Beer is one of the oldest drinks the world has ever known. International Beer Day gives fans worldwide just one more excuse to have a round on the first Friday in August.
Beer somehow manages to do what politicians have tried to do for centuries – unite people in a common cause for good. Our insatiable thirst for beer gives us reason to pause; to stop what we’re doing, sit down and converse with one another over a pint or two. The conversation may be pleasant or not, calm or animated, but somehow beer makes it possible to agree to disagree and still walk away friends.
When Jesse Avshalomov, Evan Hamilton, Aaron Araki, and Richard Hernández wondered why there wasn’t an international beer day, they began to think about what the perfect date would be for this occasion.
In 2007 they decided that August 5 could be a very good date, only that it was unlucky that that day, at some point, would be a Wednesday or even Monday, which is why it would be difficult for workers to celebrate that day.
Five years later, in 2012 they reached a decision: on the first Friday in August, of each year, International Beer Day would be celebrated, decided in a bar in Santa Cruz, California.
This day is celebrated in over 200 cities across the world. It is a day where friends come along to enjoy the deliciousness of beer. The day is celebrated by bringing together the world and celebrating the beer of all nations.
Mexico, the OECD country that consumes the most beer
Mexico was crowned as the country that consumes the most beer, among 52 nations registered by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
The organization’s study showed that the choice of a specific alcoholic beverage for consumption, per person, is directly proportional to the economic capacity of the consumer, as well as the price of the product, underlining that buying a beer is not the same as buying some wine or other drink with a designation of origin such as tequila or whiskey.
Then, in the top 3 of the most consumed beverages, the analysis called “Preventing harmful consumption of alcohol” placed beer in first place – in all the countries included – with 42% of the consumption of alcoholic beverages, followed by wine with 29% and then the beverages with designation of origin with 23%.
The OECD refers to these preference percentages due, to a large extent, to the purchasing power of people and therefore to the prices of products. Then they point out that it is logical that beer is in the first position since it is one of the most accessible alcoholic beverages globally.
In the particular case of Mexico, 87% of the participants chose beer, followed by designation of origin (tequila, mezcal, etc) with 5%, and wine with 4%, and other types of drinks won the remaining 4% of those surveyed.
Beer is one of the oldest drinks the world has ever known. International Beer Day gives fans worldwide just one more excuse to have . . .
