The London Beer Flood

On 17 October 1814, a vat at the Horse Shoe Brewery in London burst and sent a wave of porter through the St Giles slum. Eight people died. The popular legend of a drunken mob is not supported by newspapers of the time. This episode separates what happened from what the legend says happened. Chapters 0:00 Intro 0:20 The Horse Shoe Brewery 0:46 The warning 1:09 The burst 1:33 New Street 1:55 The victims 2:17 The myth 2:49 The inquest 3:02 The refund 3:17 Aftermath Sources London Beer Flood, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Beer_Flood Martyn Cornell, brewing historian, on the absence of revelry in contemporary newspaper reports (as summarized in the article above) Note: total volume released is disputed. Estimates range from about 128,000 to 323,000 imperial gallons. Names and ages of the eight victims come from the inquest list. Subscribe for more strange true stories the textbooks skipped. Visuals are AI-generated illustrations in the style of period engravings. Narration is a synthetic voice.