The Osceola times., 1879-10-25
THE PEDlGREr rE REER-
Inc history Of POPULAR Beyerage--Y,s
Use Among the Ancient egyptians.
london Examiner

Use Among the Ancient rg,ntJans
London Examiner.
Man, the animal that cooks. NAV. also
IL is TO be regretted, be defined as IN,
being that gets drunk. In some fem
Perance tract or other there is the cdify
ing story OF the the monkey, who. hay
ing once been made excessively inebri
atea, became sadder and wiser ape
and put his human proprietor to sham,
by thenceforth firmly refusing the dan
gerous cup. AT what stage of their evo
iution from monkeydom men first learn
ed to brew, history sayeth not; but W,
have the dictum Of a no less authorit,
than Prof. Huxley, that among the ear
lest records of all kinds of men we finC
time recorded when they got drank
The discovery of roast pig is writ for al
tlmei but we are not aware that any one
has as yet portrayed the happy savage
VINO stumbled upon the invention o
beer. muddy mess of sodden grain il
probably was, but our early progenitor.
doubtless fuddled themselves upon i,
with great satisfaction and complais.
ance, and it was probably hundred
/ times more wholesome than the treacly
tobacco1lulced stuff, in which the heart
OF the agricultural laborer appears to
delight.
Beer, at any rate, speedily makes its
bow upon the stage of history, and some
authorities inform us that the very ex.
preston, "boozy," comes from an ancient
Egyptian name for ale derived from
Bueiris. Be that as it may, it is remark
able that to this day the Nubians brew
from barley liquor which they call
bouza, and the central Asiatic stupefies
himself with buza, drink which had so
dcmoralizing an effect on the Russian
soldier, that strong efforts have been
made TO stop its sale in Tashkend.
Xenophon, with his wine-drinking
Greeks, in the Retreat of the Ten
Thousand" came across tribe who
drank beer, and made anote of it. The
liquor of barley fermented to partial
resemblance to wine, says Tacitus, was
the favorite beverage of the ancient
Germani, and from remark of the an
cient historian that those interesting
barbarians would drink just as much
as they were able to get, we
gather that the undying thirst which
characterizes the Teuton of to-day had
its prototype in his compatriot of old.
In early times beer was made by an
infusion of matted grain, fermented and
drank sweet. by and by, as such a com
pound would not keep" spices, cloves
and bitters, as horehound or wormwood,
were added. Hops were not used in this
country until introduced from the Meth
erlands, early in the sixteenth century,
when they aroused such indignant oppo-
sition-for, pace Bismarck, who holds
beer responsible for "all the Democratic
pot policy talked over il" your true beer
topper tends TO conseryatism-that their
use was forbidden by Parliament. A
reaction followed, however, and hops
became, until recently, the only bitter
for brewing permitted by law. We say,
until recently" for now not only is the
addition of any wholesome bitter sane
toned, but the latitude given to brewers
is such that, much as it may surprise the
reader, beers have been produced which
are innocent of hops and malt alike.
Usually, however, it is where beer passes
into the hands of the small publican that
its manipulation begins. There are few
of these enterprising tradesmen, in fact,
who, whether they practice it or not, do
not possess recipe for making some
thing like three barrels out of two. The
basis of this process is naturally water,
but as the ensuing loss of color and fla
vor would probably be resented, while
some customers would feel aggrieved by
the consequent loss of intoxicating pow
er, recourse is had 10 many ingenious de-
vices. Sugar helps TO restore flavor, car
amcl color and salt gives fictitious pun
gency, while, torecompcnseth those injured
gentlemen who cannot get drunk fast
enough, such unconsidered trifles as
coccuius indicus are, though happily more
rarely, added. These are the most com
mon authorizations at the present time.
The sophistication of beer probably
dates from the time when ale became
am article of commerce. Three hun
dred years ago, that happy time when,
as our cotemporary enviousiv observed,
there were no public analysts the
municipal authorities in this country
took up the question of beer adultera-
ton and appointed officials, whose Office
/, was 10 taste all ales before they were
sold by the brewers. We do not know
whether responsible custodians were
provided for those offices, who might be
overcome in the conscientiontious and
Jealous discharge of their duties, or
whether their heads were as unimpressl-
BILE as those of the Connecticut people
who have, it appears, for ever SO long,
been drinking beer containing about
twice as much alcohol as Bass" and
thinking il was Il Temperance drink. At
any rate they appear TO have given sat,
isfiction, for the practice of 'ale-tasting'
is still in existence in some places at the
present time. In olden times ale tasters
like most other people, wore leather
breeches, and their meth cd Of determin,
ing the presence of sugar. which, at all
events, possessed the merit OF slmplici'y,
was to pour a pint of the suspected beer
upon A bench and to sit upon the same
until it dried if, upon rising, the leather
combinations stuck TO the bench, then
the sugar was present, but If not the
beer was pure.