Quick year-end quiz

We tend to be a pretty serious bunch here at PolitiFact Wisconsin.

But not always.

Sometimes we do lighter fact-checks. And as 2014 draws to a close, we thought this would be a nice time to review some of those.

We’ll do it quiz-style.

Here are six of the lighter claims we checked during the past year.

Take your best guess at how they were rated: True, Mostly True, Half True, Mostly False, False or Pants on Fire.

Then check the bottom of this article to see how you did.

Here we go:

1. “Turkeys today weigh 29.8 pounds. In the ‘30s, they weighed 13.2 pounds.”

The liberal Mother Jones magazine made that claim a few days before Thanksgiving, saying turkeys are twice as heavy as they used to be. We happened across it during one of our regular cruises of political websites.

2, New Glarus Brewing Co.’s Spotted Cow is available only in Wisconsin.

Mary Burke, the Democratic candidate whom Gov. Scott Walker defeated in his bid for re-election, was asked by ABC News: Spotted Cow or Summer Shandy?

That forced Burke to choose between two well-known Wisconsin beer makers: New Glarus Brewing Co. and Leinenkugel’s. She responded by saying Spotted Cow, and claiming that the beer is sold only in Wisconsin.

3. “The Capitol rotunda was actually made to invite the people in and to accommodate protests.”

State Sen. Chris Taylor, D-Madison, made that statement, about the statehouse in Madison, in a video. Produced by the Russian punk band Pussy Riot, the video argued for the dismissal of tickets issued to protesters who participated in noon-hour singalongs at the Capitol.

4. As a result of climate change, ice fishermen in Wisconsin “are already noticing fewer days they can be out on our ice covered lakes.”

U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, a member of the House’s Safe Climate Caucus, said in a speech on the House floor that Wisconsin’s ice fishing season had grown shorter, and he blamed global warming.

5. “Miller Brewing is not a U.S. company any more. Neither is Anheuser-Busch.”

U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, spoke to a group in Milwaukee about inversions, the practice of U.S.-based companies buying foreign firms and then relocating their own headquarters to another country to enjoy lower taxes. During his talk, he claimed the world’s two largest beer brewers, by volume, were no longer American companies.

6. “There has never been an alderman who has defeated an incumbent mayor in the history of this great city.”   

In announcing his 2016 bid for mayor of Milwaukee, Ald. Bob Donovan made it clear he knew he’d have an uphill battle if Mayor Tom Barrett decides to seek a fourth term. Donovan said that never in the history of the city had an alderman defeated a mayor who was running for re-election.

Quiz over.

Drumroll, please:

Believe it or not, each of the six claims was rated ….

True.

Happy New Year.