The London Beer Flood of 1814
The bizarre and tragic story of the London Beer Flood of 1814, where a massive vat of beer ruptured, destroying homes and changing lives forever.
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The bizarre and tragic story of the London Beer Flood of 1814, where a massive vat of beer ruptured, destroying homes and changing lives forever.
Full transcript of The London Beer Flood of 1814
In 1814, a fifteen-foot wave of boiling beer swallowed a London neighborhood. A massive, iron-ringed wooden vat at a local brewery suddenly ruptured. Over three hundred thousand gallons of dark porter tore through the slums. Brick tenements crumbled as the deluge flooded basements, trapping families inside. Eight people drowned, not in water, but in fermenting alcohol. Yet, when the dust settled, the courts ruled it a tragedy of fate. The government actually refunded the brewery's taxes on the lost beer, while the victims got nothing.