Polynesian. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu], Hawaii) 1844-1864, 1859-12-17
No. 33.
Ghe pulprresialt.
Malt Liquors in California.

The superiority of California in the production
of cereal crops is well known to every one at all
eonversant with that wonderful country. The
magnitude of the barley crop for the past year
has excited considerable speculation among the
growers, as to " what shall we do with it,' The
subject has ELECTED lively correspondence through
the papers, on the pros and cons of the adapta-
bility of the State to produce good malt liquors,
and one of the communications, evidently written
by one well acquainted with the subject, conveying
good information, and refuting several fallacies
believed both there and here respecting bottled
English ale for export or East India ale," ss it
is commercially termed, we publish. If, as the
writer advances, the eli mate of California is too
temperate to allow of the proper fermentation of
the malt that objection will equally apply to these
islands but will not this objection be done away
with in the colder latitudes of Vancouyers Island
and may there not be the germ in this business of
future immense trade to the Pacific countries and
the Indies, to whose marts are in this region
daily becoming more contiguous
The subjoined extracts are from the San Fran
cisco Netcs Letter:
The writer of the communication in question
predicts that the time will come when the English
and Scotch export ale trade will have to give way
to that which is to be the trade of this continent
and he enters upon the pros and cons In q way
highly satisfactory to himself it is presumed but
we think not in a style to command the assent of
those who are much better qualified to Judge of
the business than he appears to be. Shackled
with very popular delusion, and attributing ridic
ulOus properties to certain waters. we are gravely
told that Sc the water of the Thames is Justly
| for nd - b,k =
keeping in beasty rotten state entirely unfit for
ordinary use, especially in the neighborhood of
London where all the extensive brewery establish
ments are. But what does this signify, when the
fact is, there is not in all London brewer that
makes use of one drop of the Thames water. The
breweries are entirely supplied by wells which are
of great depth. From one on the premises of Tru-
man, Hanburry & Co., there are 10000 gallons
raised daily. If, therefore, there be any desire to
compare waters the Thames has no business to be
made q competitor, as being the basis of all the
fine London ale and porter for it is carefully ex-
eluded from them, and water quite as good for the
purpose as Silver Terrace, or any other California
water can be, is made use of by all the London
brewers.
That barley is cheaper in California than in
England, is true but it is equally true that such
barley is very far from being of quality to meet
the requirements of the English malsters and
brewers, who are subject to a heavy fiscal impost,
which eompels them, for self-preservation to work
only the very finest and eleanest barley that can
be had, such will weigh from fty-three to fifty
eight pounds the imperial bushel-22l9:l92 cubic
inches. There has been in Mark Lane, London,
for some years past, sample OF barley which
weighs sixty three pounds bushel (; it was grown
in Scotland. in district of which Ednburg is the
center and is only a good sample Of the ordinary
produce of that section of country. Thin-skinned
floury-kerneed, plump and round as pea, it is
as unlike California barley as two things of the
l. l.. r
brewer it is quite equal to twice its weight of the
lank, husky and horny California grain, besides
being of far superior quality. To increase the
starch and reduce the gutinous constituents Of
barley, has been the aim of all practical agricul
turaists in Britan and they have been so far very
successful. To the absence Of any excess of glu-
tinous matter may be traced the preseryative
property of well brewed ale, and it is unreasona-
bic to expect this in q high degree in ale made
from California barley, which, as might be expect
ed, contains o great excess of the Objectionable
constituent.
If it be conceded chat as q regular thing the
English and Scotch brewers do make fine malt IL
quors, then it is hardly possible to see by what
process Of reasoning it is determined that Califor-
MIA is to become a successful rival, for there is
nothing essential that is to both countries.
In the depth Of winter, when the cold is intense
and the ground covered with snow, the Britisher
| then, and only then, makes malt and brews ex-
port ales. His mode of working grain in the malt
house is thing impossible in climate such as
| we have here. Ii is seldom that he can make malt
in less time than from fifteen to twenty days;
while in this country it seems impossible to keep
grain in operation onethird of the time necessary.
The British brewer, likewise, will take at least
| twenty days to ferment his beer, while with rs
twenty hours very often prove too many for the
article, which is in great number of cases q
mere frothy mixture of sweetwort and yeast, with
none of the leading characteristics of properly
l., IL. . Al Il.
bitten rotten stuff met with in every hole and
corner. The germ of decomposition is engendered
at the Outset-inoculating the mass-it never for
a moment ceases to act inuriously until the arti-
Gle is rendered unfit for consumption in a very
short time. All this risk is avoided by the British
| brewer, he having command Of season, unlike,
indeed California winters, and it is folly to think
| that so important an agency can be supplanted by
any amount of young Americanism. In Britain
the mailing and brewing season begins about the
middle of October, and is seldom prolonged beyond
the end of March. During the hot weather which
is more Californian in its character, the brewers
work only for their home trade
The sweeping assertion s. that every drop Of
malt liquor we import is drugged, is barefaeed
| falsehood, unsupportable by any evidence that
'':Antrax, can adduce, and only shows how absurd
and superficial his speculative oonjectures are.
When ne was penning this very extraordinary
sentence did he for one moment consider how it is
possible foT the export brewers to elude the ever
wide-awake Exciseman, and safely introduce into
their premises such quantities of drugging mate
rials as would be of any advantage whatever to
| them. Some of them consume about 2, 1000 900
pounds of hops yearly. Admitting that only
hundredth part of this weight is elandestinely and
| fraudulently introduced, where are drug materials
procured in such quantities, and by what species
Of manoeuyering are they SO secretly made use Of
in lieu of hops.
| GS"I never come too late to friends din
| ner" says BOileau, IS for have observed that,