The Savannah morning news., 1904-03-05
FIRST BREWING OF LAGER.
1t Is Sixty Years Since 1t Began i'm
the United States.

the United States.
From the Chicago Chronicle.
1t is now sixty years since the brew
ing of lager beer was begun in the
United States. Previous to 1874 that
beverage was known to but few on this
side of the Atlantic. Limited quanti-
ties were brought from the continent
of Europe, but only the rich could af-
ford to drink it; the poor mans beer
in those days consisted of a vastly in
ferior brew. OF course both beer and
ale have been manufactured in Ameri-
ca ever since the first settlement of
| Manhattan Island by the Dutch, but
the brewing of lager beer in the Unit
ed States is so recent that at least ten
of the original brewers are still living
The first brewery in New York was
established more than $50 years ago,
| when old Gov. Van Twiller built a
brewery on the West Indies Companys
farm, which was on the west side of
the town, near Hudson street. Another
brewery was started in Albany about
the same time, which has continued
| brewing ever since. These breweries
and others ran along for 200 years be-
| fore lager beer was made. They brew
| ed ale, table beer-or small beer-and
| what is now known as barley wine,
| but they did not brew lager beer, or
| hoped malt beer, which is the kind
| of beer now commonly used. 1t is
pretty well settled that the brewing of
| lager beer in the United States began
| in 1S43, and about the same time in
New York and Philadelphia. The Phil
adelphia brewery was a small build
ing in the suburbs, while the New
York brewery was at Broadway and
Nineteenth street, opposite the old Goe-
let house, where a big carpet store
stands now.
The books of this original New York
lager beer brewery are, still in exist
ence and they tell a number of in
teresting things about the early meth
DDS and sales of beer. Sebastian Som
mers used to own the brewery, where
he made ale and small beer, but not
lager beer. He sold the brewery be-
fore lager beer was brewed. J. F.
Luther was the first customer, on
Sept. 3, 1S43. He bought five gallons
of beer and paid so cents Cor it, at a
rate of 10 cents a gallon. At that time
brewery did a retail business and
the customer would call for his beer
and take it home with, him in a pail
or tub. Peter Stoltz was the second
customer. He bought 81 worth, or ten
gallons. Daniel E. Tiemann and Will
liam F. Havemeyer, each of them aft
erwards Mayor of New York city,
were among the first customers. Lager
beer was "a novelty and it soon be-
came fashionable drink, as the names
on the books of the old brewery show.
The swell families would bring in a
bucketful to serve with their Sunday
dinner on state occasions. 1t was not
the cheap and popular drink that it
is now. Whisky sold at so low a
price then that it and other hard
liquors were more in common use.
1t took some time for lager beer to
become popular, and the early sales
of the brewery were not large. The
owners worked with their two or three
men to turn out $40 or SIS worth of
beer a a day, which was sold to GUS
toners who called for 1t. In a few
years the business grew and the brew
cry moved over to Seventh avenue.
near Seventeenth street, where the first
lager beer saloon was opened in con-
nection with the brewery. Seventh
avenue and Seventeenth street were in
the suburbs then, and there was no
other saloon for some distance Peo-
pie would make an excursion there to
taste the new drink.
Lager beer did not become popular
until the introduction of ice to keen il
cool. Before the use of ice the beer
was kept in vaults, underground until
it was sold. More brewing was done
in the winter and more beer was sold
then than in the summer. The use of
ice caused the abandonment of the old
vaults and enabled the brewing of a
big summer supply, which has been
growing rapidly every year The
American taste demands a beer colder
than the German taste. In Germany
the beer is rarely put on ice, and it is
drunk at the temperature at which it
comes from the vaults.
The old account books. besides tell
ing about the beer and it's sale. gave
the wages of the laborers. The fore
man of the brewery got $50 month. .
The wages ran down from this to "a a
month. The average pay of a work.
man seems to have been about 50 a
month, which he would draw in INSTALL
ments of so cents and 81 as he needed
the money. Accounts were kept with
every laborer separately crediting him
with his wages and charging against
him the sums drawn from time to time
In this practical school several of the