“And thou shalt give to me health, life, long existence, and prolonged reign, endurance to my every member, sight to my eyes, hearing to my ears, pleasure to my heart daily. And thou shalt give me beer until I am drunk. And thou shalt establish my issue as kings forever and ever.” — Ramses IV, Prayer to Osiris, 1200 BCE
“And in my innocence, I thought that beer drinking in England was carried to excess, but I was mistaken, English men are in the infant class — in the ABC’s in acquiring a German’s education in the practice of beer drinking.” — Henry Ruggles
“There are those descended from an unawakened race of men who did not receive and do not revere the yeast. These sometimes attempt to brew — rather, merely manipulate ingredients — and swill the festered residues. But not to them is revealed the simplicity of art, either of beer or of poetry. Not for them is the beatitude of the true Malt; such people are cultural dropouts.” — John F. Adams
“I’ve always believed that paradise will have my favorite beer on tap.” — Rudyard Wheatley
“Then to the spicy nut-brown ale.” — John Milton, L’Allegro
“Out in the Pool certain other boats caught the eye… each carried a bright fire amidships, in a brazier, beside a man, two small barrels of beer, and a very large handbell. The men were purlmen, Grandfather Nat told me, selling hot beer in the cold mornings — to the men on the colliers, or on any other craft thereabout.” — Arthur Morrison, The Hole In The Wall, 1902
“For it [beer] possesses the essential quality of gulpability. Beer is more gulpable than any other beverage and consequently it ministers to the desire to drink deeply. When one is really thirsty the nibbling, quibbling, sniffing, and squinting technique of the wine connoisseur becomes merely idiotic. Then is the moment of the pint tankard of bitter.” — Anonymous
“It is the general consensus of opinion that ‘near beer’ is utterly useless as a beverage, that it affords no pleasure whatsoever, and that it is a waste of time to bother with it. The consumption of eight or nine bottles gives them a sense of nauseated fullness with none of the simulated sense of well-being that the old time beer gave only after two or three bottles.” — City of New York Department of Welfare, King’s County Hospital, 1920
“Beer may cause you to digress – and lead a happier life.” — Michael Jackson
“This physical loathing for alcohol I have never got over. But I have conquered it. To this day I conquer it every time I take a drink. The palate never ceases to rebel, and the palate can be trusted to know what is good for the body. But men do not drink for the effect alcohol produces on the body. What they drink for is the brain-effect; and if it must come through the body, so much the worse for the body.” — Jack London, in John Barleycorn
