- In old England, a whistle was baked into the rim or handle of ceramic cups used by pub patrons.
When they wanted a refill, they used the whistle to get service. So when people went drinking, they
would "wet their whistle."
- Beer foam will go down if you lick your finger and then stick it in the beer.
- If you put a raisin in a glass of champagne, it will keep floating to the top and sinking to the bottom.
- "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" is commonly believed to be the only English sentence
devised to include all the letters of the alphabet. However, typesetters have another such sentence:
"Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs."
- The shallow champagne glass originated with Marie Antoinette. It was first formed from wax molds
made of her breasts.
- The national anthem of the US, the "Star-Spangled Banner," was written to the tune of a drinking
song.
- Vikings used the skulls of their enemies as drinking vessels.
- President Lincoln, when informed that General Grant drank whiskey while leading his troops,
reportedly replied "Find out the name of the brand so I can give it to my other generals."
- The U.S. Marines’ first recruiting station was in a bar.
- In English pubs drinks are served in pints and quarts. In old England, bartenders would advise
unruly customers to mind their own pints and quarts. It's the origin of "mind your P's and Q's."
- Johnny Appleseed probably distributed apple seeds across the American frontier so that people
could make fermented apple juice ("hard" cider) rather than eat apples.
- Pennsylvania outlawed free lunches in 1917 to prevent taverns from giving free sandwiches to
customers who bought beer to drink with them. This led some shop keepers to sell sandwiches and
give away the beer.
- Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the US, stated that "It has long been recognized that the
problems with alcohol relate not to the use of a bad thing, but to the abuse of a good thing."
- In ancient Babylon, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead (fermented
honey beverage) he could drink for a month after the wedding. Because their calendar was lunar or
moon-based, this period of free mead was called the "honey month," or what we now call the
"honeymoon.
- Bourbon is the official spirit of the United States, by act of Congress.
- The first man to distill bourbon whiskey was a Baptist preacher in 1789.
- During World War II, a group of alpine soldiers who were stranded in mountainsnows survived for an
entire month on nothing but a cask of sherry.
- The Grinch That Drank Alcohol. Theodore Geisel (better known as Dr. Seuss) was caught with
alcohol in his room when he was a student at Dartmouth College and severely punished. Years later,
the college awarded him an honorary doctorate.
- Adolf Hitler was one of the world's best known teetotalers or abstainers from alcohol; his adversary ,
Sir Winston Churchill however, was one of the world's best known heavy drinkers.
- The bill for a celebration party for the 55 drafters of the US Constitution was for 54 bottles of
Madeira, 60 bottles of claret, 8 bottles of whiskey, 22 bottles of port, 8 bottles of hard cider, 12 beers
and seven bowls of alcohol punch large enough that "ducks could swim in them." The Charleston
delegation (John Rutledge, Charles Pinckney, Pierce Butler and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney) was
in charge of 'refreshments'.
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