a type of music that seems more often brought on by beer than by wine or spirits. Drinking songs are sung throughout the world’s taverns and pubs and often include some aspect involving alcohol as a main theme or topic of the song.

Package of dried hops depicting an all-male glee club, c. 1920. pike microbrewery museum, seattle, wa

Most originated as folk songs and virtually every beer culture developed a tradition of drinking songs that paralleled the development of their brewing history, especially in cultures where public drinking places flourished.

It is most likely that drinking songs date back at least as far as the 1st century, but the first record of such songs is the Carmina Burana, an 11th century collection of poems, love sonnets, and songs that includes at least 40 drinking and gaming songs.

Most nations have their own traditional drinking songs, but England, Ireland, Germany, and Russia have by far the most extensive catalogs of examples. Such songs are so popular in Germany that they have their own musical category: the “Trinklieder.” Similarly, in Sweden drinking songs are known as “Dryckesvisor.” Japanese beer drinkers are also particularly fond of drinking songs, and it’s probably no surprise that beer helps fuel the nation’s karaoke bars.

The National Anthem of the United States, known as “The Star-Spangled Banner,” uses lyrics taken from the poem “Defence of Fort McHenry,” by Francis Scott Key, but the melody is from the English drinking song “To Anacreon in Heaven,” by John Stafford Smith.

In modern times, English poems such as “John Barleycorn” have been adapted and recorded by rock bands, such as Traffic. Drinking is also a common theme in many American country and western songs, and beer makes frequent appearances in the blues, bluegrass, and rock and roll music as well.