pokerface00
Member
I posted this on another forum but thought we could all put together one hell of a list!
So here are some cool beer facts from my website. I'd love to see people add to this so we can all learn some really wonderful things about our favorite past time!!
In Germany there is a beer ice cream in popsicle form. Its alcohol content is lower than that of classic beer.


The Code of Hammurabi of ancient Babylonia (c. 1750 B.C.) declared that a tradesman could be put to death for diluting beer.


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


1810:Munich establishes Oktoberfest as an official celebration.


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 ifthe groom drank mead for an entire month, it enhanced the chances of his wife bearing a male heir.


In Bavaria, beer is legally defined as a staple food.


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


The first US lager was brewed in 1840 by John Wagner, who had a small brewery inthe back of his house on St. John Street in Philadelphia. Wagner brought the first lager yeast to the United States from a brewery in Bavaria.


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.


Legend has it that Gambrinus, god of beer, challenged the devil to produce a “winewithout grapes.” The historical origin of the concoction we know today can befound in 12th-century Belgium, although the Egyptians had already created fermented-grain beverages well before then.


The pursuit of beer changed the course of humanity forever in 5000 BC. Neolithicpeople abandoned their wandering lives for farming, to grow grain for brewing beer.


In 1116 BC, Chinese imperial edict stated that heaven required people to drink beer.


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.


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\'freehouses\' where people could make and sell their own beer, there was less control on the alcohol content.)


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'.


Saint Arnold, a bishop born in 580, is considered the patron saint of beer. He encouraged people to drink beer instead of water during the Plague. Indeed, the Plague suddenly disappeared once his word spread (though some suggest because beer was boiled in the brewing process, it would have been safer than water,which had previously spread the infection.) When Saint Arnold died in 640, the citizens of his hometown carried his body from Remiremont to Metz for reburialin their church. On this journey, another miracle occurred – when the weary porters stopped to share their only mug of beer, they discovered the mug never ran dry.


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 pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock because they ran out of beer. Although they planned to continue down the east coast, the Mayflower's log explains the passengers 'were hasted ashore and made to drink water that the seamen might have the more beer'. On their arrival, the pilgrims immediately built a common house, which included a brewery.


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


The music for 'The Star Spangled Banner' was derived from a British drinking songcalled 'Anacreon'.


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, hekept a Flemish brewer in his reduced entourage.
So here are some cool beer facts from my website. I'd love to see people add to this so we can all learn some really wonderful things about our favorite past time!!
In Germany there is a beer ice cream in popsicle form. Its alcohol content is lower than that of classic beer.


The Code of Hammurabi of ancient Babylonia (c. 1750 B.C.) declared that a tradesman could be put to death for diluting beer.


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


1810:Munich establishes Oktoberfest as an official celebration.


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 ifthe groom drank mead for an entire month, it enhanced the chances of his wife bearing a male heir.


In Bavaria, beer is legally defined as a staple food.


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


The first US lager was brewed in 1840 by John Wagner, who had a small brewery inthe back of his house on St. John Street in Philadelphia. Wagner brought the first lager yeast to the United States from a brewery in Bavaria.


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.


Legend has it that Gambrinus, god of beer, challenged the devil to produce a “winewithout grapes.” The historical origin of the concoction we know today can befound in 12th-century Belgium, although the Egyptians had already created fermented-grain beverages well before then.


The pursuit of beer changed the course of humanity forever in 5000 BC. Neolithicpeople abandoned their wandering lives for farming, to grow grain for brewing beer.


In 1116 BC, Chinese imperial edict stated that heaven required people to drink beer.


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.


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\'freehouses\' where people could make and sell their own beer, there was less control on the alcohol content.)


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'.


Saint Arnold, a bishop born in 580, is considered the patron saint of beer. He encouraged people to drink beer instead of water during the Plague. Indeed, the Plague suddenly disappeared once his word spread (though some suggest because beer was boiled in the brewing process, it would have been safer than water,which had previously spread the infection.) When Saint Arnold died in 640, the citizens of his hometown carried his body from Remiremont to Metz for reburialin their church. On this journey, another miracle occurred – when the weary porters stopped to share their only mug of beer, they discovered the mug never ran dry.


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 pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock because they ran out of beer. Although they planned to continue down the east coast, the Mayflower's log explains the passengers 'were hasted ashore and made to drink water that the seamen might have the more beer'. On their arrival, the pilgrims immediately built a common house, which included a brewery.


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


The music for 'The Star Spangled Banner' was derived from a British drinking songcalled 'Anacreon'.


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, hekept a Flemish brewer in his reduced entourage.