Beer Trivia and Facts

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 are a few nuggets from the vault on the history and trivia of beer:

• The first consumer protection law ever written was enacted over beer by Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria in 1516. This purity law limited the ingredients of beer to barley, hops, and water.
• Tegestology is the term for collecting beer mats.
• Beer is the second most popular beverage in the world, coming in behind tea.
• Pabst Beer is now called Pabst Blue Ribbon because it was the first beer to win a blue ribbon at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893.
• To get rid of the foam at the top of beer (the head), stick your fingers in it.
• Monks brewing beer in the Middle Ages were allowed to drink five quarts of beer a day.
• Bavaria still defines beer as a staple food.
• 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.
• 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 warmer climate but ran out of beer on the journey.
• Anheuser-Busch is the largest brewery in the US.
• The longest bar in the world is the 684-foot long New Bulldog in Rock Island, IL.
• According to Guinness, a pint of beer is lifted about ten times, and each time, approximately 0.56 ml is lost in a beer drinker’s facial hair. That’s a lot of wasted beer!
• As of 2001, 62% of Americans reported using a designated driver at least once.
• Molson, Inc. is the oldest brewery in North America.
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) was elected in 1932 because of his promise to end Prohibition.
• The first United States Marine Recruiting Station was in a bar.
• The first brewery in America was built in Hoboken, NJ, in 1642.
• In 1935, the canned beer industry was revolutionized by a vinyl plastic liner developed for cans made of tin.
• The movie *The Shawshank Redemption* got their period beer containers wrong. The prisoners on the roof drank beer out of bottles in the 1930s, even though beer was canned many years later.
• Tossing salted peanuts into a glass of beer makes the peanuts dance.
• 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 train stations.
• Bourbon is the official alcohol of the United States, by an act of Congress. Many people have attempted to have this overturned in favor of beer throughout the years.
• Many actors started out as bartenders, including Sandra Bullock, Bruce Willis, Tom Arnold, Chevy Chase, Kris Kristofferson, and Bill Cosby.
• American beer is made mostly with rice, unlike the beers of other countries. This was invented to give American beer a lighter taste and appeal to the market of female buyers.
• Michelob was created during a brewer’s strike in the 1930s from a recipe thrown together by the untrained workers left behind to run the brewery. It was so bad that local taverns tossed their delivered barrels into the gutter until the streets ran with beer. When the strike ended, the brewery didn’t want to waste all that beer, so they repackaged it and sold it as Michelob.
• Beer is a source of B-complex vitamins.
• If you collect beer bottles, you’re a labeorphilist.
• The portable beer cooler was invented in Australia in the 1950s.
• The ‘33’ on a bottle of Rolling Rock was originally a printer’s error. It refers to the 33 words in the original slogan. The mystery surrounding it has led the company to keep it in the label.