Delight your friends and family with a couple of beer-themed tidbits this week, or just look incredibly smart while getting your growler filled.

The world’s oldest recipe? Yeah, it’s for beer.

Despite popular opinion, Guinness in not a meal in a glass: It is one of the lowest calorie non-light beers, coming in at 125 calories per 12 oz serving.

Beer is a civilized drink, but it may have also been civilizing: there is evidence that suggests cultivating barley for beer was the beginning of farming and a non-nomadic lifestyle 8,000 to 13,000 years ago.

That’s right folks, we settled down for beer.

From start to finish, it takes 300 litres of water to produce one litre of commercial beer.

The role of yeast in fermentation was only discovered in the mid-19th century. Before this, brewers unknowingly introduced yeast to the wort (pre-fermented beer) in various ways:

The Germans knew that a couple scoops of the white frothy stuff from fermenting beer, if added to a new batch, would ensure a good fermentation.

The Vikings had brewing sticks that they would use to stir their brew, and unbeknownst to them, these sticks were hosts to many cultures of yeast.

1040: the year the world’s oldest still-operating brewery – Weihenstephan Abbey of Bavaria – opened their doors and their casks.

Measured by both dollar value and volume, beer is the most popular alcoholic beverage in Canada.

The first commercially canned beer was sold in Virginia, USA, on January 24, 1935. It was called “Krueger Cream Ale,” and was produced by the Kruger Brewing Company.

Beer Gods: To the Sumerians, Ninkasi was the goddess of beer. For the Ancient Greeks, it was Silenus, the god of beer, who was also a drinking companion.

To the Egyptians, Osiris was the god of beer who taught humans who to brew. For the Norse, it was their god of the sea, Aegir, who doubled as a beer god.

For the Zulu, it was Mbaba Mwana Waresa who first created beer for human enjoyment.

The Ancient Baltics and Slavs had a husband and wife combo: Raugupatis was the god of fermentation, and his partner, Raugutiene, the goddess of beer.

The point is, beer has gods. Awesome.

The first commercial brewery in Canada was founded in Quebec City in 1668.

Beer and bread: the currency used to pay the good folk who built the pyramids.

The claim to fame for the strongest beer in the world ricochets between Scotland’s BrewDog and German brewery Schorschbräu Schorschbock.

It is currently in BrewDog’s hands for their 2010 End of History, clocking in at 55 per cent ABV. Yowza.

Aside from auctioned beer, BrewDog’s End of History is also the world’s most expensive beer: $800 CAD per bottle.

Beer is the third most popular beverage in the world. Water is number one, and tea is a refined second.

Approximately 133 billion litres of beer are sold per year globally.

Great times in ancient Babylon: 4,000 years ago when you got hitched, it was customary for the bride’s father to supply his new son-in-law with all the mead he could drink for a month.

As mead is primarily fermented honey, the time period following the nuptials was called the honey month, and later – you guessed it – the honeymoon.

Please enjoy this article responsibly.

Leave a Comment

Scroll to Top