First Friday of August is International Beer Day! Celebrate with some fun facts that (maybe) you didn’t know!

4 min read

Originally written on August 2021 – updated 2023

For anyone who wants to take even a glance around their city, one of the staples that can always be found is a good bar, a pub or a even night club.
Whether you are in rural Ireland, busy New York, the backwoods of Canada, in the United Arab Emirates, or even somewhere in our planet, there is always someplace to have a beer.
And this day is perfect for those that do enjoy those drinks, and to appreciate the people who make them, because this is Beer Day!

Originally started in the United States, in Santa Cruz, California to be exact, Beer Day was begun with the purpose of celebrating the craft of brewing.
And it was also created with the intention of showing appreciation for those involved in the making of this beloved drink. The day then quickly expanded to include celebrations of bartenders and other beer technicians as well.
And not only did Beer Day expand in scope, but in size as well, as It quickly began gaining international recognition with celebrations all over the world.
By 2012, the holiday was celebrated in 50 countries in more than 200 cities around the world.

On this day, you can, for example, in addition to drink, learn some beer trivia!
In fact, it has an interesting history and some fun facts that can be thrown around with a group of friends, especially on this day.
On the other hand, beer is one of the oldest beverages in the world, dating back to 5000BC!
And it is the third most-consumed drink in the world, after water and tea….

For instance, maybe everyone doesn’t know it was the 18th Amendment to the US Constitution that made alcohol illegal in 1919!
In response to America’s Prohibition Act, Winston Churchill stated that this was an “affront to the whole history of mankind”.
A mankind that, all over the world, consume now 50 billion gallons of beer each year….
At the 2010 state fair in Texas, USA, Fried Beer won the prize for the Most Creative Fried Food!
Who knew beer could be fried?….

The Slavic word ‘beer’ came from the verb ‘to drink’. Initially, beer was any kind of drink!
The earliest written mention of beer is found in the 5th century BC in the writings of the ancient Greek writer Xenophon.

Oktoberfest, probably the most popular beer festival around the world, began in Munich in 1810 as a celebration of the royal wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen.
About 6 million people visit the festival every year.
To stay in Germany, a beer pipeline was created there, where more than 100,000 gallons of beer was piped through 7 kilometers of pipe to serve visitors to a heavy metal music festival. The purpose was to keep the grass from being ruined by beer trucks driving back and forth over the festival grounds!
The oldest brewery in the world today is the Weihenstephan brewery in Freising, founded in 1040!

The Czech Republic was the first country ever to have a beer museum, and there are several beer spas around the country. However, today the largest museum dedicated to beermaking is in Altenburg, Germany.
“Snake Venom” is the strongest beer in the world with 67.5% alcohol by volume, brewed by Scottish brewery Brewmeister.
You can also swim in a pool of beer at the Schloss Starkenberger brewery in Tarrentz, Austria.

The brewers in Egypt were women, and builders of the ‘Great Pyramids’ were paid in beer.
In ancient China, beer was brewed from sprouted rice, as well as from rice with added fruit.

And don’t worry!
Probably you didn’t know that beer is made from natural ingredients, including malted cereals (most often barley), hops, yeast and water. Thanks to these, beer contains minerals, vitamins, fibre and polyphenols that can positively contribute to a person’s diet……

So enjoy this day. And not only!