Read more about the essential statistics on the booze in your life, courtesy of Men's Health.

Over-achievers
Most beer kegs balanced on head: John Evans of England balanced 11 empty kegs for 10 seconds in June 1998

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Largest beer festival: Munich Oktoberfest

Largest beer consumption: Czech Republic - 160 litres per person... double the US figure

Most popular soft drink: In 1998, Coca-Cola sold more than 683 million drinks per day worldwide

Fastest pint of stout: Peter Dowdeswell drank a pint of Guinness in 2.1 seconds at Millwall Football Club on 24 April 2001

4 - The number of drinks that typically leave the average man unable to perform sexually

6 - The number of times the average guy will get drunk this year

1 - In every group of eight, there's one who's a lifelong non-drinker

Age at which most men begin drinking regularly: 17

Heaviest boozing age for the average man: 30

Approximate number of alcoholic drinks the average man consumes per week: 9

Percentage of people who've taken their clothes off under the influence: 40

Litres of alcoholic drinks the average man drinks in a year: 58.7

Number of times the average man has missed work because of a hangover: 3

The estimated number of liquor outlets in South Africa: 230 000

When ordering a cocktail, the average guy is most likely to choose a Martini

Global toasting
English Cheers
Chinese Wen Lie
French Santé
German Prosit
Greek Yasas
Hebrew L'Chayim
Hungarian Ege'sze'ge're
Irish Slainte
Italian Alla Salute
Japanese Kanpai
Polish Na Zdrowie
Russian Za vashe zdorovye
Spanish Salud
Swedish Skal

Having two drinks a day gives the average man a 50% lower risk of developing heart disease...

...but if he has three drinks a day, his risk of developing liver disease rises to 40%.

3 out of 5 - The number of casual sexual encounters in which the average man has been drinking

Country in which the average man is most likely to die from drinking - Lithuania

Country in which the average man is least likely to die from drinking - England

Tips 'n trivia
No bottle opener? Wedge a R2 coin under the bottle cap's edge and move it around the perimeter until you find a sweet spot where the coin sinks a hair deeper. Push up (no twisting necessary) and off it pops.

Soothe tired feet: Pour a couple of cold ones into a bucket and soak your feet. "Ice-cold beer with lots of carbonation can be soothing for tired feet," says podiatrist Dr Chris Alexander. Stop at two; you don't want to start staggering.

Tea total: Rather than gulping down litres of water in an attempt to rehydrate your liver after a heavy night, a cup of tea is said to be a far more effective hangover remedy.

Cure insomnia: Greg Smith, author of The Beer Drinker's Bible (available from www.menshealthsa.co.za for R176) says women often show up at his brewery asking to buy not his beer but the hops he uses to brew it. "They sew it into pillows," he explains. "The smell of it is supposed to be a sleep aid..."

Loosen rusty bolts: Pour some beer on them and wait a few minutes. The carbonation may break up the rust.

Way to grow: The hops plant (ingredient giving beer its characteristic bitterness) grows 10cm per day.

Sources: www.health24.com, South African Breweries, Alcoholics Anonymous, Guinness World Records, www.statssa.gov.za.
 

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