VARIETIES. While beer is the generic name for all malt liquors, many of these liquors are known by other names, the principal of which will he enumerated and briefly explained.
Ale would seen) to have been the current name in England for malt liquor in general before the introduction of hops from Germany about 1524. After this date the German word (Bier) beer was used at first to distinguish the hopped liquor from ale, the unhopped. As now used, ale signifies a kind of beer distinguished chiefly by its strength or high percentage of alcohol. In the manufacture of ale the first fermentation is checked, while a considerable percentage of sugar remains undecomposed, which by the sub sequent fermentation in the barrels is changed to alcohol and carbonic-acid gas. The length of time which ale is left to cure in the barrels is from one week for mild ale. from two to four months for pale ale, and from ten to fifteen months for strong ale. Burton ale contains over S per cent. of alcohol. This is the strongest of the English ales. The Scotch ales are distin guished for the smallness of the quantity of hops used and for their vinous flavor. They are fermented at a lower temperature than English ales, which are fermented at from 65° to 90° F. India pale ale differs chiefly in having a larger quantity of hops.
Porter is a kind of malt liquor which came into use in London in 1722. According to Leigh, "the malt liquors previously in use were ale, beer, and two-penny, and it was customary to call for a pint or tankard of half-and-half—i.e. half of ale and half of beer, half of ale and half of two-penny. or half of beer and half of two penny. In the course of time it also became the practice to ask for a pint or tankard of three-thirds (or, as it became corrupted, three threads), meaning a third each of ale, beer, and two-penny: and thus the publican was obliged to go to three casks for a single pint of liquor. To avoid this trouble and waste, a brewer by the name of Harwood conceived the idea of mak ing a liquor which should partake of the united flavors of ale, beer, and two-penny. He did so and succeeded, calling it entire, or entire butt beer, meaning that it was drawn entirely from one cask or butt ; and being a hearty, nourish ing liquor, it was very suitable for porters and other working people. Hence it obtained the name of porter, and was first retailed at the Blue Last, Curtain Road, Shorediteh." The chief characteristics of porter are its dark - brown color, peculiar bitter flavor, and agreeable fresh ness in drinking. It was originally brewed with malt roasted slightly brown; now, how ever, under the improved system of brewing, pale malt, with the addition of some highly roasted for the sake of color only, is used. Enormous
quantities are brewed by the London brewers. A kind much stronger than ordinary porter is also extensively brewed in London, Dublin, and elsewhere, under the name of stout.
Lager beer, which is now so extensively manu factured in the United States, takes its name from the fact that it is kept several months in a storehouse (Lager in German) to cure. In tile manufacture of lager beer this long storage is not usually practiced in the United States. The wort is prepared in much the same manner as for ale, and is pumped from the hop-jack into shallow coolers placed in the upper stories of the brewery, and is also passed through a re frigerator until it is reduced to a temperature of about 45° F. Thence it is carried in pipes to large fermenting tuns, placed in cool cellars, or in chambers cooled by ice or artificial refrigera tion, having a temperature of 40° to 45° F. 'Here yeast is added, which, in the course of about three daves, incites fermentation, this be ing manifested by the appearance of minute hub bies of carbonic-acid gas, which, as in the fer mentation of ale, carry a little of the yeast with them. This does not, however, remain there, hut, discharging the gas. to which it had ad hered, settles to the bottom in the form of a viscous mass, this mass, with that which remains there, constituting what is called bottom yeast. The slow fermentation employed in the process of making genuine lager beer causes a clarifica tion and the commencement of a ripening, which affords a beverage free from the objectionable qualities of the common beer that goes under the same name, but which is known to brewers under the name of Schenk-bier, or present-use beer. This is fermented in a much shorter time; but the fermentable matter is not all eliminated, as in the genuine article; but for the purpose of neutralizing what acetic acid might appear from the acetous fermentation, or for producing by union with it an additional quantity of car bonic-acid gas to give it 'life,' the brewer adds in the operation of casking, a quantity of bi carbonate of soda, immediately upon which the bung is driven in and the heer is ready for mar ket. Genuine lager, however, lies a long time to ripen, and attains certain qualities not pos sessed by any other kind of beer, and highly prized by lovers of this beverage. Rock beer is lager beer of extra strength, made in the spring of the year. It reouires two months to brew, and in making it 1 pound of hops to 31/4 bushels of malt are used.