The 1814 Beer Flood: The Day London Drowned In Ale

The 1814 beer flood in London sounds like a dark comedy or a bizarre urban legend, but at the time, the well-documented industrial disaster was real enough. Read on for more about one more of history’s oddly fascinating moments.

An Unexpected Tidal Wave

October 17, 1814. Folks went on with business as usual, but suddenly, the “the Meux & Co. Horse Shoe Brewery.” in St. Giles, London, became a chaotic ground zero.

Per a report by The Morning Post back in the day, a massive, three-story  vat packed with fermenting porter ale suffered a catastrophic failure.

Bound together with metal hoops, one of them snapped and that freed about 135,000 gallons of liquid. The force of it also detonated other vats nearby.

Now, beer tastes good to aficionados but even for them, over 323,000 gallons of it seemed a lot over the top.

The Bad Hoop Was Known About

Here’s the rub though. It wasn’t as if nobody noticed the state of the hoop that gave up the ghost. But, things don’t always happen in a flash and blur in industry. So, delays ended up in fatal catastrophe.

The flood took lives, and that wasn’t just sad. Looking back now, it seemed that justice didn’t do the dead any favors.

The Gentleman’s Magazine (Volume 84, 1814) recorded that the coroner’s inquest ruled it an “Act of God.” In simple terms, it meant that the disaster was ruled an accident. 

Life was tough back then, without coping with a flood that reportedly reached as high as 15 feet in places as it ripped through the slums of St. Giles Rookery.

Poor people, and poorer homes meant the loss of property and the horrifying fact that people drowned or ended up crushed in the debris.

The Chaotic Aftermath

Despite the devastation caused by the 1814 Beer Flood in London, human nature quickly stepped up. Many people turned out to help who they could.

But reports from the aftermath claimed some locals rushed out with containers to collect beer from the streets and flooded basements. However, it should be noted that later retellings likely exaggerated how widespread that really was.

Well, if any celebrations happened, that ended up short-lived as well. That free beer wasn’t really free. After all, the British government refunded the brewery the tax they’d paid for their product.

While it kept the company afloat, those who lost everything also received nothing.

Often Told True Story

Over the years, plenty of people shared about the 1814 Beer Flood catastrophe. One of them, the YouTube account, Fascinating Horror, delivered a heavily factual video.

In the comments section, one viewer wrote, “scandalous that the company didn’t have to pay out any compensation but actually got money back from the Government.”

Here are a few more reactions from modern-day folks:

• To put it into perspective, the average backyard swimming pool is about 20,000 gallons. So that’s the equivalent of 20 swimming pools bursting and flooding all at the same time.
• We often hear of people drowning their sorrows in ale but literally drowning IN ale feels like a fate designed by a sadistic god with a dark sense of humor.
• I thought after the flooding of Boston with molasses and the flooding of Dublin with whiskey, I wouldn’t see anything like this.

Oh yes, the other two weird historic floods that still capture the attention of people today. We’ll cover those as well. So remember to come back here often for all your oddly fascinating historical stories, news and updates.