person, shall sell or deliver to any licensed brewer, dealer in or
retailer of beer, knowing him to be such, or shall sell or deliver to
any person on account of or in trust for any such brewer, dealer or
retailer, any liquor called by the name of or sold as colouring, from
whatever material the same may be made, or any material or preparation
other than unground brown malt for darkening the colour of worts or
beer, or any liquor or preparation made use of for darkening the colour
of worts or beer, or any molasses, honey, vitriol, quassia, cocculus
Indian, grains of paradise, Guinea pepper or opium, or any extract or
preparation of molasses, or any article or preparation to be used in
worts or beer for or as a substitute for malt or hops; and if any
druggist shall offend in any of these particulars, such liquor
preparation, molasses, &c. shall be forfeited, and may be seized by any
officer of excise, and the person so offending shall for each offence
forfeit 500_l._"
The following is a list of druggists and grocers, prosecuted by the
Court of Excise, and convicted of supplying unlawful ingredients to
brewers.
_List of Druggists and Grocers, prosecuted and convicted from 1812 to
1819, for supplying illegal Ingredients to Brewers for adulterating
Beer._[54]
John Dunn and another, druggists, for selling adulterating ingredients
to brewers, verdict 500_l._
George Rugg and others, druggists, for selling adulterating ingredients
to brewers, verdict 500_l._
John Hodgkinson and others, for selling adulterating ingredients to
brewers, 100_l._ and costs.
William Hiscocks and others, for selling adulterating ingredients to a
brewer, 200_l._ and costs.
G. Hornby; for selling adulterating ingredients to a brewer, 200_l._
W. Wilson, for selling adulterating ingredients to a brewer, 200_l._
George Andrews, grocer, for selling adulterating ingredients to a
brewer, 25_l._ and costs.
Guy Knowles, for selling substitute for hops, costs.
Kernot and Alsop, for selling cocculus india, &c. 25_l._
Joseph Moss, for selling various drugs, 300_l._
Ph. Whitcombe, John Dunn, and Arthur Waller, druggists, for having
liquor for darkening the colour of beer, hid and concealed.
Isaac Hebberd, for having liquor for darkening the colour of beer, hid
and concealed.
Ph. Whitcombe, John Dunn, and Arthur Waller, druggists, for making
liquor for darkening the colour of beer.
John Lord, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 20_l._ and costs.
John Smith Carr, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 20_l._ and
costs.
Edward Fox, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 25_l._ and costs.
John Cooper, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 40_l._ and costs.
Joseph Bickering, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 40_l._ and
costs.
John Howard, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 25_l._ and costs.
James Reynolds, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, costs.
Thomas Hammond, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 20_l._ and
costs.
J. Mackway, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 20_l._
T. Renton, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, costs, and taking
out a license.
R. Adamson, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, costs, and taking
out a license.
W. Weaver, for selling Spanish liquorice to a brewer, 200_l._
J. Moss, for selling Spanish liquorice to a brewer.
Alex. Braden, for selling liquorice, 20_l._
J. Draper, for selling molasses to a brewer, 20_l._
PORTER.
The method of brewing porter has not been the same at all times as it is
at present.
At first, the only essential difference in the methods of brewing this
liquor and that of other kinds of beer, was, that porter was brewed from
brown malt only; and this gave to it both the colour and flavour
required. Of late years it has been brewed from mixtures of pale and
brown malt.
These, at some establishments, are mashed separately, and the worts from
each are afterwards mixed together. The proportion of pale and brown
malt, used for brewing porter, varies in different breweries; some
employ nearly two parts of pale malt and one part of brown malt; but
each brewer appears to have his own proportion; which the intelligent
manufacturer varies, according to the nature and qualities of the malt.
Three pounds of hops are, upon an average, allowed to every barrel,
(thirty-six gallons) of porter.
When the price of malt, on account of the great increase in the price of
barley during the late war, was very high, the London brewers discovered
that a larger quantity of wort of a given strength could be obtained
from pale malt than from brown malt. They therefore increased the
quantity of the former and diminished that of the latter. This produced
beer of a paler colour, and of a less bitter flavour. To remedy these
disadvantages, they invented an artificial colouring substance, prepared
by boiling brown sugar till it acquired a very dark brown colour; a
solution of which was employed to darken the colour of the beer. Some
brewers made use of the infusion of malt instead of sugar colouring. To
impart to the beer a bitter taste, the fraudulent brewer employed
quassia wood and wormwood as a substitute for hops.
But as the colouring of beer by means of sugar became in many instances
a pretext for using illegal ingredients, the Legislature, apprehensive
from the mischief that might, and actually did, result from it, passed
an Act prohibiting the use of burnt sugar, in July 1817; and nothing but
malt and hops is now allowed to enter into the composition of beer: even
the use of isinglass for clarifying beer, is contrary to law.
No sooner had the beer-colouring Act been repealed, than other persons
obtained a patent for effecting the purpose of imparting an artificial
colour to porter, by means of brown malt, specifically prepared for that
purpose only. The beer, coloured by the new method, is more liable to
become spoiled, than when coloured by the process formerly practised.
The colouring malt does not contain any considerable portion of
saccharine matter. The grain is by mere torrefaction converted into a
gum-like substance, wholly soluble in water, which renders the beer
more liable to pass into the acetous fermentation than the common brown
malt is capable of doing; because the latter, if prepared from good
barley, contains a portion of saccharine matter, of which the patent
malt is destitute.
But as brown malt is generally prepared from the worst kind of barley,
and as the patent malt can only be made from good grain, it may become,
on that account, an useful article to the brewer (at least, it gives
colour and body to the beer;) but it cannot materially economise the
quantity of malt necessary to produce good porter. Some brewers of
eminence in this town have assured me, that the use of this mode of
colouring beer is wholly unnecessary; and that porter of the requisite
colour may be brewed better without it; hence this kind of malt is not
used in their establishments. The quantity of gum-like matter which it
contains, gives too much ferment to the beer, and renders it liable to
spoil. Repeated experiments, made on a large scale, have settled this
fact.
STRENGTH AND SPECIFIC DIFFERENCES OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF PORTER.
The strength of all kinds of beer, like that of wine, depends on the
quantity of spirit contained in a given bulk of the liquor.
The reader need scarcely be told, that of no article there are more
varieties than of porter. This, no doubt, arises from the different mode
of manufacturing the beer, although the ingredients are the same. This
difference is more striking in the porter manufactured among country
brewers, than it is in the beer brewed by the eminent London porter
brewers. The totality of the London porter exhibits but very slight
differences, both with respect to strength or quantity of spirit, and
solid extractive matter, contained in a given bulk of it. The spirit may
be stated, upon an average, to be 4,50 per cent. in porter retailed at
the publicans; the solid matter, is from twenty-one to twenty-three
pounds per barrel of thirty-six gallons. The country-brewed porter is
seldom well fermented, and seldom contains so large a quantity of
spirit; it usually abounds in mucilage; hence it becomes turbid when
mixed with alcohol. Such beer cannot keep, without becoming sour.
It has been matter of frequent complaint, that ALL the porter
now brewed, is not what porter was formerly. This idea may be true with
some exceptions. My professional occupations have, during these
twenty-eight years, repeatedly obliged me to examine the strength of
London porter, brewed by different brewers; and, from the minutes made
on that subject, I am authorised to state, that the porter now brewed by
the eminent London brewers, is unquestionably stronger than that which
was brewed at different periods during the late French war. Samples of
brown stout with which I have been obligingly favoured, whilst writing
this Treatise, by Messrs. Barclay, Perkins, and Co.--Messrs. Truman,
Hanbury, and Co.--Messrs. Henry Meux and Co.--and other eminent brewers
of this capital--afforded, upon an average, 7,25 per cent. of alcohol,
of 0,833 specific gravity; and porter, from the same houses, yielded
upon an average 5,25 per cent. of alcohol, of the same specific
gravity;[55] this beer received from the brewers was taken from the
same store from which the publicans are supplied.
It is nevertheless singular to observe, that from fifteen samples of
beer of the same denominations, procured from different retailers, the
proportions of spirit fell considerably short of the above quantities.
Samples of brown stout, procured from the retailers, afforded, upon an
average, 6,50 per cent. of alcohol; and the average strength of the
porter was 4,50 per cent. Whence can this difference between the beer
furnished by the brewer, and that retailed by the publican, arise? We
shall not be at a loss to answer this question, when we find that so
many retailers of porter have been prosecuted and convicted for mixing
table beer with their strong beer; this is prohibited by law, as becomes
obvious by the following words of the Act.[56]
"If any common or other brewer, innkeeper, victualler, or retailer of
beer or ale, shall mix or suffer to be mixed any strong beer, ale, or
worts, with table beer, worts, or water, in any tub or measure, he shall
forfeit 50_l._" The difference between strong and table beer, is thus
settled by Parliament.
"All beer or ale[57] above the price of eighteen shillings per barrel,
exclusive of ale duties now payable (viz. ten shillings per barrel,) or
that may be hereafter payable in respect thereof, shall be deemed strong
beer or ale; and all beer of the price of eighteen shillings the barrel
or under, exclusive of the duty payable (viz. two shillings per barrel)
in respect thereof, shall be deemed table beer within the meaning of
this and all other Acts now in force, or that may hereafter be passed in
relation to beer or ale or any duties thereon."
_List of Publicans prosecuted and convicted from 1815 to 1818, for
adulterating Beer with illegal Ingredients, and for mixing Table Beer
with their Strong Beer._[58]
William Atterbury, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for
mixing table beer with strong beer, 40_l._
Richard Dean, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for
mixing table beer with strong beer, 50_l._
John Jay, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for mixing
table beer with strong beer, 50_l._
James Atkinson, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for
mixing table beer with strong beer, 20_l._
Samuel Langworth, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for
mixing table beer with strong beer, 50_l._
Hannah Spencer, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for
mixing table beer with strong beer, 150_l._
---- Hoeg, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for mixing
table beer with strong beer, 5_l._
Richard Craddock, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for
mixing table beer with strong beer, 100_l._
James Harris, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for
receiving stale beer, and mixing it with strong beer, 42_l._ and costs.
Thomas Scoons, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for
mixing stale beer with strong beer, verdict 200_l._
Diones Geer and another, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c.
and for mixing strong and table beer, verdict 400_l._
Charles Coleman, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for
mixing strong and table beer, 35_l._ and costs.
William Orr, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for mixing
strong and table beer, 50_l._
John Gardiner, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for
mixing strong and table beer, 100_l._
John Morris, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for mixing
strong and table beer, 20_l._
John Harbur, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for mixing
strong and table beer, 50_l._
John Corrie, for mixing strong beer with table beer.
John Cape, for mixing strong beer with table beer.
Joseph Gudge, for mixing strong beer with small beer.
ILLEGAL SUBSTANCES USED FOR ADULTERATING BEER.
We have stated already (p. 113) that nothing is allowed by law to enter
into the composition of beer, but malt and hops.
The substances used by fraudulent brewers for adulterating beer, are
chiefly the following:
Quassia, which gives to beer a bitter taste, is substituted for hops;
but hops possesses a more agreeable aromatic flavour, and there is also
reason to believe that they render beer less liable to spoil by keeping;
a property which does not belong to quassia. It requires but little
discrimination to distinguish very clearly the peculiar bitterness of
quassia in adulterated porter. Vast quantities of the shavings of this
wood are sold in a half-torrefied and ground state to disguise its
obvious character, and to prevent its being recognised among the waste
materials of the brewers. Wormwood[59] has likewise been used by
fraudulent brewers.
The adulterating of hops is prohibited by the Legislature.[60]
"If any person shall put any drug or ingredient whatever into hops to
alter the colour or scent thereof, every person so offending, convicted
by the oath of one witness before one justice of peace for the county or
place where the offence was committed, shall forfeit 5_l._ for every
hundred weight."
Beer rendered bitter by quassia never keeps well, unless it be kept in a
place possessing a temperature considerably lower than the temperature
of the surrounding atmosphere; and this is not well practicable in large
establishments.
The use of boiling the wort of beer with hops, is partly to communicate
a peculiar aromatic flavour which the hop contains, partly to cover the
sweetness of undecomposed saccharine matter, and also to separate, by
virtue of the gallic acid and tannin it contains, a portion of a
peculiar vegetable mucilage somewhat resembling gluten, which is still
diffused through the beer. The compound thus produced, separates in
small flakes like those of curdled soap; and by these means the beer is
rendered less liable to spoil. For nothing contributes more to the
conversion of beer, or any other vinous fluid, into vinegar, than
mucilage. Hence, also, all full-bodied and clammy ales, abounding in
mucilage, and which are generally ill fermented, do not keep as perfect
ale ought to do. Quassia is, therefore, unfit as a substitute for hops;
and even English hops are preferable to those imported from the
Continent; for nitrate of silver and acetate of lead produce a more
abundant precipitate from an infusion of English hops, than can be
obtained from a like infusion by the same agents from foreign hops.
One of the qualities of good porter, is, that it should bear _a fine
frothy head_, as it is technically termed: because professed judges of
this beverage, would not pronounce the liquor excellent, although it
possessed all other good qualities of porter, without this requisite.
To impart to porter this property of frothing when poured from one
vessel into another, or to produce what is also termed a _cauliflower
head_, the mixture called _beer-heading_, composed of common green
vitriol (sulphate of iron,) alum, and salt, is added. This addition to
the beer is generally made by the publicans.[61] It is unnecessary to
genuine beer, which of itself possesses the property of bearing a strong
white froth, without these additions; and it is only in consequence of
table beer being mixed with strong beer, that the frothing property of
the porter is lost. From experiments I have tried on this subject, I
have reason to believe that the sulphate of iron, added for that
purpose, does not possess the power ascribed to it. But the publicans
frequently, when they fine a butt of beer, by means of isinglass,
adulterate the porter at the same time with table beer, together with a
quantity of molasses and a small portion of extract of gentian root, to
keep up the peculiar flavour of the porter; and it is to the molasses
chiefly, which gives a spissitude to the beer, that the frothing
property must be ascribed; for, without it, the sulphate of iron does
not produce the property of frothing in diluted beer.
Capsicum and grains of paradise, two highly acrid substances, are
employed to give a pungent taste to weak insipid beer. Of late, a
concentrated tincture of these articles, to be used for a similar
purpose, and possessing a powerful effect, has appeared in the
price-currents of brewers' druggists. Ginger root, coriander seed, and
orange peels, are employed as flavouring substances chiefly by the ale
brewers.
From these statements, and the seizures that have been made of illegal
ingredients at various breweries, it is obvious that the adulterations
of beer are not imaginary. It will be noticed, however, that some of the
sophistications are comparatively harmless, whilst others are effected
by substances deleterious to health.
The following list exhibits some of the unlawful substances seized at
different breweries and at chemical laboratories.
_List of Illegal Ingredients, seized from 1812 to 1818, at various
Breweries and Brewers' Druggists._[62]
1812, July. Josiah Nibbs, at Tooting, Surrey.
Multum 84 lbs.
Cocculus indicus 12
Colouring 4 galls.
Honey about 180 lbs.
Hartshorn Shavings 14
Spanish Juice 46
Orange Powder 17
Ginger 56
Penalty 300_l._
1813, June 13. Sarah Willis, at West Ham, Essex.
Cocculus indicus 1 lb.
Spanish Juice 12
Hartshorn Shavings 6
Orange Powder 1
Penalty 200_l._
August 3. Cratcherode Whiffing, Limehouse.
Grains of Paradise 44 lbs.
Quassia 10
Liquorice 64
Ginger 80
Caraway Seeds 40
Orange Powder 14
Copperas 4
Penalty 200_l._
Nov. 25. Elizabeth Hasler, at Stratford.
Cocculus indicus 12 lbs.
Multum 26
Grains of Paradise 12
Spanish Juice 30
Orange Powder 3
Penalty 200_l._
Dec. 14. John Abbott, at Canterbury, Kent.
Copperas, &c. 14 lbs.
Orange powder 2
Penalty 500_l._, and Crown's costs.
Proof of using drugs at various times.
1815, Feb. 15. Mantel and Cook, Castle-street, Bloomsbury-square.
Proof of mixing strong with table beer, and using colouring and other
things.
Compromised for 300_l._
1817. From Peter Stevenson, an old Servant to Dunn and Waller, St.
John-street, brewers' druggists.
Cocculus Indicus Extract 6 lbs.
Multum 560
Capsicum 88
Copperas 310
Quassia 150
Colouring and Drugs 84
Mixed Drugs 240
Spanish Liquorice 420
Hartshorn Shavings 77
Liquorice Powder 175
Orange powder 126
Caraway Seeds 100
Ginger 110
Ginger Root 176
Condemned, not being claimed.
July 30. Luke Lyons, Shadwell.
Capsicum 1 lb
Liquorice Root Powder 2
Coriander Seed 2
Copperas 1
Orange Powder 8
Spanish Liquorice 1/2
Beer Colouring 24 galls
Not tried. (7th May, 1818.)
Aug. 6. John Gray, at West Ham.
Multum 4 lbs.
Spanish Liquorice 21
Liquorice Root Powder 113
Ginger 116
Honey 11
Penalty, 300_l._, and costs; including mixing strong beer with table,
and paying table-beer duty for strong beer, &c.
* * * * *
Numerous other seizures of illegal substances, made at breweries, might
be advanced, were it necessary to enlarge this subject to a greater
extent.
Mr. James West, from the excise office, being asked in the Committee of
the House of Commons, appointed, 1819, to examine and report on the
petition of several inhabitants of London, complaining of the high price
and inferior quality of beer, produced the following seized
articles:--"One bladder of honey, one bladder of extract of cocculus
indicus, ground guinea pepper or capsicum, vitriol or copperas, orange
powder, quassia, ground beer-heading, hard multum, another kind of
multum or beer preparation, liquorice powder, and ground grains of
paradise."
Witness being asked "Where did you seize these things?" Answer, "Some of
them were seized from brewers, and some of them from brewers'
druggists, within these two years past." (May 8, 1818.)
Another fraud frequently committed, both by brewers and publicans, (as
is evident from the Excise Report,) is the practice of adulterating
strong beer with small beer--This fraud is prohibited by law, since both
the revenue and the public suffer by it.[63] "The duty upon strong beer
is ten shillings a barrel; and upon table beer it is two shillings. The
revenue suffers, because a larger quantity of beer is sold as strong
beer; that is, at a price exceeding the price of table beer, without the
strong beer duty being paid. In the next place, the brewer suffers,
because the retailer gets table or mild beer, and retails it as strong
beer." The following are the words of the Act, prohibiting the brewers
mixing table beer with strong beer.
"If any common brewer shall mix or suffer to be mixed any strong beer,
or strong worts with table beer or table worts, or with water in any
guile or fermenting tun after the declaration of the quantity of such
guile shall have been made; or if he shall at any time mix or suffer to
be mixed strong beer or strong worts with table beer worts or with
water, in any vat, cask, tub, measures or utensil, not being an entered
guile or fermenting tun, he shall forfeit 200 pounds."[64]
With respect to the persons who commit this offence, Mr. Carr,[65] the
Solicitor of the Excise, observes, that "they are generally brewers who
carry on the double trade of brewing both strong and table beer. It is
almost impossible to prevent them from mixing one with the other; and
frauds of very great extent have been detected, and the parties punished
for that offence. One brewer at Plymouth evaded duties to the amount of
32,000 pounds; and other brewers, who brew party guiles of beer,
carrying on the two trades of ale and table beer brewers, where the
trade is a victualling brewer, which is different from the common
brewer, he being a person who sells only wholesale; the victualling
brewer being a brewer and also a seller by retail."
"In the neighbourhood of London," Mr. Carr continues, "more
particularly, I speak from having had great experience, from the
informations and evidence which I have received, that the retailers
carry on a most extensive fraud upon the public, in purchasing stale
table beer, or the bottoms of casks. There are a class of men who go
about and sell such beer at table-beer price to public victuallers, who
mix it in their cellars. If they receive beer from their brewers which
is mild, they purchase stale beer; and if they receive stale beer, they
purchase common table beer for that purpose; and many of the
prosecutions are against retailers for that offence." The following may
serve in proof of this statement.
_List of Brewers prosecuted and convicted from 1813 to 1819, for
adulterating Strong Beer with Table Beer._[66]
Thomas Manton and another, brewers, for mixing strong and table beer,
verdict 300_l._
Mark Morrell and another, brewers, for mixing strong and table beer,
20_l._ and costs.
Robert Jones and another, brewers, for mixing strong and table beer,
verdict 125_l._
Robert Stroad, brewer, for mixing strong and table beer, 200_l._ and
costs.