Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1900-01-26
ADULTERATED BEER.
British Make Is Termed Spirit and water
Favored with Chemicals.

-sflNitn MAKE ~ 1efNleu spirit ana water
FIavored with Chemicals.
The British workman is under the
impression that when he orders a glass
of beer he gets what he asks for.
But surely he imagineth a vain thing.
What is really handed to him is, in
words of a noted brewer, "a fermented
saccharine infusion favored with a
wholesome bitter" "or, as | should pre-
fer to call it." remarked Mr.. Glare Sew
ell Read to reporter. "a glass of spirit
and water favored with a few chemi-
calls"
Mr.. Read was a member of the COM
mission appointed to inquire into the
purity of our beer and is so dissatisfied
with the do nothing character of the
commissions report that he has drawn
up report of his own
Undoubtedly" he told the represen-
tative, there is a frightful amount of
beer adulteration. This is due to the
brewers. Publicans dare not mix two
beers or add a teaspoonful of water,
but brewers may do just what they
please.
"The glucoses made from potatoes,
maize, etc, are the principal element
of adulteration. This stuff was tried
on cats. The experiments went on for
some months, and where the cats did
not turn sick they were positively
poisoned. Once the brewers used to
employ tobacco as a beer constituent;
now they seem to have given it up"
Are the substitutes for malt detri-
mental to health?"
"Well, sulphuric acid is used to pro-
duce the sugar from the raw grain, and
salicylic acid is in great demand by
adulterating brewers, but on the whole
the British public is cheated rather
than poisoned, and cheated in this way,
that, whereas the barley in pure beer is
distinctly nutritious, the saccharine
substitute is decidedly not.
"The excise people don't care a fig.
1t was all very well in the old days
when the revenue was raised on the
malt and sugar used. thus forcing a
very careful examination Ct the beer
ingredients by the authorities, but now
adays all that Somerset House cares
about is the strength of the beer, which
is the sole basis of taxation.
In Germany the government is down
on beer adulteratiun. Though it allows
beer with salicylic acid in IT to go
abroad it does not think it good enough
for Germans, and so forbids its sale in
"A brewer in Bavaria who uses any
thing but malt and hops is guilty of
a penal offence. The result is that Ba-
varian beer is a beautiful, invigorat-
ing beverage, something like beer, and
drunk even by little children. Even
the brewers themselves in the rest of
Germany petition the government to
introduce the Bavarian law, because
they know that the beer would be purer
and as a consequence would sell in
greater quantities.
1.-THE time has come in Britain, too,
for little legislation. We must force
brewers to state on their bottles and
barrels exactly what the beer contains.
Good brewers do that now. See here, "
and Mr.. Read handed the representa-
tive bottle of beer with the inscrip-
tion, Pure malt and hops" written
boldly across it.
This is only what is done in the
case of other articles; you may not mix
mustard with flour without explicitly
saying so. 1t is the same with cocoa,
chicory, etc.
"But the trade opposes the suggestion
on the ground that it is an interference
with the liberty of the brewer"