# ""Beer is liquid bread"" - oh really? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 20, 2001, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer-is-liquid-bread-oh-really/77109 "2001-08-20T07:58:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer-is-liquid-bread-oh-really/77109/1 "2001-08-20T07:58:39Z")
Where did this idea originate? I’ve made beer and I make bread regularly and sure, beer and bread both involve grain, yeast and water, but that’s about the extent of the similarity as far as I can see. I have a feeling that beer and bread are probably linked historically in that one was used (or was a by-product) in the manufacture of the other, but when did people start summing it up in the phrase “beer is liquid bread”? ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer-is-liquid-bread-oh-really/77109/2 "2001-08-20T08:02:16Z")
around the time the prohibition movement began in the 1880s-90s someone concoted the idea since they contain the same ingreidents they have the same nutrition ie beer is good for you becuase its nutrituos as bread over the years became beer is liquid bread ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer-is-liquid-bread-oh-really/77109/3 "2001-08-20T12:12:09Z")
During the Middle Ages, monks in European abbeys had to obey certain rules concerning what to eat and how much during the fast days. They were, however, allowed to drink as much as they wanted so many abbeys started brewing as a substitute for meals since the nutrition of beer is similar to the one of bread. Monk beer was considered one of the best, which is the reason why many big German breweries still bear the name of religious orders. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer-is-liquid-bread-oh-really/77109/4 "2001-08-20T12:18:05Z")
I remember reading somewhere that the ‘small beer’ of old was only mildly alcoholic and was more of a food item. ---
**Author:** ![Katie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a4c791/32.png) [@Katie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katie)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer-is-liquid-bread-oh-really/77109/5 "2001-08-20T12:22:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mangetout \* > \*\*I remember reading somewhere that the ‘small beer’ of old was only mildly alcoholic and was more of a food item. \*\* That’s right. It was often unsafe to drink the water because of infectious diseases, so most people drank small beer. It was deliberately very mildly alcoholic because people (including small children) drank it all the time as a substitute for water. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer-is-liquid-bread-oh-really/77109/6 "2001-08-20T12:47:08Z")
So why is small beer safer than the water it’s made out of? (Beer making does involve water, doesn’t it?) ---
**Author:** ![johnson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@johnson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnson)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer-is-liquid-bread-oh-really/77109/7 "2001-08-20T13:02:06Z")
Beer making involves boiling the water… ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer-is-liquid-bread-oh-really/77109/8 "2001-08-20T13:31:04Z")
Beer is safer due to the alcohol content. According to my homebrewing book here by Charles Papazian (hardly a medical source, I know), “there are no known pathogens that can survive extended submersion in beer or wine”. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer-is-liquid-bread-oh-really/77109/9 "2001-08-20T13:57:28Z")
\ [Crash!..tinkle] **Mrs Mangetout:** You’re drunk! **Me:** Yesh, but[sup]hic[/sup]beer is s safer due to the alcohol content[sup]burp[/sup] ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer-is-liquid-bread-oh-really/77109/10 "2001-08-20T13:59:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Anthracite \* > \*\*“there are no known pathogens that can survive extended submersion in beer or wine”. \*\* Wow. That is good to know. When I go home tonight I’m going to drink myself to health. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer-is-liquid-bread-oh-really/77109/11 "2001-08-20T13:59:42Z")
The rise of prohibition may have not originated the phrase, but it popularized it. When temperance movements were beginning to gain some political traction, a lot of the beer and wine manufacturers tried the tactic of saying “OK, outlaw distilled liquor, it’s evil, but not {beer|wine}. It’s GOOD for you.”. The “liquid bread” statement was popular with brewers making this argument. The vintners pointed out that wine aided digestion, etc. It didn’t help. The Volstead act took them down along with the distillers. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer-is-liquid-bread-oh-really/77109/12 "2001-08-20T14:53:24Z")
Anthracite: > [@](#): > > According to my homebrewing book here by Charles Papazian (hardly a medical source, I know), “there are no known pathogens that can survive extended submersion in beer or wine”. I don’t know about that…there are definitely some six-foot-tall, two-legged pathogens that seem to survive it on a nightly basis, where I come from… ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer-is-liquid-bread-oh-really/77109/13 "2001-08-20T18:21:12Z")
From the _Oxford Companion to Food_: “ **Beer** […] It was in ancient Egypt and the Near East that the beer and bread connection was apparent from early times. But the same connection is found at later times elsewhere, for example in N. Europe. Studies such as some of those edited by Astri Riddervold (1988) provide details. […]” " **Yeast** […] The same species of yeast, _Saccharomyces cerevisiae_, constitutes both baker’s and brewer’s yeast, and the connection between baking and brewing used to be intimate. A model of a combined brewhouse and bakehouse found in an Egyptian tomb of \*c.\*2000 BC is to be seen in the British Museum. Beer leaven, known as ‘barm’, was used for bread-making until quite recent times. The making of beer, black bread, and the alcoholic drink **kvass** were traditionally linked in Russia. There are still some who believe that bread made with barm had an especially good flavour. However, it is no longer true that the same yeast is used for brewing and baking. Many different strains of _S. cerevisiae_ have evolved or been slected, and those which are used for brewing are different from those which best suit the bakers, and are cultured on a different substrate.[…]" ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer-is-liquid-bread-oh-really/77109/14 "2001-08-20T18:44:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Anthracite \* > \*\*Beer is safer due to the alcohol content. According to my homebrewing book here by Charles Papazian (hardly a medical source, I know), “there are no known pathogens that can survive extended submersion in beer or wine”. \*\* I thought you had to keep the %ABV around 4-5% or higher for this to be true. This is a concern when it comes to cidermaking (which I’ve done a bit of), since some apple juice doesn’t contain enough sugar to get the alcohol content that high–you have to spike it (with sugar) before fermentation if you want it to have good keeping qualities. I suppose that “small” beer, likely drunk within a few days, would do OK, though (esp. w/ the boiling). ---
**Author:** ![kryptonite2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/85e7bf/32.png) [@kryptonite2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kryptonite2)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer-is-liquid-bread-oh-really/77109/15 "2001-08-20T20:59:09Z")
“fat tire” tastes like liquid bread ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer-is-liquid-bread-oh-really/77109/16 "2001-08-20T21:09:14Z")
I have a friend who often brings up a monk that she met in Hawaii who claimed to subsist on four bottles of beer each day, and (judging by photographs,) he appeared to be in good health. It should be noted that he subsidized this diet with an occasional handful of pistachios. It should also be noted that he saw and conversed with spiritual entities. ---
**Author:** ![bughunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@bughunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bughunter)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer-is-liquid-bread-oh-really/77109/17 "2001-08-20T21:58:24Z")
Although my favorite [Beer Nutrition](http://www.storeybeer.com/articles/previous/enthus/nutrit.htm) page appears to be permanently dead, [here is a page](http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/features/2001/aug/010816.bologna.html) that compares the basic nutritional facts of alcoholic beverages. Note that (excluding sweetened wine coolers) beer contains the most carbohydrates. It is also a source of a few minerals and B-vitamins. But it lacks many essential nutrients that bread contains, and has no fiber. So, if you wanted to live on “liquid bread,” I suggest you supplement it with a multivitamin/mineral regimen. And to paraphrase the old adage: “Man does not live on liquid bread alone.” ---
**Author:** ![bughunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@bughunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bughunter)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer-is-liquid-bread-oh-really/77109/18 "2001-08-20T22:01:03Z")
Urk! My clipboard went wacky!!! Or maybe the problem was between keyboard and chair. Anyhow, [here is the correct link](http://www.joslin.org/education/library/walohol.html)