1892 The flowing bowl when and what to drink (1892, c1891)

BEER.

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imported into the south and north of Europe by the Phenicians. Greeks, Romans, and Gauls enjoyed their lager: the Romans called it, uniformly with the Gauls, Cerevisia, from Ceres, the goddess of field fruits. The old Saxons and Danes were extremely fond of it, and counted drunkenness from it as one of the highest re- wards awaiting them in Walhalla, their Paradise, where reside Odin's heroes. An old German story has it that Gambrinus, king of Brabant, was the inventor of beer, and it is in conse- quence of this that the brewers revere this mythical king as their patron. In Germany, beer was introduced at large during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, although already six centuries ago we find the beer in Germany mentioned; we dare not omit the phrase of Tacitus in his Germanis that the Suevians enjoyed a beverage made by fermen- tation of grain. For instance, we find in a law collection of the "Ale- mannians, a German tribe residing on both sides of the Rhine, from Basel to Mayence, the remark that every one belonging to any parish was obliged to give fifteen gallons of beer to the parson. Charlemagne also here did not underestimate the value of it; for he called the best brewers to his court and also gave orders how to brew. Since 1482, a heavy beer has been made in the mon- asteries of Germany; it was of two kinds, a better qual- ity for the Fathers and a cheaper one for the convent.