Author Archives: mike@standardsmichigan.com

“A drink to the living, a toast to the dead.”

— Some guy.

“John Barleycorn” is a figure in English and Scottish folklore who represents the personification of barley and the alcoholic beverages made from it, such as beer and whiskey. In folklore, John Barleycorn is often depicted as a person who is subjected to various forms of mistreatment and violence, such as being crushed, ground, and fermented, before eventually being reborn in the form of alcoholic beverages.

The figure of John Barleycorn has been the subject of various poems, songs, and other works of literature throughout English and Scottish history. One of the most famous works about John Barleycorn is the traditional English folk song of the same name, which tells the story of John Barleycorn’s journey from a growing plant to a fully fermented alcoholic beverage. The song has been covered by many artists over the years, including the British group  Traffic.

The legend of John Barleycorn is not widely known in the United States, but it does have some cultural resonance in certain regions and among certain groups of people. The legend is a traditional British folk song that tells the story of a man named John Barleycorn, who is personified as a personification of the cereal crop barley, which is used to make beer and other alcoholic beverages. Some breweries in the US have even named beers after John Barleycorn, as a nod to the traditional English roots of brewing.  The legend of John Barleycorn also has some resonance in American literature and popular culture. The American author Jack London wrote a novel titled “John Barleycorn” in 1913, which was a semi-autobiographical account of his own struggles with alcoholism. The novel has since become a classic of American literature and is still widely read today.