Comments on: 5 Drinking Stories That Put Yours To Shame

By: Amy

Amy — Sun, 23 May 2010 16:04:30 +0000

Yeah, that Revere story is definitely made up. It doesn’t square with the time frames of the historical story either.

Ah, Ted, so naive.

By: Ted

Ted — Fri, 21 May 2010 20:53:39 +0000

Jan D,
Make up your mind. Was Longfellow making up the story for his own benefit (like ABC, CBS, MSNBC) or was he the only major source that attempted to write truthfully?

By: Jan D

Jan D — Fri, 21 May 2010 20:21:08 +0000

Sorry but your wrong about Paul Revere. He was not a heavy drinker and only stopped at the tavern long enough to notify the other riders (as many as 40 men rode through the country side that night. Revere stuck to the main roadways because he did not know the area. That is why he and the good doctor were caught.

One other thing, he put the lanterns in the church and then went across the water to join the other riders.

The wonderful poem by Longfellow, while nice to read, has about as much in common with the truth about what happened that night as Fox News has on the news stories of today.

By: Orbaatar

Orbaatar — Fri, 21 May 2010 17:49:20 +0000

@Fotis, they sure could fit. The square footage (area of the circle) is 2,827 square feet.
Using round dinner tables for 12, banquet planners suggest that you calculate 12 square feet of space for each person.

Hence, for the guests here, they needed 200*12 = 2,400 square feet, well under the 2,827 square feet available here.

Don’t be such a “I don’t think they fit” killjoy without thinking about it first.

Because beer barrels that big need to be celebrated for their awesomeness.

By: graham

graham — Fri, 21 May 2010 17:27:21 +0000

Fotis…maybe they were midgets as well?

By: graham

graham — Fri, 21 May 2010 17:22:53 +0000

I’m not too sure if a series of bartenders could paddle around in 375 gallons of anything; maybe it was 375 barrels…maybe they were midgets?

By: Fotis

Fotis — Fri, 21 May 2010 12:55:18 +0000

“constructed a brewing vat that was 22 feet tall and 60 feet in diameter, with an interior big enough to seat 200 for dinner”
I don’t think you can fit 200 people in a 22 foot length with a radius of 30 feet without stacking them like logs.

By: Eggshaped

Eggshaped — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 13:14:00 +0000

The idea that Paul Revere was drunk dates back only to 1968 when the Boston Globe claimed that Isaac Hall gave Revere “A little something to warm his bones.” There was no evidence given, and it is well known that Revere was tee-total like many of his day.

Futhermore, elephants don’t get drunk by eating fermented fruit. To get enough alcohol, they would have to eat many times their body weight.

By: kat

kat — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 20:30:00 +0000

i attended Beer Middle school in the early 90s and our mascot was the Barons so we were the Beer Barons

By: glen

glen — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 22:24:00 +0000

The following true tale is from the history of the oldest commissioned warship in the world. It comes by way of the National Park Service, as printed in *Oceanographic Ships, Fore and Aft,* a periodical by the oceanographer of the U. S. Navy.

On 23 August 1779, the USS Constitution set sail from Boston, loaded with 475 officers and men, 48,600 gallons of water, 74,000 cannon shot, 11,500 pounds of black powder, and 79,400 gallons of rum. Her mission: to destroy and harass British shipping.

On 6 October, she made Jamaica, took on 826 pounds of flour and 68,300 gallons of rum. Three weeks later, Constitution reached the Azores, where she provisioned with 550 pounds of beef and 2,300 gallons of Portuguese wine.

On 18 November, she set sail for England, where her crew captured and scuttled 12 British merchant vessels and took their rum aboard. By this time, Constitution had run out of shot. Nevertheless, she made her way unarmed up the Firth of Clyde for a night raid there. Here, her landing party captured a whisky distillery and transferred 13,000 gallons to her stores, and headed for home port.

On 20 February 1780, Constitution arrived in Boston with no cannon shot, no food, no powder, no rum, and no whiskey. She did, however, still have her full crew of 475 officers and men and 18,600 gallons of water.

The math is quite enlightening – Length of cruise: 181 days. Booze consumption: 1.26 gallons / man / day (does NOT include the unknown quantity of rum captured from the 12 British merchant ships in November).

Naval historians say that the reenlistment rate from this cruise was 92%!