The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-15
WHERE'STHE BOOK BEER GOAT9
VARIOUS REASONS FOR HIS All
SENCE FROM TOWN.
One is Thai Modern improvements Allow
Brewers TO Turn Out Book Beer All
the Year ROund-AnOther Ii That
It's Too Strong for the city TRADE.

! VhC 10 hlat Attlb WV 50
Brewers TO Turn Out Book Beer All
the Year ROund-Another Ii That
It's Too Strong for the city Trade
sid hate to join a secret society" said
a man, leaning comfortably against the
| bar and drinking light beer because no
couldn't get dark. If l really became .
member Of any Of those things that havn
Most Worthy Grands and Senior WorShipfula
and wear gorgeous uniforms Id be afraid
Of discovering that the goat ridden at
limitations was only a myth.
Il don't want to be undeoeived. for tina
lodge goat Of mystery and secrecy Is about
the last species that is left to us, here In
town at any rate. The Harlem goat has
passed into history and The Bronx. There
are no squatters left, no frisking kid and
solemn rams browsing on what is now
Riverside Drive. And now, this very
spring, we are losing an old friend, the
book beer goat, the whiskered goat rampanti
which, carved life size out OF wood or
Autographed in colors, used to decorate
the front OF every saloon on the first OF
April.
where is he now? You have to walk
blocks on Second venue to see one, ana
the sight downtown is almost as much
Of a curiosity as a live goat would be-
Nobody wants book beer now,' inter
jected the bartender in explanation.
Il do" replied the mourner for disap-
pearing goats. why can't l get it2"
Because you're in a very small company
nowadays" said the man behind the bars
and the brewers can't afford to run their
plants to suit just a few people who want
a color scheme for their drinking
HTl- -.a,ia- - . ha INaly hnnE DQ0t Ia
due, to two CAUSES" remarked the German
prop rietor of the place, adding APOLOGIZE
oally that the conversation was one which
might properly be butted into. -In the first
! place, brewers made book beer too common
when they perfected their refrigerating and
malting apparatus 30 that they could carry
on any part of the beer making process at
any time of the year, regardless Of the natural
temperature.
In the old days the book was an Easter
specially; it came only once a year, like
Christm as, and 80 was appreciated as q
| delight . ocular to a particular season. In
those days the goat meant something-he
was as seasonable as a robin.
But the brewers were not content to let
well enough alone;so they forced the seasons
a little more each year, by putting their
book out ahead of time. To have the first
drink Of book and tell your friends about It
ceased to be a distinction, because, likely
enough, some other fellow had been drinking
the dark brew since February.
That's one reason why the demand for
book beer has fallen of. Then there's
another cause, relat ing to the youngsters
or the grownups with limited tank capaci-
ties who like to enumerate the next day
and tell that they had 30 many cocktails,
80 many %highballs and 50 many beers within
q given time. H
EThey discovered that they could drink
five glasses of light beer, say, where three
Of dark would make them uncomfortable.
That's about the proportion, no matter
what the actual figures may be. So as
thousard DIS of drinkers like to keep tabs
on the intake al d boast about it the next
dav the demand for dark beer has fallen
off steadily and that for light brew has
increased.
well, it's a shame to spoil a fine annual
custom, no matter how many reasons there
are for it. Yes, the same. Why, that book
goat must be a century old and the brewers
are running a tradition"
THAT goat is 300 years DID, replied the
boss of the place. ut was 300 years ago
a beer drinking place and each praised
his own brew as being better than the
others.
"The argument wound up with a wager.
Each man was to make a special brew for
the other to drink. They were to rave the
contest in the same place at the same table,
as soon as the two brews we're ready, and
each was to drink the beer made by the
other.
THE winner was to be TIE man who, held
out the Ion gest, 81 that would in dictate of
course that his beer was the stron ger. The
contest came off in good time ard IL was
nip and tuck. Neither brewer dared to
get up and risk u walk across the room.
"B it one of them did venture fraIly TO
start to walk to TIE door for air. just then
a goat, a buck, saurtered irto the place;
brushed against Tire contestant, who was
tryir g to Keep his feet ard who promptly
vert srrawlir e OF the floor. z
81 win muttered the other. breweri
who could just about see what had hap
pened to the other fellow.
- It's the buck, growled the man on the
floor, rot even tryir g to pet up.
Ard so after that tie d-rF beer such as
both cor testar is h"d been d i kir & was
called buck or book beer. Book is the Ger
man word for goat"