
An 1814 Beer Flood that Killed Eight People - ohjeez
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/1814-beer-flood-killed-eight-people-180964256/?no-ist
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bananasbandanas
Also: The 1875 burning whiskey flood in Dublin. Supposedly, no one died of the
flood or fire itself. However, multiple people died from drinking the whiskey,
which was also full of horse manure at that point because the latter was used
to contain the flood.

[https://comeheretome.com/2014/04/09/the-1875-liberties-
whisk...](https://comeheretome.com/2014/04/09/the-1875-liberties-whiskey-
fire/)

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grasshopperpurp
_Tries really hard not to make shitfaced pun_

~~~
metalliqaz
I'll allow it.

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oseph
That last paragraph is a bit of a bummer.

 _After all the beer was mopped up, the company that owned the brewery did
just fine. It "received a waiver from the British Parliament for excise taxes
it had already paid on the thousands of barrels of beer it lost," writes
History.com–meaning it didn't have to pay taxes on the equivalent amount of
beer when it brewed in future. Jurors declared the beer flood an "unavoidable
act of God," writes Tingle. Those whose houses were destroyed and whose loved
ones were lost received nothing from the government or the company._

All is fair in beer and spillages.

~~~
cr0sh
> Jurors declared the beer flood an "unavoidable act of God," writes Tingle.

I'd really like to see the transcript of that trial. I'd like to know how the
owners of the brewery and their lawyer spun things so as to escape all
culpability.

An accident is an accident, of course - I doubt they meant this to happen. But
there must have been some laxity in inspection of the vats, or some kind of
problem in the construction and/or materials (which wouldn't fall on the
brewery, most likely, but on the construction/engineering firm they used to
construct the vats).

Probably it was something like the latter - but given that they didn't have
anything like accident forensics or any way to really examine the issue, "act
of god" it was (in theory it could have been done, to an extent, with the tech
of the day - but it wasn't likely it was thought of; such things wouldn't
become regular until later in the century).

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brianwawok
Consumer rights were not quite so strong back then....

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LordKano
Consumer rights, perhaps not but property rights may well have been stronger.

~~~
Avshalom
(n.b. American) In 1814 the king may still have technically owned everything
(including the people) involved.

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wolfgang42
On a similar note, the Great Boston Molasses Flood:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Molasses_Flood](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Molasses_Flood)

~~~
KineticLensman
Visualisation of the molasses flood at [1] and description of the physics at
[2]. TL;DR: the cold January temperatures increased the viscosity of the
molasses and it behaved like quicksand for the people who were trapped in it.

[1]
[http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/664929/?sc=dwhn](http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/664929/?sc=dwhn)

[2] [https://www.newscientist.com/article/2114116-incredible-
phys...](https://www.newscientist.com/article/2114116-incredible-physics-
behind-the-deadly-1919-boston-molasses-flood/)

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frik
_Jurors declared the beer flood an "unavoidable act of God," writes Tingle.
Those whose houses were destroyed and whose loved ones were lost received
nothing from the government or the company._

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cat199
Completely unrelatedly and much less tragically, I recall a story from my
uncle about the 'great wapanucka train wreck of 65 or maybe it was 66' whereby
several freight cars of beer were derailed, spilling their freight into the
surrounding fields.

Apparently, or so the story goes anyway, some of the more resourceful people
who heard of the incident drove up to the scene that night, filling entire
pickup trucks and cars with cans of beer, and most of the nearby university he
was attending was drunk for a week.

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rdj
And closer to home: our beer flood of 2017. Although the only death was a
little piece of pride, and a new IPA.

[https://www.facebook.com/FarmCreek/photos/a.425132817617510....](https://www.facebook.com/FarmCreek/photos/a.425132817617510.1073741829.357605891036870/1077732579024194/)

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bryceosterhaus
Never forget the "Great Molasses Flood" of 1919. 21 people died.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Molasses_Flood](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Molasses_Flood)

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NuSkooler
A fine way to go.

~~~
zippydoo
Death. By Snu Snu!

