New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-12-24

me limits Of New-York City-three and a half
Eaasses every day Of the year for each one Of
them
Since the November elections there has been
good deal said in various quarters regarding
the purity Of New-York beer. 1t has even been
hinted that the next Legislature might take
the subject under consideration for the purpose
OF regulating its manufacture by special legis-
lAtfve enactment On this point the following
statement. made by an old brewer, will prove
e interest:
them, lager beer certainly has been a benefactor
TO the country. 1t Is admitted that while 20 =
0OOOOO people have been added to popula-
ton between 1883 and 1894 the quantity of dis
hlled spirits consumed by the population Of
tb,OOO,OOO is no larger than in 1880 when our
population only counted 50,0O0,OOO. And we
further find that the consumption of malt
liquors has much more than doubled in the same
period. Lager beer, according to these figures
has reduced ntemperance 30 1-3 per cent And
now allow me to say few good words for the
lager beer Of to-day-the temperance apostle
according to these figures.
Il will begin by saying that lager beer,
whether brewed from malt. rice corn. oats or
wheat, Is good and wholesome. Brewers now
one OF these cereals to the extent of 90 to
70 per cent in the brewing Of their beer.
These cereals are used for the following rea-
sons: They make the beer lighter, more pala-
table, more drinkable and less injurious to
the drinker. Analyses of such brews, made long
ago. have proven them not injurious to health
IN question is less injurious is that such brew
contains a lesser percentage of alcohol. The
very cereals here mentioned used in the
brewing of beer In all Europe excepting Ba-
varia. America, however, being ahead of
Europe in all modern inventions. has passed
Bavaria In the brewing Of beer, and cannot be
bound to the old system of that country. We
use the best OF railroads, telegraphs and every
thing else that modern genius can invent for
Is. and We certainly do not propose giving them
up because China has not awaited itself CT such
modern inventions.
Before 1870 the breweries of this country were
without icehOuses and ice-machines. Beer at
the time / refer to was breWed in winter and
stored away for many months in stone vaults
for summer sale. Beer so stored and sold in
the spring fair and drinkable, but as the
season advanced the beer 80 stored became
overfermented. the cellars wherein it was stored
growing warmer-it being impossible to keep
them cool and maintain an even temperature
until such beer grew fiat, soursh, hard tasting
and unfit to drink. Then. as regular as clock
work, the process Of doctoring the article up
would take place, and this was done in order
to give the beer the desirable foam by use of
strong acids-a process well known to every
brewer Of these days. l contend, and claim
rightly, that these acids were more injurious to
health than any cereal have named These
stone cellars or vaults were, as a rule, I'M
healthy in themselves, the continual dripping or
the ice stored in and around these vaults making
them moist, gases generating within them
which came in close contact with the beer there
In stored; the air in these vaults. as rule was
laden with all descriptions of gases, making the
atmosphere in which the beer was stored highly
detrimental to health All in all. and without
any question: the breweries OF thirty years ago
had not reached the degree Of cleanliness OF
to-day.
IAN this Is overcome by new present methods
The process of doctorinG old spoiled beer by the
use OF strong acids was rendered needless, to the
benefit Of the consumer, and to-day he can have
his beverage milder. alcohol clearer and not in
furious to his health. in comparison with the beer
90 much talked about thirty years ago. BY the
use Of ice-machines. great deal of room used
for ce-boxes gained, giving the brewer
chance to store SIX thousand barrels where he
formerly could only store two thousand barrels
and as this gives the opportunity for the beer to
gain more Of age, an intelligent reader will admit