First of all answers to the couple of questions I posed in my last article.

Do you know where the word Barmy comes from?

When the yeast is fermenting beer, it forms a thick frothy head on top of the liquid, which is called a Barm.

So if people think you have a head of nothing but bubbles, then you are barmy.

Why did Spitfires have barrels of beer strapped under their wings after D-Day? Modification XXX it was called, supposedly to take beer to the front line troops.

How successful this was I’m not sure, but it was certainly good publicity. A morale boost for our own troops to see the iconic Battle of Britain fighter aircraft being used to bring them a pint, and also to make a point to the Germans.

We have so many aircraft that we could afford to have some carrying nothing but beer. British Beer at that.

Scots ‘drink 46 bottles of vodka’

You may have seen this headline in your daily national paper. It refers to an article based on research by NHS Health Scotland in which it claims that Scottish people are drinking the alcoholic equivalent in of 46 bottles of vodka each year.

Now don’t get me wrong, alcohol abuse is a major problem, and any measures to cure it must be done.

But I do wonder if the Scots are really drinking that much, this is 25% more than the English and Welsh. Is this just sensationalism? First of all why state the alcohol consumption in terms of bottles of vodka? Surely the number one spirit in Scotland is whisky. Do people think vodka is more alcoholic than whisky and is therefore more shocking? Or that people wouldn’t be surprised that the Scots drink a lot of Whisky?

I’ve had a quick look at the figures and again I have questions. These figures are industry sales figures but nowhere in the report does it say exactly what sales figures relate to.

Up and down the length and breath of Scotland, distilleries offer tours, wery popular with tourists and a significant proportion of these tourists are not Scottish.

But are the thousands of bottles of Whisky sold after these tours to non-Scottish people counted in the above figures?

People going to Edinburgh for Stag and Hen parties are increasing in popularity, especially from this area, with cheap flights from Bournemouth International Airport.

Whilst I’ve never been on one, I imagine that alcoholic drinks are being drunk in the Scottish Pubs these parties visit, thus adding to the figures.

So next time you see an anti-beer/lager/alcohol articles and reports, look closer at the figures. Are they trying to pull the wool over your eyes?