A DROP OF GOOD BEER.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2702, 16 November 1881, Page 2

A DROP OF GOOD BEER.

The first prize silver medal awarded at the Melbourne Exhibition to Mr F. Franks, of the Eclipse Brewery, Temuka, and the Eclipse Bottling Stores, Timaru, for beer in bulk, has just been received by him. It is a massive piece of metal, weighing over a quarter of a pound. On the one side is a postage-stamp kind of portrait of the Queen, surrounded by the words “ Melbourne International Exhibition, MDCCCLXXX.” On the other side is a neat wreath surrounding the words the words, Vitum excolvere per artes , this may be translated “ To culti vate, or improve, life by means of the arts.” On the broad edge of the medal are inscribed the words, “ P. Franks, Temuka, Beer in Bulk.” It seems an extraordinary thing, to say the least of it, that the first honors for beer in bulk were won by New Zealanders in an International Exhibition, and not less so that three New Zealand brewers sent samples so good and equal in quality that the Judges had to give all first prizes, on account of their inability to rank one higher than another. These were our local brewer, Mr Franks, Ward and Co. of Christchurch, and Speight and Co. of Dunedin. It is a big feather in their cap that the awards were so made, as they had to compete not only with Australian, but with the leading European brewers. There were 37 exhibitors from Australia and Tasmania, 26 from New Zealand, 17 from Germany, and 14 from Great Britain. There was a large jury of judges, and their task must have been an onerous one, but we have it on good authority that at independent trials the beers of the three New Zealand brewers named were unanimously or almost unanimously placed first. The palate

and the eye were not the only tests applied. The analyst to the Victorian Government was chairman of the judging committee, and samples were subjected to serve chemical tests for purity. This test was early applied, and the impure ones immediately thrown out of the competition. It is astonishing that the world-renowned brewers of England, Bass, for instance, had to give place to colonial manufactures. The fact can only be explained, we suppose, by reference to the severe trials their exhibits would be subjected to on the voyage out. The climate of Victoria is very trying to beer, but this would affect the colonial brews as well as those from beyond the equator. We talk of “encouraging local industry,” and yet it is the fashion .to ask in licensed houses for “English beer.” Surely the result of the competition at the Melbourne Exhibition should show the folly of this fashion, looked at in connection with the expressed desire to encourage local skill and enterprise ; and when it is added that the proprietor of Hockins’ Hotel in Melbourne, bought the whole of the first prize ales, and sold them, in wineglasses at 6d, the ordinary price for beer being 3d per tumbler, the folly of the prejudice will be seen to be extreme. We congratulate Mr Franks on his success, and feel sure it will stimulate him in his endeavour to provide lovers of a “ drop of good beer ” with a beverage to their taste, and there is no doubt he can do this, as the beer he sent to Melbourne was not brewed for the purpose, though of course it was a picked sample.