AMERICAN BARLEY.
Although any cereal artificially germinated is termed malt, yet,
for various reasons malt made from barley is meant when no other
designation save this general term is given. In past ages, wheat,
corn and oats were used in brewing quite as frequently as barley, and
there are many statutory evidences, showing that the governments of
the various beer-producing countries forbade the malting of any grain
the production of which was insufficient to supply the necessary food
for the people. The very first beer brewed in New York by the Dutch
colonists, was made of oats, there being an abundance of that grain
on Manhattan Island. The Puritans of New England, on the other hand,
seem to have malted wheat in great quantities, as appears from an
order of the General Court of Massachusetts Bay, forbidding the use of
that grain, but permitting the malting of oats or other cereals. At
the present time the use of barley is pretty general. The quantity of
barley produced throughout the world eludes exact computation, however,
because this grain is grown in every zone and in many semi-barbarous
countries, where the collection of agricultural statistics is unknown.
In regard to hops, the case is different, for that plant is cultivated
exclusively for use in breweries, and its cultivation moves within
clearly defined geographical limits. Barley serves largely as food; in
some countries bread is made of it, to the almost entire exclusion of
other grain, and its use in cookery prevails in all countries.
In view of these facts, we can only take into consideration the
consumption of barley in the form of malt. The data here offered will
be better understood, if it be borne in mind that all light beers of
that peculiarly vinous taste which has of late become somewhat popular,
are made of malt and rice or corn, as in the case of the excellent
Pilsen brands. The prevailing taste, however, still calls for a brewage
of a deep reddish-brown color, peculiar to heavily malted beers. This
question may as well be dropped, it being one of taste, about which,
according to an old proverb, there can be no conclusive arguments.
The production of barley in the United States expands continually,
and the repeated increases of the protective duty on the foreign
product—pointedly aimed at the Canadian barley—have doubtless given
additional impetus to this growth. Necessarily, the business of
malting has kept pace with the rapid development of brewing, and one
of the inevitable results of the suddenly enlarged demands was the
establishment of many separate malt-houses, fitted up with all modern
improvements. This progress, in turn, led, in a very large measure,
to the discontinuance of malting by brewers. At the present time, a
comparatively small number of brewers malt their own barley, it being
more profitable and, usually, more satisfactory to draw on the maltster
for the requisite supplies.
[Sidenote: SPECIES OF BARLEY]
Concerning the manufacture of malt, we have already said what might
appear to be of interest to the reader. The successful pursuit of
it requires not only great skill in the handling of the grain while
undergoing the interesting process of artificial germination, but
also much experience and practice in the selection of the material.
There are many species of barley, distinguished from each other
by, and named according to, the number of rows which form the ear;
thus we have two-rowed, four-rowed and six-rowed barley. Of these
and other species a number of varieties exist, and the quality of
all varies very materially, according to the character of the soil.
In making his purchases the maltster must be able, of course, to
determine whether the grain is of the kind that will yield good beer.
Sight, touch and taste aid him in this, and enable him to make sure
that the grain is fully ripe, of the last harvest, not too hard and
smooth, nor excessively husky; but whether it contains the nitrogenous
compounds, starch, salts, etc., in the desirable proportions, he is
unable to determine, unless he knows the soil where the barley grew
and has tested its qualities before. Given good raw material, the
maltster’s success depends upon his care and vigilance in preparing
for, continuing and interrupting germination at the proper time, and in
judiciously handling the grain after these stages. The process begins
with steeping and ends with kiln-drying, and its object, as we have
already said, is the conversion of starch into sugar. Within the past
twenty-five years innumerable inventions have completely revolutionized
the old methods of the maltster and placed this manufacture among the
most advanced industries. From present indications it appears that the
future of malting belongs to the pneumatic process, which is already
employed in some of the largest establishments.
Statistical exhibits show that the consumption of malt in our country
is proportionately as large as that of most beer-producing countries;
and, necessarily, the cultivation of barley in the United States is
in proportion thereto. We have this advantage over England, that we
need not draw upon foreign countries for any part of our supply of
barley, except when a particularly fine grade of grain is desired,
such, for instance, as our neighbors on the St. Lawrence raise. In
case of necessity, we might do without any foreign barley; England,
on the other hand, imports large quantities from Russia, Austria, and
the States on the North coast of Africa, and is dependent upon these
foreign supplies, added to what they obtain here.
As in the case of hops, so also in regard to barley, the American
industry might rely entirely upon domestic production, and, in fact,
for all practical purposes it is wholly independent of foreign sources
of supply. It has become so from necessity, not from choice, for
many brewers still consider Canadian barley superior to our own, and
would, without a doubt, were it not for the prohibitive duty, import
considerable quantities of it and of malt. As matters stand, however,
the importation of malt has ceased almost entirely and the importation
of barley, bears to our exports the proportion of about one to one
hundred. The following figures state the case clearly:
Exportation of Importation of
Ten Years. Barley. Barley.
1899 to 1908 101,226,243 bushels 1,012,941 bushels
The aggregate quantities of malt imported during the same decade
amounted to 34,658 bushels.
About three-fourths of the quantity of barley and an even larger
proportion of hops exported from our country find a ready market in
Great Britain and Ireland.
[Sidenote: THE UNIVERSAL DRINK OF THE FUTURE]
The phenomenal growth of brewing throughout the world during the past
fifty years has given rise to many speculations as to the future of
malt liquors, and many very able writers do not hesitate to call beer
the universal drink of the future. Formerly confined to about four
great States, the use of malt liquors is now known in every civilized
land; and even in Southern countries, where the grape-vine abounds,
beer is gradually superseding every other beverage. In France, a
wine-country without equal, the most eminent scientists advocate the
use of beer in preference to any other liquor. Spain, Italy, and even
China and Japan, are now being invaded by King Gambrinus, and it is,
indeed, only a question of time when beer shall be, as prophesied,
the universal drink. The literature, in languages other than English
and German, on the subject of beer, proves conclusively that the best
minds regard it as a worthy undertaking to write on a question which
materially affects the welfare of the people. A story is told of a
band of young heathens, whom the Japanese Government sent to Germany
to learn the art of brewing, which has since been introduced into
that country. When the young men returned, muscular, yet rotund, with
a healthy glow upon their cheeks, and elasticity and strength in all
their movements, the ministers were so strongly impressed with the
vitalizing effects of beer, that they ordered a merchantman to proceed
to Germany, load up with beer, and return poste-haste to Japan. The
result of this expedition is said to have accelerated the establishment
of the first brewery in the Mikado’s realm.
The most remarkable part of this progress of brewing is, that in many
instances, as, for example, in France, it was effected in spite of the
popular clamor against the Teutonic drink; and still more remarkable
is it that those who began by opposing its use most bitterly, ended by
advocating it most fervently.