100 YEARS OF BREWING (1903) - ULTRA-RARE BEER HISTORY

From the dust jacket:

Here is a richly overflowing collection of the stories and sidelights, facts and figures, as well as the men, machines and malt behind one of the last century's greatest romances - between modern science and the traditional art of making beer. This special limited edition is a complete reprint (1974) of the mammoth 718-page volume originally published in 1903 by H. S. Rich & Co., of Chicago and New York.

The idea was conceived in 1901 when a trade journal, Western Brewer, decided to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its existence along with a similar anniversary marking the introduction of commercial refrigeration, an event of immense importance to today's wide-spread popularity of beer consumption. The book which resulted is a masterpiece of Germanic scholarship, reflecting the characteristic middle-European values of the new Americans who dominated the brewing industry. By compiling the materials for ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF BREWING the editors of Western Brewer intended to " ... dispel certain misapprehensions which have long existed in some minds as to the character of the typical brewer and his moral attitude toward the business of his life. It may be asserted unhesitatingly that he believes in the manufacture of beer as an inncentive to temperance, and that his constant aim is to put forth a beverage as pure and nourishing, and yet mildly stimulating, as can be procured by the use of the best materials and the most advanced methods and mechanisms." In support of this assertion they chose to " ... place the brewer and his beer before the world in their true light ... to prove that the most enlightened peoples of the earth are gradually abandoning the inntoxicating distilled spirits in favor of the purer and more wholesome and less alcoholic malt liquors."

The retrospective reader can well appreciate the dilemma and subsequent disaster facing these men who had so much admiration for their product. They felt that beer offered a decent alternative to hard liquor in much the same manner as today's proponents of marijuana argue its value as an alternative to hard drugs. With a mixture of pride and a dark anticipation of their unjust persecution by the temperance movement the brewers presented their case to the American public. Sadly, in less than two decades a refreshing glass of beer would become a stolen pleasure.

Everywhere in this book one finds men who were truly in love with their occupation. Many of the names are still well known: Peter Ballantine of Newark, Christian Schmidt of Philadelphia, Adolphus Busch of St. Louis, Fred Pabst and Joseph Schlitz of Milwaukee, John Labatt of Ontario, Frederick Schaefer of New York City, Theodore Hamm of St. Paul and hundreds more ... including Matthew Vassar of Poughkeepsie, New York (sic transit gloria). Equally fascinating are the introductory passages on brewing during pre-historic, ancient and medieval times; the 19th century's revolutionary use of power sources, labor-saving machinery and refrigeration; carefully reproduced details of brewery architecture and construction; comprehensive descriptions of the various processes involving fermentation, malting, mashing, boiling, hopping, cooling, racking and bottling; plus a history of the industry in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Great Britain, Europe and Japan. In all, ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF BREWING is an almost unlimited treasure for both the beer fancier and the occasional quaffer.

From the book:

• Beer - the beer of the present - must be defined as a beverage produced by the alcoholic fermentation of a saccharine liquid, called wort, which is produced by the saccharification of starchy material obtained from grain, usually by means of diastase, which substance is formed in the grain by germination (malting) of the same.
• Beer, above all, must not alone be regarded as a luxury, but also as a food product. Millions of the working classes find in beer a cheap, healthful stimulant while engaged in hard physical labor, which, besides its nourishing effect, possesses other still more invigorating and strength-replacing qualities. It is owing to its great percentage of extract, together with a moderate amount of alcohol, that beer possesses the qualities necessary to serve these purposes.
• Beer, therefore, must, in the first instance, be considered as a beverage conducive to health, which, instead of leading to intoxication and intemperance, works in the direction of moderation and true temperance, successfully contending against the use of highly intoxicating distilled liquors.
• The German beer ... is expected to be made of a more dextrinous wort, rich in extract, of full-mouthed taste, moderate in alcohol, mostly of dark color, and possessing a rich and permanent head of foam.
• Among the celebrated Austrian beers ... Pilsner stands at the head of the list. They all have a similar winey taste, and are of light color.
• The Bohemian beers have more of a vinous character and possess a fine and strongly noticeable hop flavor, a pronounced bitter taste, and are light in color.
• The English beers are divided into two classes, the light-colored beers and ales - and the dark or black colored ones, porter and stout. The ales have chiefly a vinous character and possess a good percentage of alcohol and extract, strongly marked hop flavor and bitter taste, and are rich in carbonic acid. The bottle ales and stock ales, especially the last-named ones, possess a characteristic fine wine taste, produced by a peculiar and prolonged secondary fermentation. Porter, with a rich and very heavy foam, was in former years a very heavy beverage, but at present is brewed lighter, and has, as a result of its composition, a bitter and dry taste.
• The American lager beers taste more winelike than the German ones and in character are nearer related to the Bohemian or Austrian beers, being very effervescent and combining the quality of preserving the foam with a more or less full-mouthed taste. Their color, with the exception of special brands, is light throughout.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART I. THE BEER OF ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL TIMES.
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I.- Beer in Prehistoric Times
CHAPTER II.- Beverages of the Ancients
CHAPTER III.- The Beer of Pre-medieval Times
CHAPTER IV.- Beer in Medieval Times - Beer and the Convents
CHAPTER V.- Beer in Later Medieval Times

PART II. THE ART AND SCIENCE OF BREWING IN THE PAST CENTURY.
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I.- Beer and Beverages in General
CHAPTER II.- Scientific Reminiscences
CHAPTER III.- The Brewing Materials
CHAPTER IV.- The Malting Process
CHAPTER V.- The Mashing Process
CHAPTER VI.- Boiling, Hopping and Cooling the Wort
CHAPTER VII.- The Fermentation Process
CHAPTER VIII.- Racking and Bottling
CHAPTER IX.- Brewery Vessels and Their Management
CHAPTER X.- Refrigeration in the Brewery
CHAPTER XI.- Brewery Architecture and Engineering
CHAPTER XII.- Brewing Literature and Scientific Research

PART III. HISTORY OF THE BREWING INDUSTRY OF THE WORLD.
SECTION I.
THE BREWING INDUSTRY IN THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER I.- Origin and Progress of the Industry in the Old Colonies
CHAPTER II.- Pioneer Brewers and Breweries of the Middle and Southern Colonies
CHAPTER III.- Brewing in New England During the Colonial Period
CHAPTER IV.- Growth of the Brewing Industry from Revolutionary Times to 1840
CHAPTER V.- Progress of the General Industry and Rise of Lager Beer Brewing, 1840 to 1850
CHAPTER VI.- An Important Epoch - The Decade Prior to the Civil War
CHAPTER VII.- Progress of the Industry from 1862 to 1875, inclusive
CHAPTER VIII.- Progress of the Industry from 1876 to 1902, inclusive
CHAPTER IX.- U.S. Brewers Association and National System of Internal Revenue
CHAPTER X.- United States Brewmasters Association
CHAPTER XI.- History of the Malting Industry of the United States
CHAPTER XII.- Barley and Malt Statistics of the United States, 1850-1901
CHAPTER XIII.- Statistical Review of Malt Liquors, Including Internal Revenue Receipts, 1863-1901
CHAPTER XIV.- Nature of the United States Governmental Regulations

SECTION II.
BREWING INDUSTRY OF THE DOMINION OF CANADA.
CHAPTER I.- Statistics of the Trade in General - Breweries of the Province of Quebec
CHAPTER II.- Breweries and Malt-houses in the Province of Ontario
CHAPTER III.- The Breweries of the Dominion of Canada, except Ontario and Quebec

SECTION III.
THE BREWING INDUSTRY OF LATIN AMERICA.
CHAPTER I.- Mexican Brewing and Breweries
CHAPTER II.- The Brewing Industry in Central America and the West Indies
CHAPTER III.- South American Brewing and Breweries

SECTION IV.
GREAT BRITAIN AND HER DEPENDENCIES.
CHAPTER I.- Brewing in Great Britain and Ireland
CHAPTER II.- Brewing in the British Colonies

SECTION V.
BREWING INDUSTRY OF CONTINENTAL EUROPE.
CHAPTER I.- Brewing in Germany
CHAPTER II.- Brewing Industry of Austria-Hungary
CHAPTER III.- Brewing in Belgium and Holland
CHAPTER IV.- Brewing in the Republic of France
CHAPTER V.- The Brewing Industry of Russia
CHAPTER VI.- The Brewing Industry of Scandinavia
CHAPTER VII.- Brewing in Switzerland and Southern Europe

SECTION VI.
The Brewing Industry of Japan.

SECTION VII.
Brewing Statistics of the World.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS