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Roger A. Baylor

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Imported beers at the Louisville Hotel, 1857.

by Roger A. Baylor » Wed Apr 05, 2023 1:39 pm

I finally got around to writing something that's been on the back burner for years.

"A long while back at the Louisville Restaurants Forum, the eternally helpful electronic institution created and curated by Robin Garr (the inimitable dean of Louisville food and drink writers), a user posted a photo of a Louisville hotel restaurant menu from 1857.

"Recently I found the apparent source of this photo at Duke University, and what still strikes me about this menu—technically a broadside, defined as “a sheet of paper printed on one side only, forming one large page”—is the sheer novelty of viewing a pre-Civil War imported beer list offered by a top eatery right here in River City."

https://foodanddine.com/hip-hops-a-stel ... ouisville/
Roger A. Baylor
Beer Director at Pints&union (New Albany)
Digital Editor at Food & Dining Magazine
New Albany, Indiana
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Steve Eslinger

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Re: Imported beers at the Louisville Hotel, 1857.

by Steve Eslinger » Wed Apr 05, 2023 5:32 pm

Thanks Roger, fascinating read. I, too, was struck by the prices. What a time capsule!
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Robin Garr

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Re: Imported beers at the Louisville Hotel, 1857.

by Robin Garr » Thu Apr 06, 2023 11:15 am

Steve Eslinger wrote:Thanks Roger, fascinating read. I, too, was struck by the prices. What a time capsule!


I agree. Thanks for posting, Roger!

By the way, I wonder if that shift to lager came with the influx of German-speaking Catholics from Bavaria and Austria once Ellis Island got going, bringing along that Munich lager and elbowing out the stouts and dark beers that the city's smaller population of Northern German Protestants had favored before that wave of immigration began. Just brainstorming here, no actual knowledge or anything.
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Roger A. Baylor

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Re: Imported beers at the Louisville Hotel, 1857.

by Roger A. Baylor » Thu Apr 06, 2023 11:39 am

Definitely the case, Robin. I think it reflects the overall immigration pattern of the age, as well as the fact that lager beer was an international sensation not unlike home computing in our era. It swept a path across the planet (Great Britain and Belgium resisted, at least for a while).

I've often speculated as to why the Irish immigration to America didn't bring with it a taste for Guinness. I'm not sure of the answer, but I think the brutal truth is the Irish were poor and escaping famine, and the Germans politics (the 1848 revolutions kicked it off).

There were more middle class of the latter, who had at least something in their pockets with experience at shopkeeping or factory work, while the Irish generally were agricultural laborers.

It's an eternally fascinating topic.

An addendum: Because of the demographics involved, along with the timing of lager's explosion (circa 1830s - 40s), surely there were large German communities in America by the time the Civil War began. St. Louis springs to mind. My guess is this trend was underway in Louisville in 1857; I seem to recall the Louisville Anzeiger newspaper dating to the 1840s.
Roger A. Baylor
Beer Director at Pints&union (New Albany)
Digital Editor at Food & Dining Magazine
New Albany, Indiana
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Jon K

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Re: Imported beers at the Louisville Hotel, 1857.

by Jon K » Thu Apr 06, 2023 1:58 pm

Robin Garr wrote:
Steve Eslinger wrote:Thanks Roger, fascinating read. I, too, was struck by the prices. What a time capsule!


I agree. Thanks for posting, Roger!

By the way, I wonder if that shift to lager came with the influx of German-speaking Catholics from Bavaria and Austria once Ellis Island got going, bringing along that Munich lager and elbowing out the stouts and dark beers that the city's smaller population of Northern German Protestants had favored before that wave of immigration began. Just brainstorming here, no actual knowledge or anything.

One minor point from your friendly genealogist. Ellis Island didn't open until 1892. The German immigrants passing through New York would have passed through a facility called Castle Garden.
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Robin Garr

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Re: Imported beers at the Louisville Hotel, 1857.

by Robin Garr » Fri Apr 07, 2023 3:19 pm

Jon K wrote:One minor point from your friendly genealogist. Ellis Island didn't open until 1892. The German immigrants passing through New York would have passed through a facility called Castle Garden.


Thanks, Jon! Now that you've reminded us, I knew that. Once. :D
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Tony G

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Re: Imported beers at the Louisville Hotel, 1857.

by Tony G » Fri Apr 07, 2023 4:22 pm

Great find and information! Loved the C Dickens quote!

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