Brewing in Australia
John Boston - Rum currency - Thomas Rushton - John Tooth - Charles Newman - Kent Brewery - Cascade - John Warren - Edmund Resch - Foster Brewing -
European settlement of Australia began at Sydney Cove in 1788. No doubt there were attempts to brew beer from the early days of the colony but the first recorded details of brewing were by a Mr John Boston, a free settler who arrived in Sydney in 1794. It must have been an interesting brew if reports of its main ingredients are correct - Indian corn (maize), and for bittering, the leaves and stalks of the Cape Gooseberry plant. It was a poor product and production soon ceased. In the same year, the first commercial brewery was established at Kissing Point.
Successive Governors encouraged both the establishment of breweries and attempts to produce the basic raw materials of malt and hops. Their aim was to break the prevailing habit of drinking rum and the "Rum currency" which dominated the economy.
The first - and last - Government brewery, established in Parramatta in 1804 and operated by experienced brewers, marked the start of the industry in Australia. However, this was also a financial failure and was bought by the Government brewer, Thomas Rushton, in 1806.
By the time John Tooth and Charles Newman opened their Kent Brewery with the trademark of the White Horse of Kent in October 1835, there were nine other breweries in Sydney plus local breweries in the surrounding country areas.
Breweries were also established very early in the life of the other states with Tasmania having the distinction of being the home of Australia's oldest brewery - Cascade in Hobart, which was established in 1824. South Australia's first brewer was John Warren, who built a small brewery in Adelaide soon after the founding of the colony in 1836. Western Australia's first brewery was established in Perth in the following year, while Melbourne's first brewery was established in 1838 by Mr John Moss at the back of the Ship Inn in Flinders Street. The brew was known as "She-oaks Tops" because she-oaks grew abundantly on the crest of nearby Batman's Hill. The first brewery in Queensland was established in 1860.
Early production in Australia was based on English methods of top fermentation where the yeast rises to the surface of the beer at the end of fermentation, is skimmed from the top and the beer sold without any maturation or storage. However, gradually the English methods of top fermentation were to a large extent replaced by the Continental-style bottom fermentation, pioneered in Australia by the Foster Brewing Company (established in 1888) and the New South Wales Lager Beer Company (established in 1896 at Waverley and taken over by Edmund Resch in 1900). In this system, the yeast settles to the bottom of the vessel at the end of the fermentation period, and the beer then undergoes a storage period. The product is lager (derived from the German word for storage).
The (Commonwealth) Beer Excise Act of 1901 had a dramatic effect on Australia's brewing industry, with its stringent conditions forcing many breweries to close. Those that survived started acquiring or building hotels to be assured of an outlet for their products, especially with the hard economic times of the 1920s.
During the Depression an understanding developed between interstate brewers which established market boundaries. These were also largely reinforced by the fact that bulk beer accounted for most of the production and the climate was not suited to transporting the barrels.
Bulk beer was delivered in wooden casks which ranged in size from pins (5 gallons) to butts (120 gallons) transported on horse-drawn drays (usually pulled by Clydesdales). Each brewery had its own cooperage where casks were made from oak or blackwood staves. The advent of demand for a cold draught beer brought about the demise of the wooden barrel in 1950 and the rise of the stainless steel cask. The wooden cask could not withstand the additional pressure required to hold the carbonation level needed in cold draught beer and to deliver the beer through the small-bore pipes of the cooling units. Also it was not possible to sterilise the wooden cask and this increased the risk of the beer reaching the consumer in an unfit condition.
The Foster Brewing Company was largely responsible for the development of packaged beers, having been established in 1888 with a German head brewer and ice-making machinery from the USA. Early deliveries of bottled beer were in wicker baskets with individual dividers; the bottles were sealed with corks, glass balls or glass plugs with rubber rings held with a wire clip. The wicker basket gave way to the wooden crate and currently the cardboard carton.
Canned beer had been developed in the USA just prior to the Second World War and was first produced in Australia in the early 1950s.
Developments since have included improved engineering techniques and the use of stainless steel which has led to larger vessels and improved productivity. Better instrumentation, the introduction of computers and improved microbiological methods have all combined to give the brewer a greater level of control.
General History of Beer
History of Beer
Brewing is almost certainly the most ancient manufacturing art known to man, and is probably as old as agriculture. Beer is also as old as bread - in fact it is probable that either beer or bread may have been a by-product of the other. According to archaeologists, 'beerbread' was known in many eras.
Earliest references to beer
The Chinese brewed beer called 'Kui' some 5,000 years ago. In Mesopotamia, a 4,000 year-old clay tablet indicates that brewing was a highly respected profession - and the master brewers were women.
In ancient Babylon, the women brewers were also priestesses. The goddesses Siris and Nimkasi were patronesses of beer, and certain types of beer were reserved exclusively for temple ceremonies.
In 2,100 BC Hammuabi, the 6th King of Babylonia, included provisions regulating the business of tavern keepers in his great law code. These provisions covered the sale of beer and were designed to protect the consumer. The punishment of short measure by an innkeeper was drowning, which was an effective way to prevent any repetition of the offence!
An ancient tablet now in New York's Metropolitan Museum lists Babylonian beers as: dark beer, pale beer, red beer, three fold beer, beer with a head, without a head etc. It also records that beer was sipped through a straw - in the case of royalty a golden straw, long enough to reach from the throne to a large container of beer kept nearby.
3,000 year old beer mugs were uncovered in Israel in the 1960s. Archaeologists said that their find at Tel Isdar indicated that beer drinking in Israel went back to the days of King Saul and King David. An Assyrian tablet of 2,000 BC lists beer among the foods that Noah used to provision the ark.
The Egyptian era
Some 5,000 years ago in the Imperial Egypt of the Pharaohs, beer was already an important food item in the daily diet. It was made from lightly baked barley bread, and also was used as a sacrament.
People gathered in the evening to drink at a 'house of beer'. Beer was the natural drink of the country, a basic in the diet of the nobility and of the fellah (the peasant). As well as being a drink, beer was also used as medicine. A medical document which was written in about 1,600 BC lists about 700 prescriptions of which about 100 contained the word 'beer'.
The Egyptians also provided their dead with food and beer. An old Egyptian tomb bears the inscription: "....satisfy his spirit with beef and fowl, bread and beer". In the taverns or houses of beer in Egypt, the favourite toast was "Here's to your ghost".
Beer also had status - a keg of beer was considered the only proper gift to be offered to the Pharaoh by a suitor seeking the hand of a royal princess. 30,000 gallons a year was also offered as a fitting gift to the Gods by Pharaoh Rameses II (1,200 BC). It is recorded that a similar amount was also offered to appease the gods when they became angry.
Isis, the nature goddess, was Egypt's patroness of beer brewing and an important civic official was charged with the task of maintaining the quality of beer, an integral part of everyday life and religion.
Other references to beer from Egyptian times include mention of beer brewed from barley in the Egyptian's Book of the Dead, and many ancient Egyptian wall hangings also depict the brewing of beer.
The Greek and Roman era
It was the Egyptians who reputedly taught the Greeks how to brew beer.
In fact it has been suggested by historians that Dionysus, the wine-god of Greek mythology, was actually a superimposition of Dionysis, the beer-god from pre-historic times.
The famous Greek writer Sophocles (450 BC) stressed moderation, and suggested a diet of "bread, meat, green vegetables and zythos (beer)". Other early Greek writers, Xenophon and Herodotus, also mention beer.
The Greeks in turn taught the Romans to brew, and Julius Caesar, following the fateful crossing in 49 BC of the River Rubicon, toasted his officers with beer.
The Romans then showed the savage tribes in Britain the art of brewing.
Pliny and Tacitus are among the classical writers who record the development of the brewing art among the Celtic and Teutonic peoples of Britain and Central Europe.
The Christian era
Beer really came into its own with the advent of the Christian era, largely through the influence of the monasteries which brewed and improved the beer. Monks often built the first breweries as pioneers of the hotel business, providing shelter, food and drink to pilgrims and other travellers.
Three Christian saints are listed as patrons of brewing, all distinguished members of the Christian faith: Saint Augustine of Hippo, author of the confessions; Saint Luke the Evangelist; and Saint Nicholas of Myra, better known as Santa Claus.
Other saints also had links with brewing. Saint Columban, doing missionary work in Germany, found people preparing to consume a cask of beer in a ceremony to a pagan god. He blew upon the case, which fell apart, and when the crowd became penitent he miraculously increased the small amount of beer left. Saint Bright is credited with changing water into beer to feed lepers. She personally brewed ale each Easter time to supply all of the churches in the neighbourhood.
Saint Mungo, the patron saint of Scotland's oldest city, Glasgow, established a religious brotherhood there in 540 AD, and one of the brothers started brewing to supply the others. Brewing is still regarded as the oldest industry in Glasgow. Saint Patrick, according to Senchus Mor, the book of the ancient laws of Ireland (438-441 AD), numbered among his household a brewer - a priest called Mescan.
Medieval times
The Emperor Charlemagne (AD 742-814), the great Christian ruler, considered beer as essential for moderate living, and personally trained the realm's brewmasters. King Arthur served his Knights of the Round Table with beer called bragget.
Even in medieval times, beer was generally brewed by women. Being the cooks, they had responsibility for beer which was regarded as 'food-drink'. After the monasteries had established the best methods of brewing, the 'ale-wives' took the responsibility for further brewing.
In England at this time a chequered flag indicated a place where ale and beer could be purchased.
Of course few people other than the clergy could read or write, and a written sign would have been of little use.
Many events of this era incorporate the word 'ale', reflecting its importance in society. Brides traditionally sold ale on their wedding day to defray the expenses - hence 'bride-ale' which became 'bridal'. The Christmas expression 'yule-tide' actually means 'ale-tide'.
Saint Thomas A'Becket, martyred archbishop of Canterbury, was selected as patron saint of one of the London Guilds, the Brewers' Company. When he went to France in 1158 to seek the hand of a French princess for Prince Henry of England, he took several barrels of British ale as gifts.
Beer was also handed out free of charge to weary travellers when the Wayfarer Dole was established in England. A Pilgrim's Dole of ale and bread can still be claimed by all wayfarers at the Hospital of St Cross, Winchester, England. This is said to have been founded by William of Wykeham, (1367-1404), and was claimed by Emerson, the American essayist, when visiting Winchester.
1400 onwards
Today, "ale" and "beer" are used as interchangeable terms. However, ale, which consisted of malt (usually made from barley although other grains were used), water and yeast, was replaced at the start of the 15th century by beer. Introduced from Flanders, beer was bittered with hops and kept better than English ale because of the preservative quality of the hops.
By the end of the century, beer had almost completely replaced the old English sweet ale, and was being exported to Europe. Records dating back to the 15th century show that almost half of the ships' cargoes taken across the North Sea and the Baltic Sea were barrels of beer.
Until the middle of the 16th century, beer making was mainly a family operation and had little commercial application. However, it was certainly an integral part of everyday diet.
Ladies-in-waiting at the court of Henry VII were allowed a gallon of beer for breakfast alone.
Queen Elizabeth, when travelling through the country, always sent couriers ahead to taste the local ale. If it didn't measure up to the quality required a supply would be shipped from London for her.
William Shakespeare's father was an ale-tester or "conner". The "conner" tested the ale by pouring some upon a bench and sitting on it while drinking the rest. If there was sugar in the ale, or it was impure, their leather breeches would stick after sitting for half an hour or so.
The Dean of St Pauls, in the 16th century, is credited with the invention of bottled ale. Dr Alexander Norwell put ale in a bottle when he went fishing and left the bottle in the grass. Returning some years later he found the cork came away with an explosion but the taste and quality of the ale was still good.
European beer first arrived in America with Christopher Columbus' ships. On his last voyage to America in 1502, Columbus found the natives of Central America making a first-rate brew "of maize, resembling English beer". The Pilgrim Fathers landed at Plymouth Rock, instead of further south as planned, partly because they were out of beer.
A journal entry dated December 19, 1620 said: "We could not take time for further search or consideration; our victuals being much spent, especially our beer".
At the end of the 17th century, the weekly allowance for pupils of all ages at one English school was two bottles a day. Beer was a good deal safer and more palatable than the available drinking water which was often drawn from polluted rivers. And beer was also common in the workplace. The American scientist and statesman, Benjamin Franklin, who lived in London from 1757-1774, recorded the daily beer consumption in a London printing house which he visited. The employees each had a pint before breakfast, a pint between breakfast and dinner, a pint at dinner, a pint at six o'clock and a pint when they finished work