Can you survive on beer alone?

Beer has had a reputation since antiquity as being a staple in the diet, often called “liquid bread”. In ancient times, workers received beer as part of their salary, as did the ladies-in-waiting of Queen Elizabeth Ist. In 1492, one gallon of beer per day was the standard allocation for sailors in the navy of Henry VII. This high reputation for beer came about because it was made from malted barley, which is rich in vitamins.

This is still true today. A quick check using nutritional tables shows that a pint can provide more than 5 per cent of the daily recommended intake of several vitamins such as B9, B6 and B2, although other vitamins such as A, C and D are lacking.

It is of course unethical to conduct an experiment to see whether one can live on beer alone. However, during the Seven Years War of 1756-63, John Clephane, physician to the English fleet, conducted a clinical (?) trial. Three ships were sent to the New World . One – the Grampus – was supplied with plenty of beer, while the other two – the Daedalus and the Trotoise – had only the common allowance of spirits. After an unusually long voyage due to bad weather, Clephane reported that the Daedalus and Tortoise had 112 and 62 men respectively requiring hospitalisation. The Grampus, on the other hand, had only 13, arguably a clear-cut result. Needless to say, the sailor’s allowance of eight pints of beer per day is no longer within the accepted confines of current alcohol consumption. One can only speculate on the state of their livers.

Living on beer alone may well be a fantasy to some , to which I now ask the next question; is there such a thing as Beer Porn, and I offer you the following Picture as an example, and await your comments.

Sir Dayvd ( always willing to experiment ) of Oxfordshire