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

HISTORY.

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In the sixteenth century, the brewing business of Germany ranked very high and beer was one of the chief exports of this country. The Thirty Years' War destroyed this industry. The public prosperity faded and the quality, the reputation of the beer and the demand for it were likewise dimin- ished. Up to that time beer was made in smaller villages in every household; after it, especially in lower Germany and the Netherlands, a specific brewery business was created, which flourished mainly in Ghent, Brugge, and Brussels; Ratisbon and Ulm were the brewing centres of South Germany. In cities where, on account of the lack of good cellars, etc., it was difficult to make good and palatable beer, the city authorities ordered beer in casks from abroad, and these were put on draught in public places, built expressly for this purpose. All persons having visited the old country are aware of the existence of so-called " Rathskellers," as for in- stance in Bremen, Lubeck, Salzburg, etc. These cel- lars owe their origin to this arrangement of the city government; yet these public places changed afterward from beer into wine depositories. Some beers of that time acquired a very great repu- tation, as those of Brunswick, Eimbeck, Merseburg, Bamberg, etc. In England were the better beers, as ale and porter, not manufactured before the end of the last century; up