Do Snails Like Beer ?

The Last Drink

One damp evening I stood in my garden looking at the damage again. My lettuce leaves were full of holes, and the shiny silver trails told the same old story. The snails had been busy during the night. Sometimes it feels as though the garden belongs to them more than it belongs to me.

A neighbour once told me that snails like beer. At the time I laughed and thought it sounded like a silly old tale. But gardeners pass down all sorts of tricks, and many of them turn out to be true. He said the smell of yeast pulls them in. To a snail it smells like food, like something sweet and rotting in the soil.

That evening I decided to try it. I took a small glass and poured a little beer into it. Then I went outside and pushed the glass into the soil so the rim was level with the ground. It sat there quietly beside the lettuce bed. The air was cool and damp after rain, the sort of night when snails begin their slow journeys. I went back into the house and left the garden to the darkness.

Snails do not move fast, but they are patient creatures. They travel by scent more than sight. Somewhere out there the beer was giving off its strong smell of fermentation. To us it might just smell like a drink, but to a snail it is a powerful signal. During the night they began to find it.

One would reach the rim of the glass and stretch forward, its feelers moving gently in the air. The smell was strong now. Food must be close. Slowly it would slide over the edge and down inside. The trouble is that once they fall in they cannot climb back out. The glass walls are smooth and the liquid holds them there.

Morning came with a pale grey sky. I stepped outside with a cup of tea and walked over to the lettuce patch. The garden was quiet. The leaves looked better than they had for weeks.Then I looked down at the glass.

The answer was there. Yes, snails do like beer. The smell draws them from the dark corners of the garden. They follow it faithfully, believing they have found something worth eating. As ethe beer is not a feast.It is simply the last drink they will ever find. 🐌🍺

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