A few fun tidbits to share over a brew. Did you know…?
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 service, resulting in today’s phrase, “Wet
your whistle.”
It was the accepted
practice in Babylonia 4,000 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 their
calendar was lunar based, this period was called the "honey
month,” which eventually came to be known as the
honeymoon.
Before thermometers
were invented, brewers would dip a thumb 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 became known
as “rule of thumb.”
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."
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."
print article
