The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1894-08-04
WHERE THE BEER kEos 90.
One ot the Important Items OF Loss In elA
Brewery Business. y

One OF the Important Items OF Loss In .lk
Brewery Business.
Quite a story can be told in connec.
ton with a beer key. Apparently it is
only very substantial and long-llved
article 1t takes long while for one
to wear out. 1t has a tough constitu.
ton, and is protected from internal de-.
cay by coat of very pure and hard
pitch. The pitch used on the modern
<cg is much superior to that formerly
used. It is clear, tasteless and tough.
An empty beer key will stand a great
many knocks before the pitch scales
of. OThe kegs wear out. when they do
wear, externally. They are wet and
dry alternately. and this promotes de-
cay. Then they get great deal
of unnecessary banging around between
the time they leave the brewery and
are brought back again. Everybody,
from the, driver and railroAd and steam
boat hands down tos Ne barkeeper,
seems to- think the - - s3allle-s
structib1e A whole cSr ID I q es71tiiisbky
kegs is frequently thrown from the car
down to the ground A single empty
l<cg is often thrown fifteen feet.
Vet it is rare for keG to become
broken or lose hoop under such cir
cumstances. OF course. such rough
usage tells in time. 1t really isn't nee
essary to make the kegs SO heavy, so
far as the keeping of the beer is con-
heavy in the old days. The brewers
then deemed it absolutely requisite to
make them that way in order to with
stand the pressure of the beer.
The very fact that they were
made heavy and clumsy subjected
them to rough handling. Now they
have to be made heavy, and extra ma
terial has to be put into the heads and
slaves. simply because of this handling
and not from any danger on account of
the internal pressure of the beer.
But the other features that make UP
a romance of the beer-keg can best be
told in the language of a brewer in a
recent interview. He said:
s'It is not the breakage or decay Of
the kegs that bothers the brewers. II
is the frequent and entirely unneces'
Iary loss of the kegs. You would be
surprised to hear the number of kegs
and half-barrels a big brewery will lose
in year. 1t runs into thousands a:
times. No ordinary precautions can
check the loss. Charging for the kegs
and giving a rebate for the return
would accomplish something in that
direction, but there is too much lively
competition in the business for any
one to dare such an experiment.
don't think there are many
brewers in this country wka
brands and use another brewers kegs.
quarter-barrel is worth about two
dollars and fifty cents, and it doesn't
lock- to me that it would pay man to
steal such a petty thing that. What
becomes of the beer kegs then? just
try and think and tell me if you have
ever been at boating yachting re-
sort in this country where you did not
see one or two or perhaps a score OF
beer kegs bobbing on the waves
ouoys to mark a course. or as mornings
for boats. That means thousands OF
6ao l<or w fpxx 0f Il i11, f,2v1
been bought from the brewers. They
bob upon the waves for year or two
and then become water-logged and
sink, to be replaced by fresh
kegs. If a man wants empty oil
barrels for float or buoy he
buys them for about one dollar apiece.
If he wants a beer key or two he Dor.
rows them from friendly saloon
keeper. who, perhaps, says: Look
around the yard, and if you any
that suits you. why just take them.
Don't let me see you do it.
THAT there were other uses for beer
kegs than holding lager I realized
when 1 was up in New York state.
They were tapping maple trees ON "A
mountain near where 1 was stopping,
and went out to see them do it. The
hotel-l>eeper was filing beer kegs with
the sap and carting it down to his
place, where it was being converted in
to maple syrup in a big, open farmers
boiler. He had half a dozen beer halves
and several quarters in use. They
came in pretty handy. ne remarked.
He had been saving them since last
summer for this purpose. They be-
longed to two brewers in Paterson, one
in New York and one in New
ark. The New York kegs were taken
into the woods by a Sunday picnic
crowd, and the hotel-leceper was asked
to ship the empties home next day.
He didn't do it, and it is not at all like
ly that he will see those kegs again.
I've got suspicion that the Italians
are to blame for the disappearance of
many of our kegs: They have trick
of making cheap strong beer at home,
and believe they use beer kegs for the
purpose. Then occasionally. in the
summer, we sometimes hear of larger
beer kegs being used for making home
brews with root beer extracts. TEis is
an illegitimate use of the kegs, and
I'm puzzled to understand how any
body that would make or drink root
beer could ever get hold of a beer keg,
except by swiping it from n saloon al
ley at night st Louis Globe-Demo-
crat.
As Life Cnfolds.
There is more or less of disappoint-
nent in every life. We may safely say
that everyone feels that he has not ac-