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Ale, ancient and modern
Leeds may have a proud brewing history but did you know the Egyptians loved relaxing with a pint or that a beer flood once killed nine people? Grant Woodward runs down the amazing things you never knew about the nation's favourite tipple.
Beer is one of the world's oldest drinks – the ancient Babylonians were making more than a dozen different varieties of beer from various grains and honey in 4000 BC.
The Egyptians believed that the god of agriculture, Osiris, taught humans how to make beer. The stonecutters, slaves and public officials who built the pyramids were paid in a type of beer called 'kash' – which is where the word 'cash' originated.
The ancient Sumerian civilisation created a prayer to the goddess Ninkasi as a method for remembering the recipe for beer in a culture with few literate people.
The first six-pack of beer was produced by the Pabst Brewery in America the 1940s. The brewery conducted numerous studies, which found six cans were the ideal weight for the average housewife to carry home from the shops.
Beer-making became big business towards the end of the 19th century. Until then, women sold it from their homes to supplement their income and even monasteries flogged their own home brew.
More than 35 billion gallons of beer are sold every year around the world, producing upwards of 150 billion in revenue.
After consuming buckets of aul (or ale), the Vikings would head fearlessly into battle, often without armour or even shirts. It is from these wild battles that we derive the word 'berserk', meaning 'bare shirt' in Norse.
In 1116 BC, a Chinese imperial edict stated that heaven required people to drink beer.
Drinkers who collect beer mats are known as tegestologists. Cenosillicaphobia is the fear of an empty glass.
The annual Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, attracts thousands of beer lovers from all over the world. The lost property department at last year's event contained about 4,000 items, including 260 pairs of glasses, 200 mobile phones, a wedding ring and two crutches.
A flood of beer swept through the streets of in London on October 16, 1814. A rupture in a brewery tank caused the equivalent of
8,500 barrels of beer to form a tidal wave that killed nine people and demolished two houses.
Joshua Tetley set up his brewing business in Leeds in 1822, just yards away from where Tetley's Brewery Wharf is today. Following an amalgamation with Carlsberg, Tetley's is now the 6th biggest brewer in the world.
Assyrian tablets from 2000 BC stated that Noah was carrying beer aboard the ark.
Saint Arnold, a bishop born in 580, is considered to be the patron saint of beer. He encouraged people to drink beer instead of water when plague swept France in the seventh century.
In Medieval Europe, brewing and baking went together. Women were therefore the first brewers and were often called ale wives.
The manufacture, sale and transportation of beer and all other alcohol was banned in the United States from 1920 to 1933. Prohibition enabled notorious gangster Al Capone to make millions of dollars through illegal alcohol sales at 'Speakeasy' bars.
The Code of Hammurabi issued in ancient Babylon in about 1750 BC called for the death penalty for proprietors found guilty of watering down their beer.
The Pilgrims who sailed from England to America in 1620 landed at Plymouth Rock rather than sailing further south to warmer climes because their supplies were dwindling, "especially our beere."
The Swedes are the most likely nation in Europe to enjoy a beer during a business meeting with 47 per cent of them cracking open a can.
Some beers, such as low alcohol tafelbier ('table beer'), are served instead of soft drinks in schools in Holland.
The strongest beer ever made is the 37.9 per cent 'Vetter 33' produced by Brewmeister Rudolf J. Kasper von Vetters and his cousins at the Vetter Brauhaus in Heidelberg, Germany.
Beer was first sold in bottles in 1869 by English brewer Francis Manning-Needham.
In a Czech beer house, the bartender will refill your glass every time you empty it – until you place your coaster on top of your glass, signaling that you have had enough.
Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria decreed in 1516 that beer could only be brewed from barley malt, hops and water. This Rheinheitsgebot – or 'purity law' – was the world's first consumer protection law.
Brewer's yeast is known to be a rich source of nutrients – it can contain significant amounts of magnesium, selenium, potassium, phosphorus, biotin and B vitamins.
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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