It is October. That can only mean one thing to the beer swilling hordes of the world - beer festivals. I suppose we have ours in June not to mention the rest of the year!

Most have it in October and you tend to think of Munich. Well that is as maybe but it is not only Germans. In fact the Germans are outclassed by the citizens of the Czech Republic. Per capita, they drink 42 gallons (160 litres) of beer annually, the highest (in more ways than one) rate of consumption in the world.

Germany is not far behind drinking 31 gallons (118 liters). However they are in decline I believe. In 2003, for the first time in recorded history, Germans drank more water than beer, a drop attributed to greater awareness of health and fitness as well as an aging populace.That decline did not daunt visitors to the Munich Oktoberfest, however, which this year saw the highest level of beer consumption in its 174-year history at 419,000 litres.

Two interesting tatistics are recorded in Der Spiegel, “The number of false dentures found surged to three this year from one in 2006…. Some 50 lost children were also recovered.”