- 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'.
|
|
