The Write Team Daily: "The London Beer Flood"

The Write Team Podcast · Oct 17, 2026 · 29m

WASHED AWAY WITH THE ALE | October 17, 1814

London, England

On October 17, 1814, an enormous wooden vat burst inside London's Horse Shoe Brewery, sending a devastating wave of porter beer into the surrounding streets. What sounds like an almost unbelievable historical curiosity was actually a deadly industrial disaster that claimed eight lives and destroyed homes in one of the city's poorest neighborhoods.

In today's headline story on The Write Team Daily, we revisit the extraordinary London Beer Flood of 1814, examine the warning signs that preceded the disaster, separate historical fact…