Great for your skin
Beer is an excellent skin conditioner. Next time you want to have a long soak in the bath, tip in a good can of dark beer before you hop in and just soak in it! This is a nice alternative to adding salt crystals (which soften water), but I see no reason that you couldn’t combine both for a super luxurious bath. Just don’t be tempted to drink the bathwater! Oh – and be careful if you go outside afterwards on a hot day
Take care of that upset stomach
If you have a upset tummy, slowly sipping a can of beer can help to settle it down – and the alcohol has an anesthetic effect which helps to alleviate the pain. As most of us will know, this is also a very effective hangover cure! Just be sure not to use this trick if you have an ulcer or gastritis.
Polish up that furniture
Beer is a surprisingly good wood furniture polish. Let a can of beer go completely stale and flat and pour a little onto a polishing cloth. Buff your timber furniture and follow up with a final dry buff. You will be amazed at how brilliant and shiny your furniture will end up looking.
Marinate Meats
Beer makes an excellent marinade. It really doesn’t matter what meat you are preparing – it will benefit almost all types from a few hours (the longer the better) in a marinade of beer. You can get really adventurous too – add any flavors you like to the beer – even things like marmalade or jam. A more common addition would be soy sauce or other Asian sauces. If you are marinating pork, you might want to add some chunks of pineapple and pineapple juice with some ginger for a sweet and sour result
Wipe – out Garden Pests
Slugs are a terrible pest in a garden – particularly if you are growing for eating. Instead of using chemicals like DDT on your veges, bury a small saucer up to its lip in the garden and put fresh beer in it each day. The slugs will be attracted to the smell, get drunk and drown. Be sure to refresh the beer daily. With a little luck you should have a saucer full of slugs and healthy looking cabbages!
Fertilize the garden
The yeast and other extracts in a can of beer are very good for plants. If you end up with a pile of left-over half-drunk cans or bottles of beer, tip them out onto the garden. Just watch out for cigarette butts if your guests use them for ashtrays – while some plants do like nicotine extract, not all do and you could kill your prize plants.
Bee Away
Bees and wasps are attracted to beer – so instead of spending a fortune on citronella oils or candles, try putting a few open beer cans around the yard at your next BBQ. Obviously you should put the cans away from where people will be sitting or standing. Oh – and make sure no one decides to have a swig from one of the cans when they are drunk – it will result in a very unpleasant (and potentially lethal) situation!
Wash that hair
Beer “shampoo” can add luster and body to dull limp hair. It is also a much more natural alternative to store-bought shampoos which contain a lot of chemicals. Just mix one can of beer with a raw egg and use it as you would use a normal shampoo. It was quite common in days gone by to use raw eggs for shampoo – it even lathers up like the chemical stuff. Try it – I am sure you will be pleasantly surprised. This is probably best as a once-a-month special treatment. You can also use beer on its own as a conditioner – rinse your hair with it, let it dry off, and then rinse it off.
Make it batter
When making a batter, you often add a little raising agent – usually baking powder. In this recipe, you use beer – the bubbles in the drink and the yeast provide the raising. So, here is the recipe: put 1.5 cups of flour and 1/2 a teaspoon of salt in to a bowl. Pour in 1 12oz can of beer while mixing. That is it! If the batter is too thick, add more beer. If it is too thin, add a little more flour. If you are planning to use this batter with fish, dredge the fish in flour first – remembering to shake off the excess. This is a great tasting batter that I use all the time.
Baste that bird
This has to be one of the easiest recipes around. You simply take a full opened can of beer, stand a chicken on it, and throw it on the barbeque (well – don’t literally throw it – that could be very messy!) The beer can is inserted in the neck area (where you would normally stuff the chicken) and stood upright. While the chicken cooks, the beer heats up and subtly flavors the meat. You end up with a tasty and surprisingly moist chicken. You should also rub a little olive oil over the chicken and salt and pepper it before starting. If you have a favorite “rub” you can add that too. Oh – make sure you drink half of the can first – it should be half full when starting out. I am sure you will have no trouble finding someone to help you with that part of the recipe. Cook the chicken with the BBQ lid on for approximately 1 1/4 hours or until the internal temperature registers 165 degrees F in the breast area and 180 degrees F in the thigh (or the juices run clear if you pierce it with a knife)
Clean up those carpet stains
Getting coffee or tea stains out of your rug may seem as feasible as getting water out of a rock, but beer can be a miracle worker in this field. Color test a small non-visible area first and allow to dry. If all looks well, then time to tackle the stain: douse it in beer, blot, repeat
Douse that Fire
Who needs 9-1-1 when you have beer? Kidding. Although certainly not as effective as a real fire extinguisher, a can or bottle of beer can be used in some cases. Because of the water content and pressure, you can shake a can or bottle and unleash the liquid on the fire. This is not for grease fires or electrical fires, really only for tiny paper fires or grill flare-ups–I’ve also heard of people who carry an emergency can in their car in case of engine fire.
Polish them Pots
In the past, dregs of beer from spent kegs was collected and used to polish the copper vats in breweries. Because of beer’s subtle acidity, it can help boost shine without staining the metal like a higher-acidity liquid would. Try an inconspicuous test spot first–dampen a soft towel with beer, and buff.
Trap them Fruit Flies
They say you can catch more flies with honey? Maybe they haven’t tried beer. Anyone with an indoor compost bin or worm farm had probably experienced a plague of fruit flies at some point. But guess what, not only do fruit flies dig fermenting organic matter, they love them some beer. Try this: put some beer in a cup; cut the corner off of a sandwich bag and place the cut corner in the cup; folding the rest around the cup and securing with a rubber band. Place the cup in the bin and say good bye to little flying fellas.
Why alcohol can make women clingy and men unfaithful
Have you ever wondered why alcohol makes women all touchy and clingy? Or why drunken men may cheat on their girlfriends? If so you’ll probably love this study performed by scientists from the Oregon University (USA). They checked out what happened when they offered alcohol to couples of prairie voles. These small rodents are known to be extremely faithful. Once they have chosen a life partner they stick to a lifestyle of complete monogamy. For that reason they are often used for social monogamy experiments. In this experiment with young couples it turned out that the female voles wanted to cuddle more when drunk, where the their male partners got in the mood to stray and try new partners.
The scientists in Oregon put young couples of prairy voles (male and female) together. Both at that time in the experiment were still in search of a life partner. They were open to ‘bonding rituals’ like cuddling and mating. The rodents then got the choice between water and a mix of water and ethanol, similar to vodka. For 24 hours they were left alone. As expected the voles had no interest in staying sober and had themselves a little party. The study report states: “We previously demonstrated that prairie voles voluntarily self-administer substantial amounts of alcohol (ethanol) and can influence the drinking patterns of a social partner, similar to social drinking in humans.”
After the 24 hours all voles in the experiment were pretty wasted. More than half the times they went to drink they chose the booze. They consumed enough alcohol that their bodies contained 12,5 grams of it on 1 kilo body weight. To compare: most full grown men would have to drink 2 bottles of vodka or more to achieve this, respect!
Anyway, after their alcohol infused 24 hours together the voles were separated for the so called ‘partner preference test’, that was used before but without alcohol. During this test the voles were introduced to potential new partners for periods of 3 hours and were then reintroduced to the partner they got drunk with. Kind of like a dating show they then had to chose a partner. It’s important to say that during the 24 hours the drunken couples mated with the same frequency as the sober ones. So any reactions later in the experiment couldn’t be traced back to the quantity of sex. Also good to know: the scientists found no evidence that any drunk behaviour (aggression, stumbling or passing out) played any role in matchmaking process.
So what happened when the voles were introduced to new partners? Where the sober females in 2/3rd of the cases stayed with their original partner and 1/3rd tried a new lover, nearly a stunning 100% of the drunken female voles stayed with the man they partied with. That’s right, while drunk they chose their partner for life. The male voles behaved in quite the opposite way. All the sober ones stayed with their original partners, as where a lot of drunk males tried to avoid their former lovers (who were in the mood to cuddle) and showed more interest to the new strangers.
To explain the voles’ behaviour the scientists then sacrificed 2 sets of 9 pairs (male and female, sober and intoxicated) of rodents to examine their brains. They found that alcohol affected the neuropeptide systems in their brains, the area’s that influence social behaviors and anxiety. In the brains of the males it increased the density of fibers in the amygdale, which is a sign of reduced anxiety. In females the opposite happened as alcohol promoted anxious feelings. This may explain why the drunk girls chose their safe first love, where the relaxed males felt great and in no mood to commit to a partner yet.
Although we can’t copy the behavior of voles directly onto humans there is a clear resemblance between the social behavior of our ‘lab rats’ and people when they go out to party. But scientists also state that the way we act is not just a biological reaction, since humans have the ability to control or change their actions. So clingy women and cheating men still can’t use alcohol as a valid excuse for their behavior.
Thank you Micky Bumbar !