Beer Day: Interesting facts about beer consumption in Germany
The day of beer is celebrated in Germany on April 23. Reason enough to summarize some interesting and curious facts about beer consumption in Germany.
Beer Day - then cheers
It is no coincidence that the day of beer falls on April 23 each year. On this day the purity law was proclaimed in 1516. This food law stipulates that only beer, water, hops, malt, yeast and barley belong in beer. For Beer Day we have collected some interesting facts for you.
- The Pils takes first place in Germany on the popularity scale of beer drinkers. Accordingly, every third German beer drinker prefers this bottom-fermented beer. The refreshing wheat is in second place. By the way, Bavarian beer is ahead of the North German barley juice.
- Perhaps that is because almost half of the breweries are based in Bavaria, namely 43 percent. So it is no wonder that most beer is brewed there with 24 million hectoliters per year.
- Craft beer is on the rise. These are special beers in which the small breweries attach great importance to the craft. As a result, only small quantities are produced, and the price of craft beer is correspondingly high.
- Some of the Bavarian beer is traditionally consumed at the Munich Oktoberfest. In 2018, the around 6, 500, 000 visitors to the Oktoberfest managed 7.5 million liters of beer - and that at the rather high price of 11.40 euros.
- What tastes is not always healthy. Unfortunately, this also applies to beer. Drinking more than two and a half liters of beer a week will shorten your life.
- The beer belly, which is proudly carried not only in Bavaria, is more than just a problem of clothing size. The fat is also stored inside the abdomen. The fat deposited between the organs increases appetite and increases the middle of the body.
More curious facts about beer
In addition to hard facts, there are also some oddities about beer.
- Small amounts of prolactin are contained in hops. It is a hormone that stimulates milk production during breastfeeding. In the 19th century, some women drank up to seven glasses of beer a day. It may be that breast milk production was stimulated by this, but this measure was certainly not really healthy.
- The Purity Law has only been in force since 1516, but beer has been around for much longer. The ancient Egyptians drank 4 liters a day. So they created stately buildings, such as the pyramids, under the high beer consumption. Incidentally, Egyptians did not drink the beer to get intoxicated with it. It was just cleaner than the Nile water. Fortunately, they still had no driver's license to lose.
- By the way, researchers have already dealt with the question of what happens to ants when they drink too much beer. The result was sobering: beer works no different for ants than it does for humans. The little crawlers could no longer walk straight. The social behavior is commendable: the sober ants carried the drunken fellows back into the building.
If you have a taste for it, you will find instructions in our next post on how to brew beer yourself.