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j\merican
Beers
By
H.
E.
U.
HEINEMANN
Editor
American
Brewers'
Rei'iew
Chicago
The
beverage
popularly
known
as
"beer"
in
^ll^
America
to-day
is
derived
from
the
German
type
Hp
^
of
bottom fermented
beer.
In
the
earl\-
^fr
clays
of
the
country
beer
meant
the
same
as
^^
f
it
does
to-day
in
England,
where
it
applies
^|£?"'*^
to
the
types
prepared
by
top
fermentation,
^^
comprising
ale,
stout,
porter
and
their
va-
rieties.
That
is
to
say,
it
applied
to
these
fiipcs,
although,
of
course,
the
character
of
them
has
changed
considerably
since
colonial
days
and,
like
other
food
products,
has
been
vastly
im-
proved
since
the
articles
are
produced
on
an
industrial
scale
instead
of
by
home
brewing.
The
ales,
stouts
and
porters
still
maintain
a
certain
vogue
in
Eastern
States.
While
derived
from
the
German
types,
American
l)eer
has
developed
a
character
of
its
own.
European
experts
who
have
traveled
in
this
country
have
said
that
it
is
impossible
to
decide
the
question
which
is
better,
there
being
so
much
difference
of
character
that
comparison
is
impracticable.
They
have
agreed
that
American
beers
average
fully
as
good
as
German
beers
for
those
who
like
their
character.
Americans
traveling
in
Ger-
many
report
that
American
beers
average
higher
in
quality
than
the
German.
Perhaps
this oi>inion
may
also
be
due
to
personal
preference
of
character.
American
critics
of
American
beers
usually
compare
the
average
American
beers
with
those
imported
from Germany,
without
stopping
to
reflect
that
the
export
beers
shipped
to
this
country
are
the
pick
of
the
whole
country,
specially
brewed
for
export,
and
necessarily
of
excep-
tional
quality
because
otherwise
they
would
not
stand
the
hard-
ships
of
export,
especially
since
the
American
food
law
excluded
the
use
of
preservatives,
like
salicylic
acid.
The
peculiar
character
of
American
beer
was
developed
in
response
to
the
peculiar
requirements
of
the
public
taste.
It
is
often
said
by
thoughtless
or
uninformed
persons
that
American
brewers
ought
to
return
to
the
original
German
t\pe
of
l)eer.
But
those
who
have
tried
it—
and
there
are
many—
ha\e
in-
variably
found
that
there
was
no
demand
for
such
beers,
and
have
been
obliged
to
give
them
up.