Page 213 - The Lost Ways
P. 213
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tradition has its origins in the drinking habits of the Age of Sail. In the 18 century, each
man’s daily beer allowance was a British gallon—over nine and a half U.S. pints.
It was small beer, but that’s still a formidable amount of alcohol. Later, when the Navy
began operating in the Mediterranean and Caribbean, they found that the beer quickly
went bad in the heat. The daily gallon was replaced with a half pint of rum. When mixed
with water, it killed the bacteria and made it safe to drink.
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