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An 1814 Beer Flood that Killed Eight People
- bananasbandanas 9y agoAlso: The 1875 burning whiskey flood in Dublin. Supposedly, no one died of the flood or fire itself. However, multiple people died from drinking the whiskey, which was also full of horse manure at that point because the latter was used to contain the flood. https://comeheretome.com/2014/04/09/the-1875-liberties-whiskey-fire/ https://comeheretome.com/2014/04/09/the-1875-liberties-whisk...
- grasshopperpurp 9y agoTries really hard not to make shitfaced pun
- metalliqaz 9y agoI'll allow it.
- honestoHeminway 9y agoWhy did i never heard of that? All those abstinence movements- yet none choose to make this a propaganda poster..
- wolfgang42 9y agoOn a similar note, the Great Boston Molasses Flood: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Molasses_Flood https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Molasses_Flood
- KineticLensman 9y agoVisualisation of the molasses flood at [1] and description of the physics at [2]. TL;DR: the cold January temperatures increased the viscosity of the molasses and it behaved like quicksand for the people who were trapped in it. [1] http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/664929/?sc=dwhn http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/664929/?sc=dwhn [2] https://www.newscientist.com/article/2114116-incredible-physics-behind-the-deadly-1919-boston-molasses-flood/ https://www.newscientist.com/article/2114116-incredible-phys...
- mohn 9y agoSuch a weird piece of history, and exactly what I thought of too after reading this headline. I wanted to check out the site when I visited Boston a couple years ago. For anyone who is considering the same, a small memorial plaque is the only thing there to see, and it is at about knee height in a low wall. I walked right past it several times while searching, before finally spotting it.
- oseph 9y agoThat last paragraph is a bit of a bummer. After all the beer was mopped up, the company that owned the brewery did just fine. It "received a waiver from the British Parliament for excise taxes it had already paid on the thousands of barrels of beer it lost," writes History.com–meaning it didn't have to pay taxes on the equivalent amount of beer when it brewed in future. Jurors declared the beer flood an "unavoidable act of God," writes Tingle. Those whose houses were destroyed and whose loved ones were lost received nothing from the government or the company. All is fair in beer and spillages.
- cr0sh 9y ago> Jurors declared the beer flood an "unavoidable act of God," writes Tingle. I'd really like to see the transcript of that trial. I'd like to know how the owners of the brewery and their lawyer spun things so as to escape all culpability. An accident is an accident, of course - I doubt they meant this to happen. But there must have been some laxity in inspection of the vats, or some kind of problem in the construction and/or materials (which wouldn't fall on the brewery, most likely, but on the construction/engineering firm they used to construct the vats). Probably it was something like the latter - but given that they didn't have anything like accident forensics or any way to really examine the issue, "act of god" it was (in theory it could have been done, to an extent, with the tech of the day - but it wasn't likely it was thought of; such things wouldn't become regular until later in the century).
- brianwawok 9y agoConsumer rights were not quite so strong back then....
- NuSkooler 9y agoA fine way to go.
- zippydoo 9y agoDeath. By Snu Snu!
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- bryceosterhaus 9y agoNever forget the "Great Molasses Flood" of 1919. 21 people died. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Molasses_Flood https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Molasses_Flood
- frik 9y agoJurors declared the beer flood an "unavoidable act of God," writes Tingle. Those whose houses were destroyed and whose loved ones were lost received nothing from the government or the company.
- cat199 9y agoCompletely unrelatedly and much less tragically, I recall a story from my uncle about the 'great wapanucka train wreck of 65 or maybe it was 66' whereby several freight cars of beer were derailed, spilling their freight into the surrounding fields. Apparently, or so the story goes anyway, some of the more resourceful people who heard of the incident drove up to the scene that night, filling entire pickup trucks and cars with cans of beer, and most of the nearby university he was attending was drunk for a week.
- rdj 9y agoAnd closer to home: our beer flood of 2017. Although the only death was a little piece of pride, and a new IPA. https://www.facebook.com/FarmCreek/photos/a.425132817617510.1073741829.357605891036870/1077732579024194/ https://www.facebook.com/FarmCreek/photos/a.425132817617510....