. Favourite Beer of the Week

Lagunitas make some tasty (and fairly cheap) seasonal beers.  This Spring's Undercover Investigation Shut-down Ale and Summer's Little Sumpin' Wild were both delicious.  And for Autumn they've made this brand new Barvarian Styled Doppel Weizen.

It tastes all floral, with strong notes of boozy banana.  And it looks like the big glasses of orange squash we drank like water in the 70's.

Do you remember the 70's?  Everything was orange back then.

I certainly was.

The ginger hair mutation first occurred between 20,000 and 100,000 years ago, when homo-sapiens were leaving Africa in search of cold, damp places where they could hide from the sun (like Britain).  The lower melanin concentration in redheads meant their bodies could produce more vitamin D in low-light conditions, allowing them to retain heat better than regular humans, and making them less likely to contract rickets.   Although, when the sun did come out it was more likely to give them skin cancer.

Throughout history, cultural reactions to redheads have varied from adoration to fear and loathing.  King David (the one that killed Goliath) had red hair.  As did Judas (the one that shafted Jesus).

In superstitious times, redheads tend to fare badly. Their freakish appearance and fear of sunlight left Medieval gingers wide open to accusations of Witchcraft and Vampirism.

And during the Spanish Inquisition, red hair was considered evidence that its owner had stolen the fire of hell and must be burned to death.

Similar themes were explored in Season 9 of comedy central's South Park. Episode 11 - Ginger Kids - discussed how all ginger people suffer from a disease known as Gingivitis, and that they have no souls.

The South Park episode prompted this young man to post a series of vitriolic youtube responses, insisting that he is a Christian, that you are not God, and that he does indeed have a soul.

Even before youtube, redhead was synonymous with hot-head.  Boudicca (who led the violent uprising against the Roman Empire in Britain) was "Huge of frame, terrifying of aspect, and with a harsh voice, and a great mass of bright red hair falling to her knees."

Thor (the hammer wielding Norse god of thunder) was "Fierce-eyed, red-haired and red-bearded."

Although the Hollywood version is more of a strawberry blond, because a heroic ginger would be unbelievable.

Hollywood regularly vilifies redheaded children as evil bullies.

But in reality, gingers are more likely to be the victims of bullying.

A family in Newcastle was forced to move twice after years of abuse on account of their red hair.  Their house was covered in graffiti, their windows smashed, and their children were punched and kicked and thrown over a hedge.

In 2003, a 20 year old Yorkshire man was stabbed in the back after an argument over his ginger hair.

In 2008, five thousand people joined a Facebook 'Kick a Ginger' group, which aimed to establish a "National Kick a Ginger Day" on November 20th.

And in May 2009, a British schoolboy committed suicide after being bullied for having red hair.

A few months later, supermarket chain Tesco started selling this Christmas card.

In Australia, redheads are often referred to as rangas, because of their similarity to orangutangs.

 

And if you encounter a redhead in Corsica, tradition dictates that you spit and turn around.

Other ginger related medical phenomena include studies that show redheads are more sensitive to pain, and more resistant to the effects of local anesthesia.  For this reason, redheads are twice as likely to avoid going to the dentist as normal people.

And last month, Cryos International (one of the world's largest sperm banks) announced that it would no longer accept donations from red-haired men, because they couldn't give it away.  Except in Ireland.

However, recent reports that ginger hair will be extinct within 100 years have been greatly exaggerated.  The gene mutation is regressive, so it is likely to skip generations, but unlikely to disappear entirely.

Mine isn't very ginger anymore, though. At least not compared to a doppel weizen.