The American Practical Brewer and Tanner | Page 3

that
time sent to France. As that territory is now in our possession, and its
soil and climate peculiarly favourable to the growth of the grape, which
is indigenous there, may it not be an object well worth the attention of
our government, to encourage and improve the growth of the wine in
that section of the union; which wise measure would, probably, in a
few years, supply our own consumption, and leave a considerable
surplus for exportation. To offer an apology for giving these subjects a
place in this publication, seems wholly unnecessary, when their
importance is considered.

PREFACE.
Brewing, in every country, whose soil and climate are congenial to the
production of the raw materials, should be ranked among the first
objects of its domestic and political economy. If any person doubt the
truth of this position, I have only to request him to cast an eye on
England, where the brewing capital is estimated at more than fifteen
millions sterling; and the gross annual revenue, arising from this capital,
at seven million five hundred thousand pounds sterling, including the

hop, malt, and extract duties. Notwithstanding this enormous excise of
50 per cent. on the brewing capital, what immense fortunes have been
made, and are daily making, in that country, as well as in Ireland and
Scotland, by the intelligent and judicious practice of this more than
useful art. Yet how much stronger inducements for similar
establishments in this country, where we have no duty on the raw
materials, or the extract;[1] and where the important article of hops is
raised in as high perfection as in any part of Europe, and often for one
third of the price paid in England. But a still more important
consideration is the health and morals of our population, which appears
to be essentially connected with the progress of the brewing trade. In
proof of this assertion, I will beg leave to state a well known fact;
which is, that in proportion as the consumption of malt liquors have
increased in our large towns and cities, in that proportion has the health
of our fellow citizens improved, and epidemics and intermittents,
become less frequent. The same observation holds good as respects the
country, where it is well known that those families that brew their own
beer, and make a free use of it through the summer are, in general, all
healthy, and preserve their colour; whilst their less fortunate neighbours,
who do not use beer at all, are devoured by fevers and intermittents.
These facts will be less doubted, when it is known that yest, properly
administered, has been found singularly successful in the cure of fevers.
This the practice of the Rev. Doctor Townsend, in England, places
beyond all doubt, where he states, that in fifty fever cases that occurred
in his own parish, (some of which were of the most malignant kind,) he
only missed a cure in two or three, by administering yest. Having
considered the produce of the brewery as it is connected with health,
we may, with equal propriety, say it is not less so with morals; and its
encouragement and extension, as an object of great national importance,
cannot be too strongly recommended, as the most natural and effectual
remedy to the too great use of ardent spirits, the baneful effects of
which are too generally known, and too extensively felt, to need any
particular description here. The farmer and the merchant will alike find
their account in encouraging and improving the produce of the brewery.
The farmer can raise no crop that will pay him better than hops; as,
under proper management, he may reasonably expect to clear, of a
good year, one hundred dollars per acre. Barley will also prove a good

crop, if proper attention be paid to seed, soil, and time of sowing. The
merchant will alike find his account in encouraging the brewery, from
the many advantages derivable from an extensive export of its produce
to the East and West Indies, South America, the Brazils, but
particularly to Russia, where good beer is in great demand; large
quantities are annually sent there from England, at a much higher rate,
it may be presumed, than we could afford to supply them from this
country. All these considerations united seem forcibly to recommend
giving the breweries of the United States every possible encouragement
and extension. Here, it is but justice to state, that the brewers of
New-York deserve much credit for the high improvement they have
made in the quality of their malt liquors within a few years, which seem
to justify the hope that they will continue these advances to excellence,
until they realise the opinion of Combrune and others, that it is possible
to produce a "malt wine."
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