Something about Beer.

Manawatu Herald, 16 January 1894, Page 2

Something about Beer.

Messrs Speight & Co. of the City Brewery, Dunedin, have published a pamphlet about their business, which is both interesting and instructive. The little volume contains 64 pages aud has numerous photographs of Virious parts of the bieweiy. The only objectionable part of the compilation is the strong feeling shown towards those holding prohibition views, which would have been better omitted. ■

The firm, whose beer is excellent, started in 1876, with a plant capable of turning out 12 hogsheads at a brew, whereas now the capacity is 50 h >gsheads. Thirty hands are employed besides travellers and clerks, and a sum of £5000 a year is paid away in wages.

Messrs Speight & Co. use barley alone for malting purposes, and the amount piu chased during the past, tw.lve months amounted to 41,494 bushels. The most favoured spot for growing barley is the Frankton and Arrow districts, but large quantities are grown in Garston and the Eiversdale districts.

The hop room is capable of holding 250 bales of hops, und tin; firm u.-ses from 25 to 80 tons of hops annually, the kind employed being chiefly grown in Nelson, while 'Frisco, Bavarian, Bohemian and the best Kent are also utilized. The price runs up occassionally to 2s 6d per pound.

The best qualities of beer are kept in stock two or three months before being sent out. Thus there are no legs than 1600 hogsheads of beer, kept on hand at one time requiring large cellar room. No New Zealand wood will do for casks that have to be moved about, bub the butts of the capacity of 110 gallons in use in the brewery have been made out of kauri. The firm have some 16,000 casks scattered over the colony and Australia, and when received back they have to undergo a fine cleansing. It would appear from statistic? that Messrs Speight & Go. are tb« leading brewers in the colony, as ou <>f 104 breweries paying a duty of £59.877, they paid £6,717 or more than one-tenth of the whole.