THE LIQUORS WE DRINK.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2196, 21 May 1870, Page 2

THE LIQUORS WE DRINK.

To the Editor of the Evening Star. Sir, — There are no popular fallacies so extended in their influences or so injurious in their consequences as those which ielate to the liquors we drink. The Hon. Mr Fox in his address on Friday evening last, tolerably well exposed the fallacy, the great sham of “generous port” and “sparkling Moselle,” and I propose now, if you will afford me space, to show that the beer of the masses has no more claim to the confidence of its consumers than the wine of the “ upper ten,” One popular fallacy in relation to beer and other fermented malt liquors is that as barley is a good, wholesome, and nutritious article of diet, beer which is made from malt must partake of the nature of the barley of which it is the product, and be wholesome and nutritious also. Some years ago, Mr i Israeli, when as Chancellor of the Exchequer of England, proposed to reduce the ttx on malt, in his budget speech is reported as having spoken of beer as “among “ articles of prime necassity,” as that which sustains lives,” and as that form of the sustenance of the community ” which ought to be cheapened as bread had been. Now, sir, what are the facts of the case? Let us assume meanwhile that the beer is good and unadulterated, that is made solely from water, malt, and hops, what on the brewer’s own showing is the nutritive, or feeding strengthening properties contained in it ? In June, 1851, Messrs Hawkes of the Swan Brewery, Walharn Green, Fulham, published the following analysis of beer, stating it “may be taken as a sample of all our other kinds of beer as regards purity.” The analysis gives the following results; — Alcohol ... ... 5 0(30 Extractive ... ... 3 885 Acetic Acid ... ... 'O3O Water ... ... ... 9L085 100 000 These figures given by the brewer himself are I should say sufficient to explode the fallacy which sets up the nutritive property of beer. The following analysis of a quart of ale as given by Mr Livesey is in a more popular form : Quart of Ale, 39 ounces, Water ... ... ~, 35uzs Alcohql or pure spirit ... I:, ! Barley ... ... ... 2,j 39ozs The water, though useful, is not food ; the spirit is simply stimulating ; and the 2jozs of extract is the worst part of the barley, chiefly gum and almost useless as food. Take yet another illustration from the same authority. “Ip makinga gallon of strong ale |nine gallons to the uqshel) Gibs of barley is used, which, to commence with, is Gibs of good nutritious food, excepting the husk.” In order to convert this into beer, it has to be first malted, then mashed, then fermented, and then comes a fourth process termed “ fining.” While undergoing these processes the loss of barley is stated as follows : “We begin with barley, (q|lq t Ip maltipg wo absprqct as ipaltcom'bs 1 ,Ub In mashing we dispose of as grains ... 2 In fermenting we lose in sugar, carbonic acid gas, .and barm ... ... 1 In fining we reject as barrel bottoms... f s,'flb “So that when we come to examine the beer we find that there is not more than I2ozs, generally not more than lOozs in the gallon of barley left, and this chiefly gum.” But some one who knows Mr Livesey may soy, he being an earnest abstainer, is not a Reliable authority in tins matt'er,' will such objectors accept the testimony of Enrol Liebig ? That authority than whom I know no higher on such a subject as this, says—- “ Beer, wine, spirits, &c., furnish no e'emeuts callable of entering into the composition of blood, muscular fibre, or any part which is the seat of the vital principle.” Aga’n “ 739 gallons of the best Bavarian beer contain exactly as much nourishment as a 5Hi loaf or 3lbs of beef.” Dr M'Kenzie, F.ii.C. Edinburgh, remarks on the above, “No one has yet ventured to dispute this statement. It took at least 1,2091bs of barley foqd, epuvoided into plff.lt, p) iq ike these 730 gaUqns'of beer j 'the feVmeptr t tion, however destroyed the whole of this'food excepting 51bs.” Here Dr M Kcnzie uses the term “ fermentation” as including the whole process of manufacture from barley to beer. I will not now intrude further on your valuable space having, I think, made good my point that the notion that beer possesses any appreciable nutritive properties is most obviously a popular fallacy which will not stand a mbiiVqbt's scoops iiivpscigafiußWith your permission I wifi return to the subject, and endeavour to expose another fallacy, viz., that it is spirit drinking which produces the drunkenness of which every one complains, and that was beer drinking, substituted for it great good would result from the change.—Yours, &c., J, Dunedin, 10th May, 1870,