Beer Myths

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I want to deal with a very specific myth about beer, or any alcohol really but since the topic of this blog is beer, then let's stick with that.
Since we are on the topic though, I will mention a few others. All of these are easily debunked on other sites anyway. I'm sure Mythbusters have had a go as well.

• Beer before Liquor, never sicker - Or never mix your grains and grapes. 

The idea here is that mixing your drinks will give you a worse hangover and specifically in certain orders. I am happy to report that this is utter crap. Alcohol is alcohol for the most part. You might be affected differently by higher alcohols such as those present in very warm fermented beers. Usually Belgian beers but at the end of the day you can mix your drinks. As long as the amount of alcohol is the same, it makes no difference. The myth probably comes from the reality that if you do mix your drinks, you are the tpye of person who does not have a lot of self control and will just keep drinking crazy stuff until you don't remember what you drank.

• Guinness must be poured using the two part pour.

I will answer that with a question. Can you think of any liquid that tastes different depending on how it is poured? The traditional two part pour is a throwback to when Guinness was served from two different casks. One old and one new. The old beer was topped up with the new fresh beer, hence the two part pull. These days it is all marketing. I can attest to it being the same because I sometimes order it straight so I don't have to wait at the bar for 5 minutes.

• Drinking beer (or any alcohol) kills brain cells.

And here we come to what I wanted to talk about. The reason is that last night I started watching a TV show called The Cape. It is about a superhero type who has, well, a cape. No superpowers so he is just like batman without the toys. My wife watched a few minutes of it and said that we had seen it before. I had no recollection of it whatsoever. I figured I could have watched the first episode while half asleep but then I watched the second episode and she had seen this too! I can not recall a single thing about this show. Not the name, not the premise, not even the fact that Summer Glau is in it! Come on I should at least remember that the mad girl from Firefly is in this show. It only came out in January so it's not like I saw this years ago, not that it would make a difference because I can remember every TV show I have ever seen. Oh don't get me wrong, I would not know specific episodes but after a few moments I would recognise it and know I have seen a certain episode. I can't remember anything about the cape though. I remember shows from the 80's that few people remember these days. I seem to be in the minority of people who watched Manimal or Streethawk for instance.

So Is my consumption of beer responsible for this loss of memory? Or did aliens labotomise my brain with a spoon? Believe it or not, the alien theory is more likely.

I am happy to report that alcohol does not kill brain cells, well unless poured directly on to the brain that is.
It might cause neuron issue, or more to the point, it looks like lack of B vitamins that drinking excess alcohol results in is the real cause. You would have to be a complete wino to see any real effects and simply cutting down or stop drinking repairs most of the damage.

Either way, I am confident that my drinking this year has not caused me to forget a cancelled show.

Now, I clearly need to make a foil hat to prevent the Aliens from finding me again.