How Long Can You Survive on Beer Alone ?

[hummingway]

Originally Posted by tgzzzz

Surprised to hear my beer, Budweiser* (KING OF BEERS), get kicked around so badly in this thread. It's understandable based on so many Brits (commoners one and all) posting but in Merica where I'm from we've always had refrigeration from the landing at Plymouth forward. The Pilgrims left England BECAUSE THEY COULDN'T GET COLD BEER!

It's Science 101 that beer/ale in poor, backward countries has to have fillers and additives in it to be consumed warm. I say consumed because drinking some ales, particularly the darker ones is like eating and drinking at the same time. All of which suggests that one could live far longer on those heavier "beverages" than the lighter, angel-winged, truly delicious pale pilsner beers such as Budweiser. But what kind of life would it be? Worth living? Doubtful.

Time for a little beer history.

Gambrinus was the original King of Beers. He was the king of Flanders and thought to be the patron saint of brewing.

Adolphus Busch, the original maker of Budweiser. Having heard of the pilsner method of making beer he visted the town of Budejevice Czechoslavakia (Budweis in German) where they made Budweiser beer. When he returned he started making the beer in more or less the same fashion as the Czechs. The original label paid homage to the Czechs and their great accomplishment.

After prohibition Budweiser, while retaining the name pilsner no longer bore any resemblance to the original. The addition of rice to the recipe removing a significant portion of the malt flavour which also allowed a reduction in the quantity of hops in the recipe. I doubt that any significant lagering takes place. Pilsner Urquel incidently is aged in wooden casks that have been in use since the 1600's and the origin of the style.

As a side note AB has had the cheek to sue the original Budweiser over the name in a number of areas of the world. In some they've been successful and in others not.

[capn_billl]

Funny coincidence, I was just about to post this question myself. I still don't see a straight answer though.

[AllezCat]

Apparently people of old only drank beer(light) rather than the putrid water...

[hummingway]

Originally Posted by AllezCat

Apparently people of old only drank beer(light) rather than the putrid water...

It was during the "dark ages" when knowledge of water sanitation seemed to be lost. Since the beer wort was boiled it would kill water born disease. The beer was anything but light I believe. There would be two runnings of mash. The first would produce a strong heavy beer. Likely dark, smoky and very cloudy. This was for the men and likely as strong as the wild yeast would support. The women and children drank a second running or near beer which, my understanding was still reasonably alcoholic - perhaps 3-4% by volume. Of course every town had a brewer and their skills would have varied tremendously.

I don't think there is any truth to that being all they drank. They wouldn't have survived. It may be the case that unfermented wort was part of their diet. Very healthy stuff that. Soup and stews were a big part of diet so that would have provided some water. While most people lived short brutal lives not all did. There would have been places where sweet springs were protected and provided good water.

[pablothesailor]

Originally Posted by boatman61

If you do it with Murphy's or Guiness you'll go healthier a lot longer...

Did u know they gave pregnant women a small glass of Guiness in Ireland, its said to have lots of Iron and protein, I was told that not that long ago they were given a half pint daily in the hospital......almost makes one want to fall Ill while in Dublin!!

[limejucer]

On the task of surviving on beer Dr Lindeman conducted a trial atlantic crossing where Beer was a core foodstuff and water supply. look it up he even got on front page of Time for his efforts to investigate Beer as a survival food? A hero to one and all

[shadow]

I'm living proof (pun intended) 40+ years and still standing (ish) on guinness...

[Steve Thompson]

You can't live on beer alone Many years ago I tried , after almost 3 weeks of drinking beer and no food , the last day with no beer I got very sick. I'm sure it was the no beer day that almost killed me
cheers Steve

[zeehag]

Originally Posted by AllezCat

Apparently people of old only drank beer(light) rather than the putrid water...

i kinda doubt it was light beer..LOL....methinks was a goood heavy one....
or mead...

[JDGreenlee]

I went to FDA & got their recommended dietary intake for a 53 yr old 200 lb male & compared it to their compositional analysis of beer. I'd need to drink 19@12oz cans of FDA beer/day to get the 2906 kcal. Over 8 hrs, my blood alcohol content would be abt 0.05 since FDA's beer had only 3.9% ETOH. But I'd have to drink 26 cans to get the carbs, or 45 cans to get the protein. My H2O reqmt is only 11 cans, but that doesn't consider the diuretic effect of ETOH (so 19 cans should do). Adding sea salt helps the chlorides but not much else - the minerals in beer are low (70 cans for calcium? 500 for copper? wow!). Although I'd get my riboflavin, niacin, B-6, folate & choline, I'd not get any vitamin A, C, D, E or K, and only half B-12 and panthothenic acid. I'd recommend eating a lime or so, rind and all, with each beer.

[hummingway]

Rind and all? Ughh. The other problem with diuretics is you piss out the vitamins. Even drinking real, unfiltered beer you wind up with a net loss. The B's seem particularily susceptible to alcohol. It's such an imperfect world. Hardly seems fair there should be a downside to something so good! There's always vitamin pills.

[AllezCat]

Originally Posted by hummingway

It was during the "dark ages" when knowledge of water sanitation seemed to be lost. Since the beer wort was boiled it would kill water born disease. The beer was anything but light I believe. There would be two runnings of mash. The first would produce a strong heavy beer. Likely dark, smoky and very cloudy. This was for the men and likely as strong as the wild yeast would support. The women and children drank a second running or near beer which, my understanding was still reasonably alcoholic - perhaps 3-4% by volume. Of course every town had a brewer and their skills would have varied tremendously.

I don't think there is any truth to that being all they drank. They wouldn't have survived. It may be the case that unfermented wort was part of their diet. Very healthy stuff that. Soup and stews were a big part of diet so that would have provided some water. While most people lived short brutal lives not all did. There would have been places where sweet springs were protected and provided good water.

Perhaps you are correct. History is full of wars, conquests, and invasions. Maybe the Dark Ages weren't that dark at all -maybe everyone was happily dancing around drinking mead and banging each other's drunken spouses...

[mikefp60]

Great post!! LOL

Here is some wisdom from my old man. From his time in the army at the end of WWII.

There is enough protein in beer to live on...... but its tough to make a stiff S#!T out of one.

Sail on friends!!

[atoll]

Originally Posted by JDGreenlee

I went to FDA & got their recommended dietary intake for a 53 yr old 200 lb male & compared it to their compositional analysis of beer. I'd need to drink 19@12oz cans of FDA beer/day to get the 2906 kcal. Over 8 hrs, my blood alcohol content would be abt 0.05 since FDA's beer had only 3.9% ETOH. But I'd have to drink 26 cans to get the carbs, or 45 cans to get the protein. My H2O reqmt is only 11 cans, but that doesn't consider the diuretic effect of ETOH (so 19 cans should do). Adding sea salt helps the chlorides but not much else - the minerals in beer are low (70 cans for calcium? 500 for copper? wow!). Although I'd get my riboflavin, niacin, B-6, folate & choline, I'd not get any vitamin A, C, D, E or K, and only half B-12 and panthothenic acid. I'd recommend eating a lime or so, rind and all, with each beer.

this is why crisps and pork pie's were invented,so as to achieve a balanced diet........

[hummingway]

Originally Posted by atoll

this is why crisps and pork pie's were invented,so as to achieve a balanced diet........

I'm pretty sure it's the only reason crisps were invented. For some reason they make sense after a few beer!