| Beer Trivia |
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Do you have a favorite Beer Quote, a piece of Beer Trivia, a tip on Homebrewing, or just about anything else you might like to share with the Jamesport Family? Please email YourDailyServing, we will post it and make sure we give you a big "Thanks".
Brown is the best color for a bottle of beer because it filters out the most light which can spoil beer.
Beer was considered so vital a nutritional staple for British soldiers that when the British army and navy couldn't supply their own beer, they provided their troops with cash allowances to purchase it. The high concentration of B vitamins from the grain and yeast were vital to good health on long overseas missions. British soldiers in Upper Canada were given a daily beer allowance of a penny, sufficient to purchase six pints of ale from a local pub.
Alonso de Herrera was the first European style commercial brewery in North America. It was established in Mexico City in 1544. Raise your hand if you thought it was Sam Adams!!
The use of hops has had a varied history. The Romans considered them a table vegtable. Later Hops were used as a preservative to protect against bacterial infection. Tom uses them in a more traditional manner - to flavor the JBC beer -got to love that IPA!!
Saint Arnulf of
In West Virginia, bars can advertise alcohol beverage prices, but not brand names
The portable beer cooler was invented in Australia in the 1950s.
In ancient Babylon, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead (fermented honey beverage) he could drink for a month after the wedding. Because their calendar was lunar or moon-based, this period of free mead was called the "honey month," or what we now call the "honeymoon."
Barley, the most commonly used grain for beer malt was very likely the first grain ever cultivated by man. In fact, there appears to be some evidence that the cultivation of grains, which many believe led to the development of civilization, was undertaken not because some savvy Middle Easterners figured it was a good idea for insuring food supplies, but because it was a good idea for insuring beer supplies.
During World War II, reduction of consumption activists argued that soldiers should not be permitted to drink alcohol beverages. However, General George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, insisted that such prohibition would be 'harmful to the men in the service." Yenne, B., and Debolski, T. The Ultimate Book of Beer Trivia.
Beer also figures prominently in Egyptian literature and sayings. For example in this inscription dated to around 2200 BC..
According to The Code of Hammurabi of ancient Babylonia (c. 1750 B.C.) a merchant could be put to death for diluting beer.
The first consumer protection law ever written was enacted over beer by Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria in 1516. It was a purity law limiting the ingredients of beer to barley, hops and water
In Germany there is a beer ice cream in popsicle form. Its alcohol content is lower than that of classic beer.
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 reburial in 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 ‘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.
King Frederick the Great once banned coffee to bolster sagging beer sales.
In Bavaria, beer is legally defined as a staple food
1810: Munich establishes Oktoberfest as an official celebration
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.
Legend has it that Gambrinus, 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.
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'.
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.
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
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
When it's Easter in Denmark, many people celebrate by having a Påskefrokost (Easter Dinner). At these dinners the Danes eat "Rugbrød" (Danish rye bread) and drink the traditional Danish Påskebryg, a special Easter beer. The first Påskebryg was called Salvator and was brewed by the brewery Thor, in 1890. Many young people celebrate the day when the Påskebryg is out. It's called the "P-dag" (P-day) and is a day where people go to different bars and drink a lot of Påskebryg.
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.
Ale was brewed for centuries without hops. Before the 1400s, ale was flavoured 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. Many beer drinkers believe Anchor Steam Beer gets its name from its “secret” application of steam during the brewing process. Wrong!!! No definitive answer, but most likely the spray of water vapor during the tapping of a keg is its basis.
As you follow “The Daily Serving”, you may have noted a strong relationship between men and women of power and the importance of beer. Continuing the theme, Ronald Regan was the pitch man in the ad campaign for Pabst Blue Ribbon in 1954. I wonder if he realized this was a stepping stone to a much bigger stage?
We can probably thank ancient Egyptian brewers for the invention of the drinking straw. They used the hollow stems of reeds to slurp up beer from a still-fermenting vessel as a way of testing the brew without getting a mouthful of yeast from the top of the ferment. It was a practice almost anyone could perform, since early brewing could be accomplished with anything from the smallest nomad's goatskin to the largest clay tanks in the temples, and all the average Egyptian needed to make beer was some leavened (yeast-risen) bread and water.
Before Louis Pasteur uncovered the exact nature of single-celled organisms in the second half of the 19th century, the role of yeast in brewing was largely a mystery. Brewers knew something produced the fermentation, and that it had to be cultured and preserved from batch to batch. But that was just about all they knew. Until yeast cells were seen reproducing under a microscope, the actual mechanism was unknown. Pasteur's foundation research on single-celled organism was not done on milk, as is commonly believed, or even on wine, as one might expect from a French scientist. It was done on beer, an historical fact that the French wine and dairy establishments would probably prefer to keep secret
The Bahamas is a semi-tropical area. Kalik is a light-ish beer; a few won’t make you sluggish and one’ll quench your thirst faster than a Gatorade. Everyone knows the Caribbean and the Gulf are hotbeds of throbbing beats, fomenting passions, and erupting pleasures. So they are, and Kalik has found its place in that milieu by its very name. "Kalik" is the sound made by cowbells, a key instrument used by the bands in the Bahamas annual Junkanoo Festival held during the Christmas and New Year’s season. This is Mardi Gras without muggings. This is Spring Break without having to return to classes. Junkanoo is nearly 200 years old, and those cowbells have been there since the beginning
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. Courtesy Howsaboutabeer.com
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.
In case you wanted to know why Budweiser is Budweiser. Back in the days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the city of Ceske Budojovice was an important brewing city in the area now know as Czechoslovakia. The German name for this city was Budweis and its beer was called Budweiser. |
