Alcohol: From Ancient Brews to Modern Spirits!

#43 Week 9

Author

Sigrun Sørumgård
February 28, 2025

From ancient fermentation to modern mixology, explore the history and production of alcoholic beverages!

  1. What is the most widely consumed alcoholic beverage in the world?

  2. What type of alcohol is found in alcoholic beverages?

  3. Which Italian liqueur is known for its bright orange colour and is used in Spritz cocktails?

  4. Which two countries is credited with the invention of whiskey?

  5. What is the primary ingredient in sake, the Japanese alcoholic beverage?

  6. During the Age of Exploration, what alcoholic drink was commonly carried on ships to prevent scurvy?

  7. Which Greek alcoholic drink is known for turning cloudy when mixed with water?

  8. When was the Prohibition era in the United States?

  9. What was the nickname given to absinthe due to its association with bohemian artists and writers?

  10. Which famous Russian Tsar established state control over vodka production in the 16th century?

The Wonder Wall

  • British prime minister, Sir Winston Churchill was renowned for being a heavy drinker. He would start the morning with a glass of whiskey, before moving onto brandy and finally, martinis in the late afternoon and into the early evening.

  • Discovery of late Stone Age jugs suggest that intentionally fermented beverages existed at least as early as the Neolithic period (c. 10,000 BC).

  • Bees can get drunk as a result of fermented nectar, which means they’re often the victim of collisions while flying back to their hive. Even if they do make it back safe and sound, they are often disciplined by the other bees for being ‘drunk’ and gather round to bite its legs off.

Yesterday´s Questions & Answers

  1. Which two planets in our solar system do not have moons?

    Mercury and Venus, the two planets closest to the Sun.

  2. Which planet in our solar system has the most moons?

    Saturn has 146 moons in its orbit, more than any other planet. The moons vary in size from larger than the planet Mercury - the giant moon Titan - to as small as a sports arena.

  3. On March 14 and September 7 in 2025 there will be a total lunar eclipse. What is a nickname for a lunar eclipse, preferably because the colour turns grey-red to deep purple?

    Blood moon.

  4. Which moon is the largest moon in the solar system?

    Jupiter's icy moon Ganymede is the largest moon in our solar system, even larger than the planet Mercury and the dwarf planet Pluto. There is strong evidence that Ganymede has an underground saltwater ocean that may contain more water than all the water on Earth's surface.

  5. Our moon has been seen in the sky throughout human history. Beyond our own, the first four moons were discovered in 1610. Who discovered these?

    Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei's discovery of Jupiter's moons Europa, Ganymede, Callisto and Io in January 1610 changed the way we look at the cosmos. Galileo found the big moons with his homemade telescope.

  6. Most moons are named after mythological characters. But one planet stands out and has moons named after characters from several different Shakespeare plays. What planet is this?

    Uranus has 28 known moons, including five large moons: Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania and Oberon. The moons are sometimes called "literary moons" because they are named after Shakespearean characters, along with a couple of the moons named after characters from the works of Alexander Pope.

  7. How many days does the moon take on average to go around the Earth?

    The moon takes an average of 27 and a third days to go around the Earth. As the Earth and the Moon have locked rotation, we see the same side of the Moon all the time.

  8. Which moon was the first to be discovered with active volcanoes?

    Jupiter's moon Io is the most volcanically active moon in the Solar System, and the first with volcanic activity to be discovered. Io's volcanic activity was discovered in 1979 by Linda Morabito, an imaging scientist working on Voyager 1.

  9. What was the date (and year) when man walked on our moon for the first time?

    Man walked on the Moon for the first time on 20 July 1969, at 20:17:42 British time, with the spacecraft Apollo 11, as part of the Apollo program. So far, the last time a human walked on the Moon was in 1972.

  10. The dwarf planet Pluto has five moons. What is the name of its largest moon?

    Its largest moon, Charon, is about half the size of Pluto, making it the largest known moon relative to its parent planet in our solar system. Pluto's other moons are: Nix, Hydra, Kerberos and Styx.