Little Know Facts About Beer - Why we call it the Honeymoon

Amaze your friends with these little know facts at your next home brew party.

1. There are 19 different versions of Guinness.
2. The first beer cans were produced in 1935.
3. George Washington had his own brew house on the grounds of Mount Vernon.
4. According to a diary entry from a passenger on the Mayflower, the pilgrims made their landing at Plymouth Rock, rather than their destination in Virginia due to lack of beer.
5. In English pubs, ale is ordered in pints & 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 & Q's".
6. Before thermometers were invented, brewers would dip a thumb or finger 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 thumb in the beer is were "rule of thumb" comes from.
7. A barrel of beer contains 31 gallons of beer. What Americans commonly refer to a keg is actually 15.5 gallons or a half barrel.
8. The Budweiser Clydesdales weight up to 2300 pounds and stand nearly 6 ft. tall at the shoulder.
9. 12 oz. of typical American Pale Lager actually has fewer calories than 2% milk or apple juice.
10. It was accepted practice in Babylon 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, the period was called the "honey month", or what we know today as the honeymoon"