Facts about beer

Between work, studying, putting my apartment in order and keeping my dog entertained, I find myself getting easily distracted.  Doing some research on beer, you can find some entertaining things online.   Here are some fun but useless facts:

1. Cenosillicaphobia – The fear of an empty glass. 
2. The oldest drinkable beer was found on a Baltic Sea shipwreck in 2010.  It is believed that the ship sailed over 200 years ago.
3. In ancient Egypt, workers living in Giza were paid in beer 3 times a day.
4. Craft beer is good for your bones!!  Beer has high levels of silicon, which promotes strong beer.
5. The United States is the 2^nd largest hop producer just behind Germany.
6. Frosty glasses will cause your beer to foam.
7. Craft beer causes considerable amount of flatulence (farts)
8. Ok this one is a useful tip – Hops can be poisonous to your pets.
9. Supposedly, barrel-aged beers were created by accident.  A whisky distillery tried to create a whisky finished with ale flavours.
10. Ancient Egyptian texts have been found that contains over 100 medicinal uses for beer.
11. In the 1600’s, midwives created a super-strong beer to ease the pain of labour.
12. In medieval times, the average person drank about 250 litres of beer a year because it was safer to drink than water.
13. In the middle ages, children were encouraged to drink beer for nutritional benefits.
14. Storing bottled beer upright minimizes oxidation and contamination from the cap.
15. The term “rule of thumb” came from brewers who use to stick their thumb into the mix to see when the temperature was right for adding yeast.
16. Hops have lots of health benefits that can help with joint inflammation, insomnia, indigestion.
17. A “Beer Wave” flooded London in 1814 after a huge vat carrying 3500 barrels of beer ruptured.
18. They say the longest hangover took place in Scotland after a man drank over 28 litres of beer and it lasted for 4 weeks.
19. Brewmeister’s “Snake Venom” is the strongest beer in the world with an alcohol content at around 67.5%
20. Slugs and snails love beer.
21. You can use beer to shine up old copper items.
22. Supposedly, you can use beer as a conditioner.  Apparently they will leave your locks silky and soft (not sure if I want to waste a good brew on my hair)
23. Japanese Sake is a type of beer and not wine
24. Beer is the 3^rd most popular drink after water and tea.
25. The largest brewery in the world is Anheuser-Busch InBev., maker of beers such as Budweiser and Coronas
26. Women did majority of the beer brewing in ancient Egypt
27. Root beer and ginger beer are not beer in any sense.

For more interesting and useless facts, check out some of these sites that I came across – Fact Retriever and Capetown Magazine. If there are other fun facts that I should include, drop me a line. ~ Cheers!