BREWING INDUSTRY IN AMERICA. To narrate the history of the art of beermaking is to tell a story that is as old as the human race. To trace the art of brewing from its early days down to the present time it is necessary that one should pass through all the ages of antiquity, for the art that was practiced so crudely by the prehistoric peoples was fol lowed with less primitive methods by both the Egyptians and Assyrians. Later, the Greek and Romans made their brews, while, from the earliest recorded times, the Teutonic races have pursued this art so successfully that praise of their skill has long taken the form of poem and prose, in song and story, while the tributes of esteem that are everywhere paid to Gam brinus, the acknowledged patron saint of brew ing, is but another method by which the lovers of beer strive to testify their appreciation of the beverage for which his name stands synony mous.
As far as America is concerned the history of the brewing industry may be traced to 1620, for when the Pilgrim Fathers landed on Ply mouth Rock they brought with them consid erable knowledge as to the best methods of making their favorite beverages, the fiery po tions which even they loved to drink, "and not a man afraid," as well as the lighter, but still sturdy, brews with which every true English man sometimes made Homebrewed as this beer was in the beginning, the natural growth of the colonies soon suggested that it be put to a more practical use, and it was thus that their knowledge of the brewing craft finally resulted in the establishment of the in dustry of beermaking.
In the New England colonies, where people were more addicted to the use of stronger spir its than beer, the colonial lawmakers adopted a statute by which they granted immunity from taxes and an additional prize in money to any brewer who should be sufficiently energetic to manufacture more than 500 barrels of "honest in a single year, for they held that beer was a beverage which not only added to the prosperity of the country by giving the farmer a profitable market for the grain he might be able to raise, but which supplied the people with a drink of such mild form that, instead of leading to intoxication, it actually contributed to the spread of that temperate spirit upon which the of the colony so much depended. It was thus that the infant brewing industry was established and fostered by the colonial officials of Massachusetts, and, though the growth of the industry was slow compared to what one would imagine it should have been, it had expanded sufficiently by 1795 to produce nearly Z000,000 gallons of beer per annum.
The great adversary against which the brew ing industry has been obliged to contend has .almost invariably been the result of matters of legislation. Ever since the days of the Egyp tians the growth or decline in the art of beer making may be traced directly to this cause. Under liberal laws, intelligently administered, the industry prospered, while legislative enact ments have hampered the expansion of the trade more seriously than it could have been retarded by any other influence. Thus, while
we have no reason to believe that any laws directly adverse to the brewing craft were passed prior to 1795, the fact that the legisla Lion that was enacted was more favorable to the cheap distribution of distilled liquors had a tendency to give an advantage to the manu facturers and dealers in strong beverages against which the makers of the milder beers found it difficult to contend. It is true that some of the greatest minds in the country recognized the value of the brewing industry as an aid to the promotion of national tem perance and sought to aid it in every way in their power, but they were opposed by strong influences from several quarters, from the few who were opposed to the drinking of even such a mildly alcoholic beverage as beer, to the strong clique which represented the interests of the manufacturers of and dealers in the more potent liquors. During the Washington administration, Congress, in its consideration of the first Federal revenue law, recognized the importance of fostering the brewing industry as an aid to public morality; again, in 1789 Madison publicly expressed the hope that the industry of brewing would extend its influence into every State of the Union, while Thomas Jefferson's firm stand in regard to the liquor question will never be forgotten. nation is sober,' he said, "where the dearness of fer mented drinks substitutes ardent spirits as a common beverage.' Prior to the middle of the 19th century, the term °beer' in the United States generally im plied that beverage that is now more commonly known to us as In 1810, when the pro duction of malt liquors in this country amounted to less than 6,000,000 gallons per an num, the 129 breweries which were manufactur ing this product made practically nothing but ale and porter, and it was not until about 1846, when the increasing German immigration created the demand for the favorite beverage of these people, lager beer, that any brewer found it necessary to manufacture such a drink. With them, of course, the Germans had brought a practical knowledge of the art of lager beermalcing, and as they were not satis fied with the native brews of the Americans, it was not long before lager beer breweries be gan to spring into existence in every commu nity in which the German population was suffi ciently numerous to support such an enterprise. In the beginning, of course, the Americans were inclined to be suspicious of this new beverage. It was milder than their brews, and, at first, they did not take kindly to it, but, gradually, as time passed, their prejudices were overcome and, to-dray, beer, or in other words, lager beer, has become so thoroughly the national bever age of the American people that the production of ale and porter in the United States does not now exceed 1,000,000 barrels per annum.