An Auckland Brewery. (By a Melbourne Visitor).

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 356, 3 April 1889, Page 3

An Auckland Brewery. (By a Melbourne Visitor).

Anyone writing about objects of interest in, Auckland can scarcely pass over < what ie< literally "in so many people's mouths " the prize beer, as it is called. For the benefit of those who cannot go themselves to see a brewery, Ihave jotted down tbe experiences of my visit to the Domain Brewery, Newmarket. When the news appeared in the morning papers of all the colonies on the 16th October last that Brown and Campbell, of Auckland, had taken first prize at the Melbourne Centennial Exhibition, it was hardly realised what that meant, and great numbers concluded that the award' was in the division set apart for New Zealand only. It; seemed so unlikely that the magnificent breweries ot Victoria and New South Wales — one in Melbourne alone having a capital of over a million of money — must all retire in favour of a' product of Auckland. Such, however, is the case, and the successful firm might have made it a good deal clearer to the public generally that they vanquished all comers. It is no wonder that you hear " Pint o' Centennial," " 'Arf and 'arf o' Domain," "a long-sleever of the prize beer," and so on from the genteel request of the visitor who *' would like to try ii., doncherknow," to the Waikato settler who wants a " schooner " of it in a mug — they all patronise a local industry. It is an open secret that in this city the bulk of the hotels are practically, if not altogether, in the hands of the brewers ; hence the quality of the alesupp lied makes a great diflerence to them selves, drawing custom and directly affecting the sale of other liquors. The proprietors of the Domain Brewery seem to have realised this, and, sparing; no expense, have, in the short space of ten years, placed themselves at the top of the tree. Mr Taylor, the manager, reminds me of an engineer with a hundred electiic lights under his control, which he turns ofl* or on as may, seem lit. By the way, at 10 pm. the turning oil generally applies to the front door lujbt, and the turning on to the little back bar. It would be interesting to see the" result of an election tor the Gity of Auckland between Mr Taylor arid *Srr William Fox. Brown and Campbells beer is made at Newmarket, some two or three miles out of town, so the manager has a hansom in readiness. Talking of cabs, it is a most peculiar thing that if you ask a Jehu in this city what mis iare i^ for an afternoon, he invariably names the price of his horse" ; to have a cab ior the week wouldmean buying the turnout. The Domain Brewery is much the same externally as any others. They are nearly all brick buildings of five to nine storeys high, have numerous windows, a large chimney stack, and a tower ; to this latter we climb up under the guidance of Mr George Carson, the brewer, whose success at the great Melbourne show still leaves him a most unassuming man, yet with a healtHy pride in his' work. From the roof the view is very pretty, fully half of the horizon merging into water, and the surrounding land so softly decorated with foliage. Oaks and other English trees seem to do splendidly in New Zealand.

THE TOWER ROOM is occupied in the centre with a 2,000 gallon tank. Into this the water is pumped by machinery below, from on artesian well about 180 feet deep, and which", is not more than 200 feet from the buildiqg. Two pumps are used, one at a depth of 15 feet tor ordinary times and seasons, and a second at the 65 feet level in case that very hot weather or other causes might lower the water to a depth out of the reach of smaller gear. The tank in the tower empties itself into a boiler on the next or

FOURTH FLOOR, and here every drop of water used in the beer is boiled ; the heat is obtained by steam pipes connected with the engine below. Th'te system does away with the necessity for burning actual fire so high in the building, which, among so much woodwork, would be a dangerous element. On this landing there is a large receptacle for the crushed malt, which is borne up by elevating cups similar to those used in flour mills. On the

THIRD FLOOR is the mash-fcub, on which depends so much and which is perhaps the most interesting parb of the brewery. The water boiled in the room above is let in by a perforated plate similar to that used in an ordinary bath, and the crushed malt runs in from a large pipe from above ; inside the tub is a patent machine worked by steam for thoroughly mixing the malt and water. When this operation is completed, the mixture is run through strainers on to a side floor slightly lower, into a huge copper boiler heated by the direct application of fire ; here it is boiled and the hops added. If this pot were filled with strawberry jam, one day's brew would supply the colony for a long time to come— it holds over 30 hogsheads of beer. The heat on this floor serves to keep a malt-room above us warm and dry. After the liquid has been boilea and well stifred it run 3 out as ale over corrugated and perforated plates, which catch the hops, te the

SECOND FLOOR, which is taken up by two very large but shallow .wooden tanks about a foot deßp. The beer in these gives one the idea of a small lake, and looks very* pretty. You don't often see over 5,00 square feet of beeiC The room is almost all , windows, and from the exalted position there is always a breeze of some sort to cooTthe liquor. <?Off the cooling room is another malt-room' which is to be at once fitted up in the most approved style with a small tramway running thrdugh to the feeder on this floor, which supplies the malt crusher on the

FIRST FLOOR. The' ale cools in about two hours, and is then allowed to trickle through an aperture in the ceiling of this flat, over pipes placed horizontally, and through which the pumps send a constant stream of cold water. After leaving the refrigerator, the liquor runs into one or two enormous vats, where the last process of, fermentation begins, If you care to try the effects of imbibing without swallowing anything, just climb a ladder and put your head over a beer vat when partially filled. The floor will probably get up and hit you in the eye, and you will be under the painful necessity of raking' up one of those time-honoured lies about "chopping wood" — lies which beat badly all kinds of snake stories.

THE GROUND FLOOR has, within the lasb few months, been exactly trebled in size ; the additional buildings are nicely fitted up, the roofs being almost church-like in appearance and padded with sawdust for coolness. At intervals you have pipes hanging from the roof-; these are connected with the vats above, and are the means of filling the casks which lie raised from the ground some two feet. The froth oozing up from each one makes a rather pretty sight — " just like so many cauliflowers," as Mr Carson expressed it. Such is a rough sketch of the process tracing the liquor from the water tank to the casks. I should here mention that, there re

TWO PLANTS/ '- -. * one for beerJTand tKfe other for stout or emergency jHftie stdut i tubs, vats and boilers <are in many cases nearly as large as those -used for the beer so that in every flat you " find things in duplicate for the most part.

THE CASKS ;t; t ; go through quite an operation for cleansing. They are filled with' steam and hot water and corked up for so long. If not as sweet as.a nut after this the cask is opened and' scraped. This cleaning and the coopering go on in an outhouse near the main cellars.

: THE BOTTLING department is on the main road, as required by law here. When the news came about the beer taking first prize in Melbourne, this place was cleared of every bottle in a few hours. More extensive arrangements have since been made, and there seemed to be plenty of liquor being rushed through, one man alone wiring over 300 bottles per hour, with no other assistance than a small ,pair of pincers. The packing cases take my fancy ; it seems such a pity to use such nicely-grained wood as kauri for such^a purpose.

THE MALTING is done at Nelson, on account of the climate being so much more favourable ; the hops used are grown also in that district, and do it credit. The duty of 6d per lb in hops and Is 6cl per bushel in malt is almost prohibitive, and justified the firm in spending money freely to make the Nelson branch reliable and efficient. It is only right that New Zealand should use her own products, and the result in the case of hops and malt (-hows the righteousness of the heavy duty. If more attention had been paid in this country to the cultivation of the land, there would never have been such widespread depression. The land is a nation's wealth, and neglect of it results in a country's poverty. It is no use saying so while a land boom is in full swing ; people will not listen then, but when the spurt is over, where is the interest for the money? Land can only .be" truthfully valued at its productive, not its fictitious worth, and even people who are ,nqt directly interested in any one product, as Messrs Btown and Campbell are, should do everything to foster a desire in 'the coming generation to till the land sooner than drive a quill. This sounds like sermonising, but I suppose the fumes from beer vats are apt to make a man talkative. Abouc the beer itself I have said nothing, not being a judge, but the verdict of the Melbourne jury should be sufficient. Apart from that, where everything is so scrupulously clean and such good material used I oan't see why beer in moderation should hurt anyone ; the abuse of it is its evil. To ppend a pleasant and interesting hour sret Mr Taylor to show you the Domain Brewery.