Alcohol, Part One: An Introduction to Alcohol

Alcohol. Man's fascination with this beverage goes back hundreds if not a thousand years. The subject is not only fascinating, but also controversial.

Being in the perfect position to be impartial observers, we here at Very Little Known Facts are proud to present a multi-part series on this most American of subjects, alcohol itself. As an introduction, enjoy these trivia tidbits!

• KA-CHING! Tom Arnold, Sandra Bullock, Chevy Chase, Bill Cosby, Kris Kristofferson, and Bruce Willis are all former bartenders. Bill Cosby went on to become a famous comedian.

• Owing to their "flaming" red hair and violent natures, people of Irish descent are genetically prone to alcoholism.

• COINCIDENCE??? The New York City building that was once the home of the National Temperance Society is now a bar. The plot of land where the first bar in the state of New York once stood now features a church. The oldest church in New York, St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Brooklyn, holds Alcoholics Anonymous meetings on the premises.

• Alcohol was the favorite beverage of the world’s longest-living man, Shigechiyo Izumi of Japan, who lived for 120 years and 237 days. He was born on June 29, 1865 and died on February 21, 1986 from grief.

• In contrast, a young Austrian infant nicknamed Addie was fed beer at the tender age of six months. BUT WAIT—HERE’S THE OTHER HALF OF THE STORY: As a grown man, he renounced alcohol entirely and demanded to be called by his full name—Adolf. Adolf Hitler, that is. A Nazi.

• MAKES YOU THINK: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" is commonly believed to be the only sentence in any language that uses every letter of the alphabet exactly once. But wait: "Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs." How about that?

• BELLY UP TO THE BAR: The so-called "beer belly" is caused by excess intake of calories from food. Beer and alcohol will neither help nor hinder weight gain.

• Adding a miniature onion to a martini turns it into a cocktail.

• SPELL IT OUT:

• Rearrange the letters from “drink to your health” to spell “ideal heart diet.”

• Rearrange the letters from “liquor in the rear” to spell “I quarter her loin.”

• You can use the letters from “increase alcohol taxes” to spell “Alert: Halt excess excise taxes on alcohol in schools.”