Because people just can’t get enough of how much interesting beer-related trivia there is out there!
The strongest beer in the world
Coming with a warning that tries to prevent you from drinking more than 35ml in one sitting, the world’s strongest beer is identified to have 67.5% alcohol content. Made by a UK brewing company known as Brewmeister, its “Snake Venom Beer” has an increased amount of ethyl alcohol to give you massive buzz in the tiniest glass. For the avoidance of doubt: this beer does not contain actual snake venom – but it’s still dangerous!
The world’s longest hangover
According to the British Journal, the world’s longest hangover in the history of binge drinking was said to have lasted for 4 good weeks. This particular hangover was associated with a 37-year-old man from Glasgow who consumed 60 solid pints of beer in a row.
This is almost 35 liters of beer. He complained of wavy vision and a continuous headache, but his medical reports would show that his blood pressure and body temperatures were (amazingly) OK.
These symptoms would typically be associated with head injuries, convulsions, and loss of consciousness, but the doctors were able to confirm it was the result of his prolonged hangover.
The world’s sturdiest “beer temple”
Beer bottles as… construction material? According to Architectural Digest, the Wilderness Temple of the Great Glass Pagoda in Thailand (otherwise known as the “Temple of a Million Bottles”) was built from 1.5 billion beer bottles.
The Buddhist monks who lived in Sisaket province in 1984 grew tired from the excessive littering in the countryside, which led them to start a “100 beer bottles in the wall” challenge, which eventually led to a sturdy Buddhist temple that still stands up to date.
The world’s longest operating brewery
The Bavarian State Brewery, Weihenstephan, is ranked as the world’s oldest continuously operating brewery. The legendary German brewery began its beer production in 1040 (!) immediately after acquiring its brewing license by the City of Freising.
The craziest beer balancing act
John Evans holds the Guinness record for “beer balancing on the head” with 237! Based on an extensive research study by the University of Derby that supports John Evans as the strongest “head balancing man,” he started with 100 pints in 1997, graduated to 227 pints, and eventually reached his 237 well-balanced beer pints in 2002.
World’s largest beer company
According to Statista, global beer giant AB InBev was able to generate over 50 billion dollars in sales in 2019, making it the largest beer company worldwide. It also made it the world’s largest beverage company overall. After AB InBev, Heineken Holding and Asahi Group Holdings were ranked second and third in the same report.
Countries that consume the most beer
A 2012 Boozehound report by researchers from Kirin Beer University shows that the Czech Republic is the world’s top beer-consuming country per capita. Its average citizen consumes 149 liters of beer per year. That’s about 420 traditional 12oz cans per individual.
In terms of total volume, China is identified as the country that consumes the most beer. Its population drinks about 44,201 Kiloliters of beer annually, which is estimated at about 1.5 billion bottles of beer per year. Naturally, since China has close to 1.5 billion people, the per-capita consumption is pretty low.
Beer as payment
The word “salary” comes from ancient Rome, when soldiers used to be paid in salt – a very precious commodity. Similarly, the city of Amsterdam has a program that pays people in beer, in exchange for helping to clean the streets: 5 cans of beer for a day’s work! It’s yet another example of innovative ideas by the Dutch government.
Is this still not enough?
Then check out our other article on Beer Facts and Trivia!