The Saint Paul globe., 1900-04-15
CrQe Gale Of De
Book Beer &oaG.

Yesterday was Book Beer day in st.
Paul, and although it has been the Gus
tom TO observe some day in the spring
of the year for several centuries, 1t is
doubtful if more than a dozen persons in
this city would agree as to the origin
and significance of the occasion.
1t is also reasonably certain that few
persons who drink Book beer can tell
why It is so named or in what way it
differs from the beverage of the erest of
the year. 1t appears that like movable
feast days Book Beer day is observed
on different dates, but always in the
spring of the year. In the old countries
and especially in Germany-it has been
the custom TO celebrate Book Beer day
during the month Of March, whereas in
this country for many years the 1st of
May was the agreed date.
The determination TO be early in the
field has, OF late years. induced makers
OF beer 10 set the time ahead until one
year March was the date but by com
mon agreement 1t has been fixed this
year in st. Paul for the Saturday lust
before Easter day.
Nearly every one knows that with the
advent of spring comes the one sheet
poster done III gay cOlOrS, showing the
goat and the keg, and announcing that
Book beer is ready for consumption
There are those who drink 1t because they
like 1t; there are others VINO take 1t as
peing recommended spring tonic while
not small percentage of the consump-
ton Is by the class which drinks it be-
cause ii is the thing to do.
ASK your friend-if he has happened to
recommend Book beer to you-what 1t
= NKh hal o7,1 l,.1-r4
to be so named Ask two friends or
three, and you viii receive as many an
swers with much variation
This much you may learn: That 1t is
spring product, that it is much darker
IN color than the beer which is sold the
balance Of the year, and you may be
gravely advised that the dark color shows
1T 10 have been breWed since the first Of
the year, and put on the market without
having been stored away for g stated
time as with other brews. This is all
wrong.
One point on which there seems to be
little difference of opinion is that the
darker beverage is little more potent in
Its effect on the person drinking it than
lighter beers. The view has been ex-
pressed that the dark color results from
the use of certain grains or from the use
OF grain at certain seasons of the year
This is an error.
When 1t comes to the name Book and
fits derivation the seeker after inrorma-
ton finds that many thinking people In
some way known only to themselves as
sociate the name Bocl1-pronounced COM
monty "Buck'-With the only means Of
attack or defense known TO the poster
goat.
This Is equally erroneous, and without
foundation in fact.
With the view to getting at the real
Brewing company, was asked regarding
Bock beer. He replied: There is con-
siderable diversity of opinion, and not a
little uncertainty as to the exact origin
and meaning of Book beer, but the most
generally accepted version places the
original home Of Book beer at Munich, In
Germany. This place has always been
noted for Its beer, and there is today
government brewery known as the Hof-
brau house located there This estab-
hshment is maintained for the purpose of
supplying beer to the imperial court, the
word Hof meaning court
1T seems that in the early days, before
artificial refrigeration was invented, the
brewing Of beer was done during the
early winter months. The beer upon
leaving the brew kettle was cooled by
natural methods. After it was cooled 1T
was kept at an even temperature in cell
lars. Beer in watts In cellars Is said in
EnSIlsh to be on rest, while in Ger
many the term used is 'auf lager from
which comes directly the name lager
beer.
THE first brewing, made in the early
winter months of each year, was the
first to be used in the spring, and the oc-
casion was made a general holiday.
From its great age it possessed peculiar
potency, and when one of the worthy
burghers had INDUCED not wisely but TOO
well in the new brew, he was said to
have been 'rammed by the buck a
common phrase, which being translated
Into German is Vom Book gestossen.'
The term buck as applied to a goat,
seems to be Of German origin, as the
word book means literally strength Th1s
the application VIII be readily seen.
This beer which we call Book beer.
and the origin Of which I have tried to
make plain, was also known as sMaert-
zen beer or March beer, from the fact