I was checking out The Straight Dope and they have a section called "Threadspotting"--which is for interesting conversations. This one was about disasters. I've never heard of the Boston Molasses Flood, or the Madison Cheese Fire or this one:

The London Beer Flood of 1814

Can anyone imagine of whom I thought when I read it? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Oh, I almost hate to say this (just call me "Miss Gullible), but is this true? True or not, it is hilarious!

Oh, honey, I'm the Poster Girl of Gullible
But so far as I know, it's the real deal.

I've never heard of it either, but the Meux name adds versimilitude. The Friary Meux brewery used to be based in Guildford, Surrey and was presumably formed from a merger of two brewers. Friary Meux was later taken over by Ind Coope in Burton who were in turn swallowed up by the Allied Breweries giant.

This is completely true. The Friary brewery was in Guildford and Meux were in London. They did merge and, when I started drinking, my local pub (the Bull in Reigate) was a Friary Meux house (or Friary Muck, as we used to call it). I seem to remember that a pint was just over a tanner - it might have been eightpence-halfpenny.

Richard English

Last October, WinterBranch mentioned the Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919.