The following is a list of beer
trivia
is provided from users on the web. If you have
beer trivia you would like to add please send them to
Contact Me
It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a
month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all
the "mead" he could drink. Mead is a honey beer, and because their calendar was
lunar based, this period was called the "honey month," or what we know today as,
the "honeymoon".>Before thermometers were invented, brewers would dip a thumb, or finger, 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. Dipping a thumb into the beer is where we got the phrase,
"rule of thumb".
In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So, in old England,
when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them to mind their own pints and
quarts and settle down. That is where we get the phrase "Mind your P's and Q's!"
Beer was the reason the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. It's clear from the
Mayflower's log that the crew didn't want to waste beer looking for a better site. The log
goes on to state that the passengers "were hasten ashore and made to drink water that
the seamen might have the more beer".
After consuming a bucket or two of vibrant brew they called aul, or ale, the Vikings
would head fearlessly into battle, often without armor or even shirts. In fact, the term
"berserk" means "bare shirt" in Norse, and eventually took on
the meaning of their wild battles.
In 1740, Admiral Vernon, of the British fleet, decided to water down the navy's rum.
Needless to say, the sailors weren't too pleased with the Admiral "old grog"
Vernon (nicknamed after the stiff wool grogram coats he wore) . After a
time, the term
"grog" soon began to mean the watered down drink itself. When you were drunk on
this grog, you were "groggy,"a word still in use today.
Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim or handle
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.
If you have any Beer Jokes or Beer News sites or anything else
beer related you think I should add please send me the information via the
Contact Me page.