Comments on: Help me find the source of this quote

By: Al

Al — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 20:04:25 +0000

Because they weren’t called “bacteria” nor implicated in disease until after ol’ Ben departed this Earth.

By: C.J.

C.J. — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 19:37:45 +0000

Why couldn’t BF have said it? Bacteria was discovered in the mid 1670′s by Antony van Leeuwenhoek so it’s certainly possible that Ben said it.

By: Joe

Joe — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 17:37:37 +0000

Wasn’t original in 2002, I first saw it on the wall of a pub in 1994, attributed: Old German Proverb, but couldn’t have been older than the word bacteria, unless originally was “illness” or some such

By: Al

Al — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:15:38 +0000

True, true. But the connection between those microorganisms and disease, not to mention the word “bacterium”, didn’t come about until after Franklin’s death.

By: Björn Blockhuis

Björn Blockhuis — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:53:27 +0000

Bacteria where first discovered as I learned by Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, dutch. In 1676 he found them in a pepperdrip.

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 13 May 2008 19:12:34 +0000

I saw this attributed to Ben Franklin on an email signature which is how I wound up here looking for an answer. The reason being is I am not sure (just started looking mind you) if ole Ben would have known about bacteria, when were they discovered?

Glad I wound up here too, ’cause I’m a brewer.

By: Al

Al — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 13:58:07 +0000

Another version I found:

“Wine has body, Beer has strength, Water has bacteria”

By: Al

Al — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 13:38:20 +0000

Heh, so much for that.

A quick search of Usenet archives shows a person named Wayne Lutz using it in his signature in 1996. He lists it thus:

“In beer there is strength,
In wine is wisdom,
In water is bacteria.” – Olde German saying.
(Or something an old German said; I’m not
sure which.)

Of course, every collection of German proverbs I’ve looked at doesn’t have it.

By: Al

Al — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 13:29:19 +0000

Ah, but which David Auerbach? A quick search shows a Hollywood cameraman, an actor, a professor of philosophy, three lawyers, two doctors, and a performance artist. And that’s just on the first page.

http://www.foodreference.com/html/qbacteria.html has the quote has ‘”In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is strength, in water there is bacteria.” – David Auerbach, 2002′, but no further information as to where that appeared.

By: Adam @ Beer Bits 2

Adam @ Beer Bits 2 — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 19:31:26 +0000

I saw some blogs that attribute it to David Auerbach and some attribute it to Benjamin Franklin. Still searching….

By: Stephen Beaumont

Stephen Beaumont — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 15:43:20 +0000

The second line reminds me of something Fritz Maytag once wrote (in the foreword to Jack Erickson’s “California Brewin’”): “It takes a lot of freedom to make good beer.”

Doesn’t bring you any closer to the original author of your aphorism, of course, but I thought it was interesting nonetheless.