Ten Alcohol Facts

1.) The production of alcohol has been traced back at least 12,000 years.
2.) Sherry was apparently the alcohol of choice for many world travelers; both Magellan and Columbus had it on board during their respective voyages. Magellan liked Sherry so much that he spent more money stockpiling the alcoholic beverage than he spent on weapons.
3.) Frederick the Great, who was the king of Prussia, was so enamored by alcohol that he tried to ban coffee in an attempt to get everyone in Prussia to drink liquor instead.
4.) The Pilgrims made the decision to stop at Plymouth Rock because they were running low on supplies, particularly alcohol.
5.) Winston Churchill’s mother was the inventor of the Manhattan cocktail. It is made with whiskey and sweet vermouth.
6.) Until the mid-1600′s, wine makers in France used oil soaked rags in lieu of corks.
7.) Vikings enjoyed alcohol, and they preferred to toast to their victories by drinking it from the skulls of their defeated enemies.
8.) Many historians believe that the practice of farming was not started as a means of food production, but in order to produce the necessary ingredients to create alcoholic beverages.
9.) Hangover cures date back almost as far as alcohol itself. Ancient Romans believed that eating a fried canary would take care of their hangover symptoms, and the ancient Greeks were believers in the power of cabbage. People today are still trying to find the perfect cure for a hangover. In France they put salt into a strong cup of coffee, and in Puerto Rico some drinkers lift their drinking arm and rub half a lemon under it. (None have proven to be effective).
10.) The term honeymoon traces its roots back to ancient Babylon. It was a tradition for the soon to be father-in-law to supply his daughter’s fiancé with a month’s supply of mead. This time period was referred to as the honey month, and that phrase eventually morphed into what we now call a honeymoon.

Honeymoon

It was the accepted practice years ago, that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink, to aid the couple in fertility. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month, hence the honeymoon.

The first literary reference to the word honeymoon was in 1552 in Richard Huloet's Abecedarium Anglico Latinum. It held that the word honeymoon, “Was a sardonic reference to the inevitable waning of love like a phase of the moon.” There is also supposedly a Norse legend about stealing the bride, but it seems a bit far fetched. And last, there is that time of year that the moon looks all golden, like honey.

There are a few more legends, but the bottom line is that no source seems absolutely certain of the real origin. Of course you heard of honeymoon salad, which is 'lettuce alone'.