Beer is the world’s most widely consumed alcoholic beverage.
Beer is the 3rd most popular drink overall, after water and tea.
Beer is one of the world’s oldest prepared beverages, possibly dating back to the early Neolithic or 9500 BC.
In Mesopotamia (Ancient Iraq) the Sumer people, about 4000 BC in the middle east were fermenting a form of bread to make a fermented pulp which had an intoxicating effect – a “divine drink“.
The Babylonians about 3000 BC had up to 20 different types of beer. The early beer was cloudy and unfiltered and was usually drunk through a straw to avoid drinking the solids from the brew, which could be very bitter.
The Egyptians were also keen brewers and beer and malt has been found buried in the tombs of the Pharaohs to provide sustenance for the afterlife.
Though beer was drunk in Ancient Rome, it was replaced in popularity by wine.
Old Vikings believed that in their heaven called Valhalla, there is a giant goat whose udders provided unlimited supply of beer.
Nowadays, there are about 400 types of beer in the world. Belgium is the country that has the most individual beer brands.
Ale is the oldest type of beer and Lagers are the most commonly consumed beers around the world.
George Washington had his own brew-house on the grounds of Mount Vernon.
A Beer Wave of 1.4 million liters (388,000 Gallons) flooded London in 1814 after a huge vat ruptured.
The world’s strongest beer is Brewmeister´s “Snake Venom“. While regular beer usually have about 5% alcohol content, this Scottish beer has 67,5% alcohol content.
The beer that takes the accolade of the world’s most expensive is this extremely rare bottle, brewed specially for Sir Edward Belcher’s expedition to the Arctic in 1852 this is the only known full in tact, sealed and unopened bottle. It was first listed on eBay but the title was misspelled which meant to sold for $304 but was quickly relisted with the correct spelling. This then saw the bottle sell in 2007 for over half a million dollars ($503,300).
Amsterdam pays alcoholics in beer to clean streets: 5 cans of beer for a day’s work, plus €10, tobacco and free lunch.
The most beer-drinking country in the world is the Czech Republic. With an incredible per capita beer consumption of almost 150 litars (40 gallons) a year, the Czechs are way out in front in the beer drinking world league table.
The world’s largest beer festival – Oktoberfest, Munich, Germany is visited by more than 7 million people annually. In an area of over 100 acres, about 7.5 million liters (1.98 million gallons) of beer are served.
In Egypt the Land of the Pharaohs beer was the national currency, a dietary staple and even an important medicine.
The health benefits of beer include anticancer properties, a reduced risk of cardiovascular diseases, increased bone density, the prevention of dementia and coronary disease, aid to the digestive system, and anti-aging properties, as well as treating diabetes, gallstones, kidney stones, osteoporosis, and hypertension.
The study of beer and beer-making even has an official scientific name – zythology. It derives from the Greek words “zythos” (beer) and “logos” (study).
Stanford researchers found that beer bubbles create a gravity-defying loop. Bubbles head up in the center where frictional drag from the glass is less and down on the outside as the top gets crowded.
Light is what makes beer go bad.
Norway‘s first aircraft hijacking was resolved after the hijacker surrendered his weapon in exchange for more beer.
There’s a beer brewed from bananas in Africa.
At the wife carrying world championships in Finland, first prize is the wife’s weight in beer.
The Wat Pa Maha Chedi Kaew temple in Thailand was constructed with 1 million bottles of Heineken and a local beer.
When Denmark scientist Niels Bohr won the Nobel Prize in 1922, the Carlsberg brewery gave him a perpetual supply of beer piped into his house.
The first professional brewers were all women called brewsters. The women had to be very beautiful to be able to become brewsters.
Steven Petrosino of New Cumberland, Pennsylvania downed 1 liter (33 ounces) of beer in 1.3 seconds in 1977 which made him a World Beer Chugging Champion according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
Slugs and snails are apparently attracted to beer.
Cenosillicaphobia is the fear of an empty beer glass.
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