Bit of a tipple goes a long way

The following text is originally lifted from the trivia section of The Jakarta Post dated Saturday, 8 March 2008.

~Compiled from various sources~

• In the 1600s, thermometers were filled with brandy instead of mercury.
• As late as the mid-17^th century, French wine makers did not use corks. Instead, they used oil-soaked rags stuffed into the necks of the bottles.
• In the 1800s, rum was considered excellent for cleaning hair and keeping it healthy. Brandy was believed to strengthen hair roots.
• The corkscrew was invented in 1860.
• Before thermometers were invented, brewers would dip a thumb or finger into the liquid to determine the ideal temperature, neither too hot nor too cold, for adding yeast.
• The longest recorded champagne cork flight was 54 metres and 18 centimetres. 1.2 metres from level ground at Woodbury Vineyards in New York State.
• Bubbles in champagne were seen by early wine makers as a highly undesirable effect to be prevented.
• Rhode Island never ratified the 18^th Amendment establishing Prohibition.
• The Manhattan cocktail (whiskey and sweet vermouth) was invented by Winston Churchill’s mother.
• President Jimmy Carter’s mother said “I’m a Christian, but that doesn’t mean I’m a long-faced square. I like a little bourbon.”
• President Thomas Jefferson was the new U.S. nation’s first wine expert.
• Abraham Lincoln stated that “It has long been recognised that the problems with alcohol related not to the use of a bad thing, but to the abuse of a good thing.”
• Adolf Hitler was one of the world’s best known teetotallers. His adversary, Sir Winston Churchill, was one of the world’s best known heavy drinkers.
• Alcohol is considered the only proper payment for teachers among the Lepcha people of Tibet.
• The purpose of indentation at the bottom of a wine bottle is to strengthen the structure of the bottle.
• Dipsomania refers to an abnormal or insatiable craving for alcohol.
• Methyophobia is fear of alcohol.
• Alcohol consumption decreases during a full moon.
• Drinking lowers rather than raises the body temperature. There is an illusion of increased heat because alcohol causes the capillaries to dilate and fill with more warm blood.
• “Whiskey” is the international aviation word used to represent “w”.
• In West Virginia, bars can advertise alcohol beverage prices, but not brand names