London Beer Flood
Oct 17, 2009 11:35:00 GMT
Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2009 11:35:00 GMT
On this day in 1814, a torrent of beer came rushing through the streets of the St. Giles district of London.
It started at the Horse Shoe Brewery at Tottenham Court and Oxford Street,where there were huge vats of porter perched on the roof. They contained beer that had been fermenting there for months. The wooden vats were enormous,some as tall as 22 feet and were structurally supported by large iron hoops. They each contained hundreds of thousands of liters of beer.
The largest vat started to strain under the weight and pressure and one of the iron hoops gave way and all the porter came gushing out. There were about 600,000 liters of beer in the one vat,and the pressure from this caused a chain reaction and the surrounding vats on the roof also burst. More than a million liters of beer toppled the brewery's brick wall (it was 25'tall) and began flooding the streets of St. Giles.
People came running out into the streets of St. Giles,with mugs and buckets,pots and pans to collect the free beer. Others leaned over and drank directly from the streams gushing down the streets. Many people were injured by the torrent and sent to the hospital where inpatients smelled the beer and nearly rioted to get their share.
Nine people died,half of them children who drowned.One death was caused from alcohol poisoning by a man who drank so much over the course of the day for fear of the beer going bad.
A lawsuit was brought against the brewery,but in court the flood was ruled an "Act of God" and the brewery was not held liable.
It started at the Horse Shoe Brewery at Tottenham Court and Oxford Street,where there were huge vats of porter perched on the roof. They contained beer that had been fermenting there for months. The wooden vats were enormous,some as tall as 22 feet and were structurally supported by large iron hoops. They each contained hundreds of thousands of liters of beer.
The largest vat started to strain under the weight and pressure and one of the iron hoops gave way and all the porter came gushing out. There were about 600,000 liters of beer in the one vat,and the pressure from this caused a chain reaction and the surrounding vats on the roof also burst. More than a million liters of beer toppled the brewery's brick wall (it was 25'tall) and began flooding the streets of St. Giles.
People came running out into the streets of St. Giles,with mugs and buckets,pots and pans to collect the free beer. Others leaned over and drank directly from the streams gushing down the streets. Many people were injured by the torrent and sent to the hospital where inpatients smelled the beer and nearly rioted to get their share.
Nine people died,half of them children who drowned.One death was caused from alcohol poisoning by a man who drank so much over the course of the day for fear of the beer going bad.
A lawsuit was brought against the brewery,but in court the flood was ruled an "Act of God" and the brewery was not held liable.
