Posted on 11/06/2015 11:06:03 AM PST by Heartlander
If you thought we were the first generation who liked to get our drink on, then you are sadly mistaken. Yes indeed, our forefathers and their forefathers and THEIR forefathers all liked to wet their whistles and get a little tipsy. You know how sometimes, when you have a few too many, you start to spit out random facts about things you didn't even realize you knew? Well, put your party hat on, because here are 17 historical facts about booze that will leave you laughing.
When the ancient tribes first started learning about farming, they also stumbled upon the process of making good old fashioned booze. In fact, in their attempts to feed their beer guts, these ancestors may have even inspired the new agricultural technologies that would eventually lead to the Neolithic Revolution. Cheers to that!
I'm pretty sure this was the very first form of the party foul. Screw up a game of beer pong - finish your drink. Ruin a batch in Ancient Babylonia - drown yourself in it. Rules are rules, folks.
Way before your mom's tuna fish casserole and Uncle Pete's famous artery - clogging meatball sandwiches, the world was trying to find a way to quench their thirst and get the party started. You've got to flip to the very first page of historical recipes for this one.
Before pounding a few back, sailors used to mix their rum with gunpowder and try igniting it. If It caught fire, or blew up, it was good rum. Seems logical enough.
Hey, sometimes when you can't find a clean shot glass you have to improvise. Who knew the vikings were so damn resourceful?
Clean water wasn't at the top of the grocery list when the Puritans were preparing for their voyage aboard the Mayflower, but as long as they have enough wine and beer what could possibly go wrong?
Sir Winston may have been one of the greatest wartime leaders of all time, but his mother was allegedly the one who gave the world a fancy new drink to sip on - both of which are incredibly admirable actions. Thank you, Churchill's, for changing the world for the better.
The workers at Giza used to receive about 4 litres of beer a day. The only thing I've built with 4 litres of beer is a bad reputation.
In the wonderful afterlife of Valhalla, the vikings believed there would be a goat who produced beer instead of milk. As cool as that would be, I think I'd still prefer a pint poured from a keg, thank you very much.
Poor old Freddie The Great - all he wanted to do was party, but instead people had to drink their precious coffee. Here's to you, Freddie!
Yes, one of the main reasons the Pilgrims decided to stop at Plymouth Rock was due to the fact that their cooler was empty. Desperately looking for the nearest liquor store, they just so happened to stumble across the Native Americans. The rest, of course, is history.
People have been trying to tie one on since the earliest days of agriculture. People didn't really care about growing their own food, they just wanted to get a little tipsy — the food thing was probably just a coincidence.
It was a huge "Party In The USA" when the government acknowledged bourbon as the country's drink of choice. Even though she wasn't born yet, I like to imagine Congress rocking out to Miley Cyrus' tunes while sharing a few glasses of bourbon—that's the America I want to live in.
Honest Abe loved to kick back with a cold one after a hard day of running the country. In fact, in his spare time he could be found tending bar at one of his many taverns. Wouldn't "Honest Abe's" be a wicked bar name?
Many historians have documented the fact that Magellan loved to drink Sherry so much that he actually packed his ship with more booze than weaponry when he was preparing for his voyage. That's right, not only did Magellan organize the Spanish Inquisition, but he also performed the first real road trip.
We've all experienced the massive food hangover after a few too many plates of Thanksgiving turkey, but the pilgrims and their hosts probably experienced real hangovers after a meal that consisted of wine, beer and other party drinks.
Even the first president needed to get away from it all once in a while. His version of a man cave was his own personal brewhouse where he'd often escape to whenever Martha would try to get him to talk about their relationship.
Teddy Roosevelt’s sixth great grandmother and her husband opened the first tavern on Manhattan Island. Given that she also was known for going down and mooning the arriving sea vessels I’m guessing that it was also known for other things. I know all this because I’m descended from her half brother. Also, our adopted daughter is descended from one of the signers of the Mayflower Compact. So the stories about the beer on that ship are interesting. Oh, and supposedly my sixth great grandmother’s brother, Elijah Craig, invented Bourbon. No wonder our family has issues.
We all know beer created civilization.
I wouldn’t have drunk the water back then either.
“Sea voyage or not, alcohol in any sort of beverage was a good thing”
And it still is. :-)
“Also, our adopted daughter is descended from one of the signers of the Mayflower Compact.”
So am I, as a matter of fact. :) I’m related to the Roosevelts that way, actually. And Lizzie Borden. Don’t know what that says about me. ;)
“In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is Freedom, in water there is bacteria.†― Benjamin Franklin
The “tons of booze” stories are misleading because low-alcohol beer was used in place of water, since the alcohol minimized bacteria. Low-alcohol beer simply safer than water for drinking.
The guys aboard the Mayflower were not Puritans. They were either Separatists or Church of England. Not a Puritan to be found.
And water tended to go bad sitting in wooden barrels in the hold of the ship. Sailing with only water on board for a long voyage in those days was a good way to arrive with a true skeleton crew.
Considering the very bad history in this one statement I would take all the others with a king sized grain of salt.
With all that grain in the pyramids, I’m not surprised that they had plenty to brew.
The founding fathers were buzzed pretty much all the time.
Until the arrival of coffee and tea the whole of Europe was usually mildly potted all the time. This was usually not a problem when you were copying a book or weaving on a hand operated loom but running a press or a weaving machine would have been right out.
Coffee and tea not only did not leave you a bit off but actually perked you up. So the industrial revolution was made possible by coffee and tea.
“Alcohol is a solution. Just ask any chemist.”
I hate to do this, because it is a funny pun, but, alcohol is a solvent, not a solution.
Maybe change it to
Alcohol is not a solution - just ask any chemist.
#3 is wrong. The oldest known recipe is for mead, not beer.
L
I'll drink to that! Hic!
Ditto Dat .... !!
BTW have ya seen the new “Low Ball” tumblers from Yeti ? Great little coffee cups, tea or bourbon vessels for the work bench.
http://yeticoolers.com/rambler-lowball/
Very nice for a few fingers of good sipping bourbon like Kentucky’s “ Buffalo Trace “ or a blended whiskey like “TX” from Firestone & Robertson in Ft Worth. Some chilled soapstone “cubes” doesn’t water it down thus keeps the flavor true and clean.
http://www.buffalotracedistillery.com
http://www.frdistilling.com/whiskeys/2
Stay Safe Troop[ !
Got a bottle of BT on the shelf upstairs. Good stuff. I’ve got some of those stones and they work really well.
Been doing Rye Manhattans lately. Spring for the Fee Brothers bitters and the Luxardo cherries. You’re worth it.
Backatcha.
L
Probably discovered by accident, since if you harvest honey combs before they're capped there is still a high percentage of water in the nectar. If you store this for awhile it naturally ferments and makes a very sweet mead. I've done it myself by accident.
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