined 'Hamburg steak' as... MORE
OCTOPUS
In July 1996, the Sealife Centre in Blackpool, England, issued an urgent appeal for two... MORE
TRAPPIST
Of the world's 171 Trappist monasteries, seven produce beer.... MORE
TWELFTH NIGHT
The British used to celebrate Twelfth Night (6 January) with a special drink called Lamb's... MORE
WIFE CARRYING
The annual Wife-Carrying Championships in Sonkajarvi, Finland, have been held every year since 1992 and... MORE
ZAMBIA
President Kaunda of Zambia once threatened to resign if Zambians did not cut down their... MORE
MOST POPULAR
adolescence alcohol attractiveness bestiality bush bush senior compact disc costa rica dingo fart jamaica liechtenstein moustache peter the great tuesday
