Page:A Practical Treatise on Brewing (4th ed.).djvu/253

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BAVARIAN BEER.
237

country. I have a very high respect for that eminent chemist, but I cannot think that the arts and sciences are better known in Germany than they are here.

The samples of Bavarian beer which have been examined in England by competent judges, have not been considered in any way superior to that of the best of the same description of beer brewed in this country, but rather the reverse. The Bavarians, however, have one advantage, as Professor Liebig says, which we do not possess in this country; which is, that they are not restrained from making use of any harmless bouquets to flavour their beer, as is done in wines, which the excise laws here do not permit.

Although the Bavarian beer, therefore, may please very well at home, it does not appear to be adapted for exportation, and its mode of manufacture may not perhaps suit it for that purpose. Liebig’s predilection in favour of the Bavarian mode of fermentation may proceed from a misconception of that adopted in this country, or possibly from his never having had it in his power fully to compare the two processes together. My friend, Mr. Maugham, the analytical chemist, who has lately travelled over most parts of Germany, assures me, that without doubt there is much less free acid in their beer than in ours; but this excess of acidity in our beer may not proceed so much from any