THE DEVELOPMENT OF ALE, PORTER AND LAGER BEER.
It has been already mentioned that the earliest beers were made without
hops. After the use of this plant was discovered beer brewing as an
art made rapid progress, and not only did every country make its own
special sort of beer, but many varieties existed side by side in most
of the German states and in England. Experiments were made with all
sorts of grain, with potatoes and with plants and herbs, the object
being in every case to produce a wort whose beer should have special
advantages in point of flavor or cost or both. Gradually, however, most
of the materials were quietly dropped, although potatoes are still used
for the Strasbourg beer, and wheat forms an important element of the
famous white beer of northern Germany. Barley is the grain that has
universally been found best adapted to the purpose of making a brown
beer of an agreeable flavor and of moderate price. With the question
of material thus practically settled, it might be supposed that the
difference between various brews of beer would disappear. On the
contrary the number of varieties is to-day greater than ever before.
Every step in the manufacture, from the selection of the grain and hops
on to the final delivery of the product to the consumer, has something
to do with the characteristics of the beer, and the difficulty does not
lie in producing something new, but in reproducing accurately what has
once been successfully tested.
Whatever the distinguishing features of the product, it is still
beer, and any one specimen of the genus has the general properties of
all the others. All beer has a notably small percentage of alcohol,
the strongest ales and porters showing less than many specimens of
cider; all contain an appreciable amount of solid nutriment which in
some heavy-bodied beers is quite considerable; all are palatable and
wholesome, and all are adapted to take the place of ardent spirits and
thus reduce intemperance and drunkenness to a _minimum_. It is hardly
necessary to explain that in this book the word beer is used in its
wide sense. When special varieties are meant they are spoken of by name
unless the context is such as to remove all doubt.
After the time of experiment and the disuse of most of the grains,
etc., that had been tried, there still remained two well-marked
varieties differing essentially in the mode of fermentation, and
our modern ale and lager beer may be taken as types of the two
kinds. The former is fermented rapidly at a high temperature and the
fermentation checked while a considerable portion of sugar still
remains unchanged, while the latter is fermented slowly and thoroughly
at a low temperature. The first process is the one originally employed
everywhere and has held almost undisputed ground in England, where,
as might in such circumstances be expected, ale-brewing has reached
its most thorough development. At the beginning of the eighteenth
century there were in that country three recognized sorts, ale, beer
and two-penny, differing chiefly in the quantity of malt used for
each kind. These were often mixed to suit customers and in 1730,
to avoid the trouble of constant mixing, a new drink was brewed,
called “entire,” and meant to resemble the triple compound. This was
afterwards known as porter, and at present the general distinction is
between porter and ale, though we still hear of small beer. The variety
of ales, however, is very great. They are made of all colors and all
degrees of strength, very bitter like the pale ale, and sweetish
like the Scotch ale, so long-lived that they can be exported to hot
climates and kept for years, and so short-lived that they must be
used within three or four weeks. Some are perfectly clear and bright,
and resemble nothing so much as Rhine wine, of whose flavor also they
have an indescribable suggestion, while others are dark with solid
extract and possess a characteristic delicate flavor that resembles
nothing else. In this respect America is yet far in the rear. There is
plenty of good ale but there has been no demand sufficient to cause so
varied a supply or to develop so well-marked special flavors. When,
however, we remember for how long a time cider was the common drink
of the people to the exclusion of beer, and see how, in spite of such
an obstacle at the start, the business gradually gained ground, and
when we remember that outside the larger cities, even twenty years
ago, ale was almost sure to be dull and muddy and very apt to be sour,
we must admit that American ale-brewers have accomplished much. They
have succeeded so far as to secure a large sale for their brew, and
so far that now almost anywhere one is certain of a tolerable glass
of beer—unless the existence of a prohibitory law excludes everything
but whisky. Their success appears the more striking because of the
recent great increase in the use of lager beer, for enormous as is the
consumption of the latter it has hardly produced any effect on the
sales of the ale-brewers. There is a large number who prefer the flavor
of ale, others drink it from habit and will always do so, others drink
it because they ape English fashions, others because the comparatively
secluded and unsocial character imported from England to our ale-houses
suits them better than the more social and gregarious customs of the
lager beer garden, some even because it is usually the more costly of
the two beverages. Some doubtless prefer it because it usually contains
a little more alcohol than lager beer, and very many use either beer
indifferently according to circumstances and convenience.
As to porter there is little that need be said. Its origin has been
already mentioned, and when we add that the color is due to browned
malt and its flavor to seeds or the like we have stated all that would
interest the general reader. It is essentially a heavy-bodied ale,
however great the superficial unlikeness.
The difference in the manner of fermentation of ale and lager beer has
been previously indicated, but the following passage from Professor
Liebig will be found of interest: “In that country (Bavaria) the malt
wort is set to ferment in open backs with an extensive surface, and
placed in cool cellars having an atmospheric temperature not exceeding
8° or 10° C (46½ or 50 F.). The operation lasts from three to four
weeks; the carbonic acid is disengaged, not in large bubbles that burst
on the surface of the liquid, but in very small vesicles like those of
a mineral water or of a liquor saturated with carbonic acid when the
pressure is removed. The surface of the fermenting wort is always in
contact with the oxygen of the atmosphere as it is hardly covered with
froth and as all the yeast is deposited at the bottom of the back under
the form of a very viscid sediment, called in German _unterhefe_.”
The process thus described results in the production of a beer which
will not sour even if kept exposed to the air for a long time. Barrels
only half full have remained uninjured for months. It is to be noticed,
however, that both ale and lager beer can be prepared under many
modifications of the main plan, and both are often made for immediate
use without regard to keeping qualities and pass by the names of
present use ale and Schenck beer.
As lager beer usually contains a little less alcohol than ale, it has
been most commonly spoken of by those who are striving to eradicate
intemperance by introducing beer in the place of ardent spirits. The
difference in alcoholic strength is not, however, so great as many
persons suppose, the percentage in ales ranging from 8.88 to 5.36,
while that of lager beer varies from 6.50 to 3.06. The kind of beer to
be preferred for the work in any country is that best suited to the
tastes and traditions of the people. On the continent of Europe and in
America lager beer has thus far played the more prominent part, while
in England the responsibility of all that has been accomplished belongs
to ale.
It is not improbable that the English brewing business has already
reached its culminating point. A large part of the annual product
has long been exported to the colonies, and now these are beginning
to brew beer for themselves and will soon have a supply of their own
make, sufficient in quality and quantity to make them independent of
the mother country. With us the case is different. The consumption is
increasing rapidly, and brewers show a wise liberality in securing
new processes and appurtenances, and spare no effort to improve the
quality of their product. Those who make the best beer secure the
most custom, and the fraternity are fully aware of the fact. All this
rivalry cannot fail to benefit the consumer. Every year sees better
ale and lager beer sent over the country, and every year something is
contributed to the solution of the problem in brewing—to produce a mild
beer that with more extract than is now found shall contain even less
alcohol, and remain bright and refreshing. Whether full success in such
an attempt is to be sooner reached by the ale or lager beer brewers
remains to be seen, or it may well be that some new malt beverage may
be discovered, unlike either of the others and superior to both. Such a
result would be no more striking than other steps in progress already
made, and brewers of large experience are to be found who believe
that some such discovery is impending. In the meantime we have the
satisfaction of knowing that America already produces malt liquors made
from native materials that are wholesome and agreeable and at least up
to the average of similar liquors made in countries where brewing has
been carefully studied and extensively practiced for centuries, while
with us it is chiefly a recent growth. The degree of success that is
possible when we take into account the natural resources of the country
and the enterprising character of the brewers is hardly to be realized.