[Elfsea] Beer Trivia

[Ciarlariello, Keith W]

I don't make any claims on the authenticity of this.
I only found it interesting.

Wilhelm

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Beer Trivia

It was the accepted practice many 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 the 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. This thumb in the
beer is where we get 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. It's 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 hasted
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 and called Admiral
Vernon, Old Grog, after the stiff wool grogram
coats he wore.  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.