Monday 3 August 2015

IBD!

No, the title has nothing to do with the Illicit Buying of Diamonds. Have a look at the picture below, it will give you a clue!!

Beer!!! (Pic thanks to Google)


Beers. Lots of them.

And with good reason, because Friday is International Beer Day!It was founded in 2007 in Santa Cruz, California (where else?) and until 2012 it was celebrated on the 5 August, regardless of what day of the week it fell on! Then, somebody with some sense decided that it was probably not a good idea to have it on a working day when there was another working day to follow! So, it is now celebrated on the first Friday in August, thereby having a weekend to recover before work on Monday!

Cheers! (Pic thanks to Google)

Having said all that, International Beer Day is celebrated in 207 cities in 50 countries on 6 continents and has three purposes (apart from having a good excuse to go out and get smashed!)

1. To gather with friends and enjoy the taste of beer.
2. To celebrate those responsible for brewing and serving beer.
3. To unite the world under the banner of beer by celebrating beers of all nations together on a single day.


Some pubs offer all day happy hour, games such as 'beer-pong', and beer give-aways. Some companies organise Beer Walks, or should that be Beer Staggers? No prize for guessing what the prizes are!

I remember my dad buying home-brew kits and brewing his own beer when he was retired and living in Pietermaritzburg. He had a fairly basic set-up in the laundry where the temperature was more or less constant. A big white plastic bucket wrapped in a blanket stood in the corner. I remember a glass tube pushed through a stopper in the lid and daily he 'timed' the bubbles that rose up a glass tube, until the brew was at the right 'fizz' stage! (And smelled really beerish!) Then it was Bottling Day. A small amount of sugar was put into each carefully washed dumpy beer bottle, and he would syphon the brew into each bottle, place a lid on top and force it closed with a special bottle-top-crimper! The bottles had to stand for a week or so before he and mum enjoyed one every lunchtime! Mum used to worry about them exploding and covering the laundry with beer, but it never happened.

And here is some interesting trivia.

At any given time 0.7% of the world's population is drunk! That means that 50 million people are drunk as you read this!
Cenosillicaphobia is the fear of an empty beer glass!
Zythology is the study of beer and beer-making.

And finally.

Plato uttered the following words: 'He was a wise man who invented beer'

Not sure how many women would agree with that!!

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Very interesting, where do you get your facts from!! Do they have an IWD and international wine day, I would be much more interested in celebrating that!!

Pauline said...

Oh yes I agree......choose a date, or two or three!! Do you know what a meal without wine is called??
Breakfast!!!!

Rob said...

Who Says? !!

Unknown said...

We always enjoy a glass of champagne with breakfast returning in the plane from SA to the Netherlands. Not because we like it, but just because....

Unknown said...

I do not like beer, only on a very hot day. There seems to be an official national wine day on February 18 in the United States. But there is also a perhaps less official wine day on May 25. On their facebook page they say: "One official day each year, 5/25, and 364 unofficial wine days in-between. Everyday is a wine day!".
Pauline, you do not have any objection against the invention of wine I hope?

Pauline said...

Oh no not at all!! I have 'Wine Evening' every evening!!! Got to celebrate the invention of wine as often as we can!! Cheers!!