The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1882-06-09
BEER.
Who Make It and Who Drink 1t.
San Francisco Chronicle.

S"e II TWtctsco CHTOHfctc.
The original makers of beer were the an
cient Germans and Lombards; and to this
day 1t is the staple beverage of the people in
all German-speaking nations. The beer
houses OF Munich, Leipzig, Berlin, Dresden,
Hamburg and Bremen, are the daily resorts
OF all classes, from the highest to the lowest,
the measure and price being as carefully
regulated by law as the taxes. Arbitrary re-
ductions of the first and increase of the sec
ond have been known to cause violent popu-
lar outbreaks, which required Government
interference to suppress. The late Bayard
Taylor, who was as well acquainted with
German society and manners as American,
once stated that in Munich it Is or was the
prevailing custom for the upper classes to
take their wives and daughters to the beer
house almost nightly; and he added to this
that perfect order and decorum was always
preserved in those places, save in the quarter
set apart for young gentlemen of "culture"
from the university, who had an obnoxious
habit of becoming uproarous after the sec
ond gallon. DIR. Busch, in his diary of the
transaction Of the Chancellory presided over
by Bismarck throughout the campaign in
France, states that though the Chancellor
received large daily presents of premium
beer from Berlin, Dresden, Munich and other
German cities, and though he was an I'M
limited beer-guzzler, he yet condemned 1t as
a staple drink, declaring that it tended to
the production of impotency and dropsical
disorders. When he could get it he prefer
red champagne; and next to that the best
French claret, and what he called "corn
brandy" meaning the article that Americans
call whisky. II is one of the established
facts in the esthetics Of drinking, that the
people of wine countries consume the mini
mum of beer. In Italy, Spain and Portugal
beer is an unknown beverage, except TO resi-
dent or visiting foreigners. France makes but
154, ,000, 900 gallons, or four gallons year to
each inhabitant, while Germany makes S14,-
900, 900 gallons, or twenty-five to each in
habitant. That is nearly half pint day
10 each man, woman and child. But it is
not equal in measure to the average con-
of wine in France, or Hungary or
Spain.
The English doubtless derive their taste
for beer from their Saxon ancestors. They
have improved on their ancestors, too. OF
all the beer-producing countries England
ranks highest. In 1880 England had 26,1OO
against "a, 900 for Germany, which
rates next highest. The English brewers
made in that year 1,o75, 100000 gallons of
beer, against s14.000,OOo gallons for Ger
many. As the population of Germany was
hen about 100000 greater than that of
England, Scotland and Wales, 1t is seen at
glance that the English must be greater con-
'umers of beer than the Germans, the excess
of British exports of malt liquor over the
German being allowed due consideration in
.he estimate. Beer is not popular drink in
Ireland. The Irish prefer claret aud whisky.
The making of beer in the United Kingdom
Is confined to England and Scotland, but as
the Scotch are about equally d.
Vided between beer and the beverage known
as Scotch Whisky, hallowed by the memory
of Burns and Sir Walter, who both ",learly
loved" it. Yet there are large breweries in
both Scotland and Ireland. "Scotch ale"
has high reputation throughout the whole
world of malt liquor drinkers. But the great
majority of breweries are In London and in
other English cities. Mary of the largest
fortunes in that country have been derived
from the brewing of ale, beer and porter;
and the malt tax is one Of the chief sources
IF the British revenue. The United States
IS rapidly progressing in beer-guzzling. In
1880 we made 30S, ,OOO,O 600 gallons, or little
more than six gallons to every inhabitant.
The Germans beat us nearly four aud the
English nearly six times. We of California
will probably take to wine by and by, as our
vineyards increase and the quality of our
wine improves; but there is no doubt that we
have reached high point now as beer con-
,umers.