In 1962 Iron City Beer Was Used To Test-Market Tab-Opening Aluminum Cans

• 11000 BC – Early humans begin producing beer-like beverages in the ancient Middle East
• 9500 BC – One of the world’s oldest prepared beverages, beer, possibly dates back to 9500 BC when cereal was first farmed.
• 5000 BC – As it is one of the oldest beverages humanity has ever produced, it dates back to the 5th millennium BC in Iran, as the ancients were drinking beer upon its discovery.
• 1040 – The oldest brewery in the world today is the Weihenstephan Brewery in Freising, Germany. It was founded in 1040.
• 1200s – Germans in the Bohemian region perfect the process of flavoring beer with hops.
• 1765 – The invention of the steam engine kicks off the Industrial Revolution and changes the way beer is produced.
• 1789 – The first President of the United States recorded a recipe for brewing beer in his notes.
• 1800s – The United States also derives its rich brewing history from beer-loving German immigrants during the mid-1800s. Some of those immigrants’ families’ names are as familiar today as they were a hundred years ago.
• 1810 – Germany’s Oktoberfest, originating in 1810, is renowned. Iceland celebrates Beer Day on March 1st, marking the end of a 74-year beer prohibition.
• 1881 – An essential contribution to the development of brewing was made by the Danish botanist Emil Christian Hansen. In 1881, he was the first person to obtain a pure culture of beer yeast, which greatly improved the quality of the product. Beer yeast developed from Hansen’s technology is still being produced today.
• 1920 – Prohibition, beginning on January 16, 1920, lasted 13 years, 10 months, 19 days, 17 hours, and 32-1/2 minutes, and was rescinded on December 5, 1933, at 3:32 p.m.
• 1933 – Beer cans debuted way back in 1933
• 1950s – Beer pong is a drinking game. Although it is still disputed where beer pong exactly originated from, it first emerged in the ’50s.
• 1962 – Iron City beer (Pittsburgh) was the brand used to test-market the concept of tab-opening aluminum cans. By 1970, over 90% of all beer cans were self-opening.
• 2007 – Jesse Avshalomov began International Beer Day in 2007 in Santa Cruz, California. It has since expanded to over 80 countries, uniting beer lovers globally.
• 2008 – Craft breweries start opening in the United States at an exponential rate.
• 2016 – People consumed nearly 50 billion gallons of beer worldwide.
• 2017 – California had by far the most breweries in the United States, with 1,106. Washington is a distant second with 499.
• 2017 – The strongest beer in the world has a strength of 67.5%. It was created in 2017 by the Scottish brewery Brewmeister. The beer is called Snake Venom.
• 2017 – the leaders in beer consumption were the Czech Republic (≈137 liters per capita per year), Poland (≈98 liters), and Germany (≈96 liters). Austria and Lithuania are also in the top five.
• 2020 – New Hampshire consumes the most beer than any other state, according to a 2020 report by Vinepair.com. Montana and Vermont are 2nd and third.
• The Guinness Book of World Records was conceived by Hugh Beaver, Executive Director of the Guinness Brewing Company. He came up with the idea of creating an authoritative source for pub-goers to settle their disputes about the record of a particular phenomenon.
• Virginia colonists brewed beer. William Penn included a place for brewing beer within the Pennsylvania colony. It can still be visited at Pennsbury Manor today.
• Samuel Adams holds a place in both beer and tea history in this country. There were a few beer lovers and patriots among the nation’s founders.
• Milwaukee, Wisconsin, calls itself the beer capital of the world, hosting America’s four largest breweries.
• A beer lover or enthusiast is called a cerevisaphile.
• Cenosillicaphobia is commonly touted as being the fear of an empty beer glass.
• Germany serves beer ice cream is sold in popsicle form. Its alcoholic content is less than that found in “classic” beer.
• Centuries ago in England, pub visitors used a novel innovation that enabled them to get their beer served quickly. They used mugs with a whistle baked into the rim, the whistle being used to summon the barmaid. It has been suggested this practice gave birth to the phrase “wet your whistle.”
• Beer is the third most popular drink on Earth, after water and tea.
• The Czech Republic consumes the most beer per capita of any country in the world, and China consumes the most overall.
• China, the United States, Germany, Russia and Brazil are among the top five beer-producing countries.
• The largest museum dedicated to beermaking is in Altenburg, Germany.
• The largest beer producer in the world is the Belgian corporation Anheuser-Busch InBev. This company owns about 400 beer brands in 50 countries (Budweiser, Corona, Stella Artois, Beck’s, Hoegaarden and Leffe, among others).
• McDonald’s offers beer on its menu in many countries, including France, Germany, Portugal, and South Korea.
• Women did the majority of beer brewing in ancient Egypt.
• The strongest beer in the world is “Snake Venom,” brewed by Scottish brewery Brewmeister. It is 67.5% alcohol by volume (abv). For comparison, most vodka is 40% abv, with beers typically between 3% and 10% abv.
• Approximately 48% of Americans drink at sporting events, with beer being the drink of choice.
• Rogue Ales, an Oregon brewery, created a “Beard Beer” using yeast grown in their brewmaster’s beard
• Both women (70%) and men (59%) who drink beer are perceived as more approachable than drinkers of any other alcoholic beverage.
• Strange craft beer ingredients used by contemporary brewers include coffee, oatmeal, avocado, cookie dough, chipotle peppers, seaweed, oysters, candy corn, squid ink, blue cheese, pastrami, and pig brain.
• The world’s best-selling beer is Snow!  Snow is the name of a beer brewed for the Chinese market, and it’s cheap: 49 cents for a can, according to Quartz. Perhaps not surprisingly, since there are over 1 billion people in China, it’s also the world’s largest beer market by volume.
• Beer still remains important today as roughly 1.75 million Americans have jobs as a result of the American beer industry.
• ‘Zythology’ is the study of beer. Zythology provides more insight on beer’s ingredients, sophistication, and brewing process.
• By the numbers:
  • 50 billion – the gallons of beer consumed every year all over the world.
  • 8% – the percentage by which brewing jobs increased in the U.S. since 2016.
  • $328.4 billion – the number of dollars contributed towards the economy by the beer industry in 2018.
  • 2.2 million – the number of people employed by the beer industry.
  • $503,300 – the price of the world’s most expensive beer – Allsopp’s Arctic Ale.
  • $1.9 billion – the number of dollars contributed to the U.S. economy by Oregon’s beer industry.
  • 1.6% – the percentage of gross domestic product the beer industry in the U.S. contributed in 2018.
  • 912,092 – the number of people who work in malt-beverage retailing.
  • 7–10°C – the temperature at which lagers should be stored.
  • 40% – the percentage decrease in the risk of developing kidney stones by drinking beer moderately.

Sources:

National Day Calendar

Days of the Year

Foodimentary

Fact Retriever

Thrillist

Newsweek

30 Seconds

Beer Connoisseur

Facts

National Today

Days of the Year