The Baltimore City Paper has published an excerpt from a new collection of H.L. Mencken's writings -- an excerpt where he describes his home brewing in Baltimore in the 1920s and into 1930:
http://www.citypaper.com/eat/food-f...-drinkable-home-brew-20140909,0,2473826.story
It sounds like something of a hit and miss affair, with some successes. Mencken had pretty cultivated tastes and knew what good German beer tasted like, so I trust his opinions.
There's also some interesting bits on cultivating yeasts of the time. Home brewing was clearly a popular way to get around prohibition in Baltimore -- Mencken describes there being a number of home brewing supply stores at that time, with a decent selection of ingredients.
Definitely worth a read, and it's possible there will be more in Mencken's "Days Trilogy" edited by Marion Elizabeth Rodgers, which is due out soon.
http://www.citypaper.com/eat/food-f...-drinkable-home-brew-20140909,0,2473826.story
It sounds like something of a hit and miss affair, with some successes. Mencken had pretty cultivated tastes and knew what good German beer tasted like, so I trust his opinions.
There's also some interesting bits on cultivating yeasts of the time. Home brewing was clearly a popular way to get around prohibition in Baltimore -- Mencken describes there being a number of home brewing supply stores at that time, with a decent selection of ingredients.
Definitely worth a read, and it's possible there will be more in Mencken's "Days Trilogy" edited by Marion Elizabeth Rodgers, which is due out soon.
