English Brewing in 1820
Excerpt from the book Treatise on the Art of Brewing that outlines the different beers produced in England during the year 1820.
From: 1820 C.E. To: 1820 C.E.
Location: England
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
From Treatise on the Art of Brewing by Frederich Christian Accum,
The art of preparing vinous liquors from nutritive farinaceous seeds, previously subjected to the process of germination, or malting, appears to have been known and practised in very remote ages, among those people who lived in countries that are not adapted for the culture of the grape.
The ancient Greek writers gave the name of barley wine to malt liquors. The invention of brewing is ascribed to the Egyptians; from whence it seems to have passed to those western nations which were settled by the colonies that migrated from the east. The town of Pelusium, situated on one of the mouths of the Nile, was particularly celebrated for its manufacture of malt liquors. Herodotus attributes the discovery of the art of brewing to Isis, the wife of Osiris.
Galen, who lived at Rome, and flourished in the reign of Antoninus Pius, and Dioscorides, the favourite of Mark Antony, were neither of them strangers to ale.
Tacitus informs us, that beer was known in very remote ages among the northern nations, and that this liquor was the favourite drink of the Anglo-Saxons, and Danes, as it had been of their ancestors, the Germans. Before their conversion to Christianity, they believed that drinking large and frequent draughts of fermented malt liquors was one of the chief felicities which those heroes enjoyed, which were admitted into the hall of Odin.
After the introduction of agriculture into this country, malt liquors were substituted for mead, and became the most general drink of all the ancient Britons; both ale and beer is mentioned in the laws of Ina, king of Wessex.
Among the different kinds of drinks provided for a royal banquet in the reign of Edward the Confessor, ale is particularly specified. In Scotland and Wales they had at that time two kinds of ale, called common ale, and aromatic ale, both of which were considered as articles of great luxury among the Welsh. Wine, it appears, was then unknown even to the king of Wales.
Buchan, in his history of Scotland, mentions the use of malt liquor at a very early period, and calls it vinum ex frugibus corruptis.
The heroic, but ill-fated, Mungo Park, found the art of brewing beer among the [people] in the interior parts of Africa. They prepare the seed of the Holcus spicatus nearly in the same manner as we do barley, and he says that their beer was, to his taste, equal to the best strong malt liquor he had ever tasted in his native country.
All the ancient malt liquors, however, seem to have been made entirely of barley, or some other farinaceous grain, and therefore were not generally calculated for long keeping, as this quality depends considerably, though not entirely, on the bitter principle of the hops with which the liquor is impregnated. The use of this plant in the art of brewing is of modern date.
Chemical Constitution of Malt Liquors
Beer may be considered as the wine of grain, for it is the product of the fermentation of malt, just as wine is that of the fermentation of the grape, or other sub- acid fruits. Malt liquors, however, are distinguished from wine, chiefly by the larger quantity of mucilage and saccharine matter which they contain, and the absence of super-tartrate of potash, a salt which exists in all wines made of the juice of the grape.The principal distinction of malt liquors is into Beer, properly so called. Ale, and Table Beer, or Small Beer.
Porter
Porter, which is commonly called Beer in London, must be pronounced the most perfect of all malt liquors. The processes employed for brewing this kind of malt liquor, all unite to convert the substance from which it is produced into the most perfect vinous fluid that can be obtained from grain. The origin of porter is thus related by the Editor of the Picture of London :
“Prior to the year 1722 the malt liquors in general use were ale, beer, and two penny, and it was customary for the drinkers of malt liquor to call for a pint or tankard of half-and-half, i. e. half of ale and half of beer ; half of ale and half of twopenny ; or half of beer and half of twopenny. In course of time it also Became the practice to call for a pint or tankard of three threads, meaning- a third of ale, beer, and twopenny, and thus the publican had the trouble to go to three casks, and turn three cocks for a pint of liquor. To avoid this trouble and waste, a brewer of the name of Harwood, conceived the idea of making a liquor which should partake of the united flavours of ale, beer, and twopenny. He did so, and succeeded, calling it entire, or entire butt beer, meaning that it was drawn entirely from one cask or butt, and, being a hearty nourishing liquor, it was very suitable for porters and other working people. Hence it obtained its name of porter.”
Ale
Ale is beer of a more syrupy consistence than porter; it contains a considerable quantity of undecomposed farinaceous matter, and saccharine mucilage, which impart to it a clammy consistence and sweetish taste. Hence strong new brewed ale becomes muddy by a copious admixture of alcohol, whereas porter suffers no perceptible change from this agent.
Table Beer
Small, or Table Beer, as its name implies, is a weaker liquor than ale, containing a larger quantity of water. Two parts of London table beer may be considered equivalent in strength to one of ale; but, according to the legal distinction, all beer sold above the price of I8s. per barrel is deemed ale, or strong beer, and pays the ale duty, viz. 10s. per barrel ; and beer, of the price of 18s. per barrel, or under, exclusive of the duty, namely 2s. per barrel, is considered as table beer within the meaning of the act.
Accum, Friedrich Christian. Treatise on the Art of Brewing : Exhibiting the London Practice of Brewing Porter, Brown Stout, Ale, Table Beer and Various Other Kinds of Malt Liquors. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, 1820.
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