Brews You Can Use III

Don't swallow trash, even if you think it's beer:

A South Kingstown man who became ill after he drank from a beer bottle ingested a caustic liquid.

Police say the liquid that sent Michael Darigan to the hospital last Sunday resembles lye.

Lye is a highly concentrated solution of potassium hydroxide or sodium hydroxide. It's often found in commercial drain and oven cleaners.

The 53-year-old Darigan found the bottle along his jogging route last week.

Link.

This reminds us of speculations about the discovery of beer. Some speculate that Sumerians or other ancient peoples drank water that had been sitting for awhile at the bottom of a corn or wheat bin. Having fermented, the grain water had become beer.

These, we surmised, weren't the earliest beer drinkers, but rather the earliest alcoholics.