International Beer Day is marked annually on the first Friday of August and this year, it falls on the 6th. The day was started in 2007 by a California man, named Jesse Avshalomov, and his colleagues to celebrate the alcoholic beverage.

According to its official website, International Beer Day is carried out "to gather with friends and enjoy the deliciousness that is beer", "to celebrate the dedicated men and women who brew and serve our beer," and "to bring the world together by celebrating the beers of all nations and cultures on this one remarkable day."

International Beer Day is not the same as National Beer Day, which is marked in April and is celebrated only in the U.S.

Here are some interesting facts about beer:

1. Beer was first packaged in a 12-ounce aluminum can in 1959.

2. China and the U.S. are the two top beer producing countries.

3. Brewing is believed to have started about 5,000 years.

4. The fear of having an empty beer glass is called cenosillicaphobia.

5. Barack Obama was the first U.S. president to brew his own beer.

6. The study of beer is known as zythology.

7. Home breweries were legalized by former President Jimmy Carter.

Here are some famous quotes about beer, collected from Brew Museum and Good Reads:

  • "He was a wise man who invented beer." — Plato
  • "Beer's intellectual. What a shame so many idiots drink it." — Ray Bradbury
  • "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." — Benjamin Franklin
  • "Beer, if drunk in moderation, softens the temper, cheers the spirit, and promotes health." — Thomas Jefferson
  • "There is to me something profoundly affects in large masses of men following the lead of those who do not believe in men, and beer." — Walt Whitman
  • "Beer culture is a part of the world of food and drink. It's not just a commodity in cans and bottles, but has a value as an agricultural product with good ingredients." — Michael Jackson
  • "I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts, and beer." — Abraham Lincoln
  • "You can't be a country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least, you need a beer."— Frank Zappa
  • "Milk is for babies. When you grow up you have to drink beer." — Arnold Schwarzenegger

  • "Whoever drinks beer, he is quick to sleep; whoever sleeps long, does not sin; whoever does not sin, enters Heaven! Thus, let us drink beer!" — Martin Luther

Lynch Irish Pub Beer
Lynch Irish Pub Beer Adobe stock
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