Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-09-03

and Austria, but the beer now brewed at
the Santa Barbara brewery in Madrid s
now taking the lead OF all foreign beers.
Sweden and Norway come in for their
share. while following closely is Den
mark. In Russia a commission was
some time ago appointed to Investigate
the question of drunkenness in the en-
pire. The of strong, ardent spirits
had been almost universal. Drunkards
were not TO be reckonef by individuals or
even by families. Whole districts were
plunged in habits of brutal intoxication
and this national pest denoraliZed the
armies. flied poorhouses and hospitals.
the lunatic asylums and the prisons.
As result OF the lahors of this com
mission the car conferred valuable
privileges on those who would establish
breweries in his doninions. The obje I
being TO secure for the people good beer
at low price, all taxes on beer and
articles used in its manufacture were
abolished while the use of ardent
spirits is still further checked BY the
imposition of heavy duties on all brought
into the country, with severe taxes on
its manufacture or sale. Whenever the
crop of barley turns out to be light, the
government prohibits any being eN-
ported.
In England. about the year 1898 IL"
use of intoxicating liquors had increased
to such a point that the government
applied itself to the discovery OF some
means of diminishing the consumption.
The Duke of Wellington. who saw clearly
the amount of misery and degradation
caused among his countrynen by the use
of distilled liquors. introduced. while
prime minister. the Wen known beer
BILL Its passage was urged on the
ground that a free consumption or beer
would greatly diminish the use of spirits.
The duke himself strongly advocated the
bill and instanced the continental beer
drinking countries as the happiest and
most temperate on the globe.
The production of beer, as or all otner
v,,o1f haa
to the making of bread, the chief diner
ence being in the quantity of grain en-
poyed and the amount Of water ADDED
The one, intended for solid food. Is baked.
the other, for a liquid refreshment. is
boiled.
The process Of making beer Is like this:
A certain quantity of matted barley -
taken and ground. It is then mashed
with hot water. the sweet liquor or wort
extracted, a portion OF hops added, and
the whole boiled until the preservativs
quality as we'll as the aroma of the hops
is obtained 1t is then allowed to cool.
and afterward fermented with yeast TO
produce the small quantity OF alcohol II
contains and to give Ii life. According
to analysis made by chemists. lager beer
contains 81 per cent water. "a per cent
malt extract, 80 per cent alcohol and the
remainder-making in all 100 parts-car-
bonic. acid. Ale and porter differ only In
having a slight additional percentage OF
alcohol and a large amount of solid mat
ter.
AS compared with the making of beer
is the ordinary process of bread fermen-
tation, wherein a portion of the sugar
contained in the flour is decomposed and
converted into alcohol. II has been sup
posed that the whole Of this alcohol was
expelled by heat during baking, but re-
cent experiments show that a perceptible
amount still remained in yeast-raised
bread after baking. The result of six
experiments proved that one-third of
per cent in weight of alcohol was OBJ
tanned from fresh baked bread. From
forty loaves of fresh bread, two pounds
each, alcohol equal to that contained in
one bottle of port wine may be extracted.
Copyright, 1911. by William L. Altdorfer.)