Tidbits Anyone?
After months of scouring both the “Internets” and “The Google” we have seemingly run out of tidbits.
We need your help!
Do you know any beer related history or factoid that is unusual or funny?
Email us! We’d love to hear it! We’ll give you full credit “On Air” if we use your Tidbit and if we get enough of them maybe we’ll even have a prize for the best one.
This Monk has a whole book of ideas! How many can you come up with?
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A recent survey revealed that the average American walks 900 miles per year.
Another revealed that the average American consumes 20 gallons of beer per year.
Conclusion: The average American gets 45 miles per gallon.
Allison - July 5th, 2007 at 5:07 pm
How about a discussion of the (somewhat antiquated) English phrase “small beer”. The Wikipedia article is a good start showing both the history (small beer was the second — and in some sources third — brew off the same stuff and thus weak and very low in alcohol. Thus the first version of NA) and its use in colonial times as a breakfast drink.
The phrase “small beer” came to be a synonym for “a trifle” — something insignificant. Mostly seen in old books and maybe some academic prose.
Steve Chesney - July 6th, 2007 at 9:43 am
Very nice! I’d never thought about how much I might drink in a year, I bet it’s more than 20 gallons though…
The small beer idea is great! Beer for breakfast? I thought that only happened on Christmas morning!
Thanks for the suggestions!
Alvey - July 7th, 2007 at 8:11 am
As the story goes…it is tradition in Germany, especially in the Bavarian region of southern Germany to cheers with all of your companions, or Prosit (translated as “here’s to your health”), prior to consuming any amount of beer from your mug/glass. This tradition is said to date back to the time of the 30 Year’s War, when there was discontent and feuding among the ruling family of Bavaria. It is said that the King of Bavaria mandated that when drinking with him everyone must prosit. When prosit’ing they must look him directly in the eye (to enable him to look for hints of deception), crash together steins so that some beer from each glass was transferred to the other, then down a large swig, not stopping until he deemed enough was consumed. It is said that this was done for he was very fearful during his reign of assassins/sent by disgruntled family members to poison him.
I’m not sure how true this version of the story is, but it was told to me in similar fashion by several Bavarians from the Munich area, one of which I know pretty well. It is also still deemed an insult to not look the person in the eye that you are prosit’ing with…
Michael Wagner - July 10th, 2007 at 5:37 pm
Interesting about the “looking in the eye” custom.
In Eastern Moravia, the manager of a tourist hotel taught us how to drink slivovice (plum brandy) correctly. She said that one must toast the others with each shotglass and look each other in the eye. If you don’t, there is an old Moravian curse — you don’t have sex for 7 years. Amazing what motivation does…
(Instead of “prosit” you say “Naz Druvy” which is “to your health).
A second custom is to never quit after an odd number of drinks — they must be even.
A third custom is to lose track of whether the last drink was odd or even and take one more “to be sure”…
Steve Chesney - July 13th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
Funny reading about the small beer, because just last night I was just looking at a Small Beer offering from Anchor. I don’t remember all the details (surely the website would have info) but I think it said they use the mash from their barley wine, add new water, and the result is the lower alcohol small beer.
Erich - September 21st, 2007 at 8:06 am