Yesterday, as I was tooling in to work, I was listening to "Morning Edition" on NPR. Renee Montaigne was interviewing one Ian Lender, author of "Alcoholica Esoterica: A Collection of Useful and Useless Information As It Relates to the History and Consumption of All Manner of Booze".The Culture of Drinking". The book seems to be a compendium of anecdotes and trivia regarding alcoholic beverages.
The book is divided into chapters covering the basic booze groups, and others addressing laws, country songs, history and hangover cures.
Some factoids:
"Bar" is short for "barrier"--to keep the patrons from the booze and bartender.
More people have been killed by flying champagne corks than by poisonous spiders.
Folks in olden times drank wine and beer instead of water because the water was fetid and the alcohol killed germs.
Johnny Appleseed planted all those trees with one aim in mind: hard cider.
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Regarding hangovers, I found this great site. Not only does it give a soundly based hangover cure, it explains why you get one, what types of alcohol are most and least likely to cause a hangover, preventive steps to take ahead of time, and how to drink to decrease the chances of feeling totally demolished the day after. It's worth checking out, even if you aren't planning a riotous New Year's Eve.
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