Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-02-05
GENESIS OF AMERICAN BREW
Governments Expert Hands the Brewers q
Great Boost Tor Beer
cLASstD WITH LEAST HARMFUL BEVERAGES
Lineage Traced TO Iibations of the
Gods of Northern Mythology aud
Pronounced a Food Product
Liquid Brand.

testimony of savants TO its character and
virtues presented. the way to get good
coffee pointed out and how to prepare 1t
explained Naturally, once the range OF
subjects-tea. beer. ale and wine-to which
coffee is held by many OF the foremost
thinkers and economists to belong is en-
tered upon, 1t is next TO impossible to re-
frain from consideration OF all its divis-
ions.
The case of either of the above mentioned
beverages is analogous to that OF coffee,
which has grown to be mistakenly consd-
cred a nerve racker that drives men to
drink. yet is often the favorite stimulating
beverage OF peoples noted for their temper
ate habits.
Statistics show that the peoples of coun-
tries in which beer. ale or wine Is in COM
mon use are equally temperate. The Juice
of the grape and the infusion of matted
barley and hops would appear to serve as
do tea and coffee, TO satisfy that craving
for stimulants that seems innate in all peo-
pies, and that. too. without the baneful re-
suits that follow the incorporate use Of
alcohol.
1t would SEEM then, "a sowing OF good
seed" to furnish reasons for their substl-
tuition for more harmful beverages; for. II
Il has an influence upon a man to show
how certain practices have made, or
marred. his neighbor, why not upon peo-
pie? Contrast what the undue Indulgence
in alcohol has done to certain nations, with
what wine and malt beverages have done
for others, and add to the lesson the weight
Of scientific authority to their effect
upon the Individual and II must command
attention; show that while the former is
deleterious the latter are good food and
drink-both-and the lesson will be applied
Beer No PIebeian Drink.
Beer. the most largely used of the
| three beverages in this country. naturally
claims the earliest consideration. Though
! In common almost the world over. and
( by reason of it's small cost within reach of
the slenderest purse, beer Is by no means
plebeian-its lineage is of the noblest; in
northern mythology the brewer and his art
were important factors. the beer drinking
meetings of the Germanic tribes being really
| sacrifcial banquets. 1t is worthy OF note
that today several monkish orders In Eu-
rope and "a certain monastery in Pennsyl-
vania, brew famous beers, and introduce
the seasons brew with semi-religious cere-
! monials. Vida, the writer of an excellent
history of the ancient guilds, gives numeT-
Gus examples of this queer admiNture of
heather feast and Christian festival, among
them that of King Haakon, who ordained
that Yuletide should be celebrated Christ
mas day. and that every freeman should
| brew the third of a tun of good malt and
| continue the celebration as long as his beer
lasted!
1t speaks well for the virtue of beer that
| its excessive use by the Norsemen did not
seem to impair their virilty; there were
mighty drinkers in those days, and yet who
| writes of the vikings that roamed the
seas" without prefixing hardy? The fact
that the mighty foaming fagons they
| quaffed contained quite as much food as
drink seems to have not only enabled them
! to escape degeneracy. but to have actually
built UP spirit, mind and stature.
Origin of Hoped Malt beer.
The beverage we know as beer Is not the
| traditional winelike drink extracted from
| barley; yet though of more recent origin,
| nothing is really known of the place and
date at which it first appeared. Hoped
malt beer is by some attributed TO Jan Pri-
mus. Burgundian prince who fourished
about the middle of the thirteenth century,
while others ascTibe It to one Jean San
Peur d3T1-l4l9). or Ganbrlvius. 1t is prob
able that a corruption of the latter name
will account for that of the present king of
beer Gambrinus. An entertaining writer
accounts for the fact that Gambrinus is al
of the middle ages. with the occasional ad-
dition of a crown, thus Popular imagf-
nation, il seems. attached such great i'm
portance to beer that, in according the
honor of its invention, II could not be salts
fed with anything less than king-just as
the Egyptians in remote antiquity, ascrihed
the invention of their barley drink to their
benevolent god Osiris, and the ancient Ger
mans conceived of brew house in Wal
halla under the supervision of presiding
deity.
First American Lager Beer.
Lauer lager beer brewer of the earlier
half of the nineteenth century, ascribed the
honor of having first brewed it here to one
Wagner. who, on coming to America in
1872. set up lager beer brewery in n
small building in the suburbs OF Phila-
delphia This was not the first introduce
ton Of beer in this country, though Il
was consumed on the soil OF New England
by people Of German origin long before
the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers The
Vikings carried with them their favorite
beverage when. on their voyage to these
coasts. they discovered Vineland; and Cos
mold. when. in 1902. he landed at the cape
he named Cape Cod, brought with him an
ample supply.
The progress of brewing has been mar
velous as is shown by the following table