Exhibit of Foreign and Colonial Beers (part two)

I'm going yo be mining this article for a while, so you'd better get used to it. This time we're looking at the comments of the chairman of the jury, who was J. Grimble Groves, M.P. for Salford and chairman of Groves and Whitnall, a prominent Lancashire brewer.

He starts off by saying how brilliant British beer is.

It is generally admitted that English beers are at the present time superior in every respect to what they were in former years. Whilst, therefore, English brewers may have little to learn in the direction of improving the national beverage, it cannot be denied that the opportunity of gaining an insight into the character of the productions of their foreign and Colonial confreres was unique, and it was for this reason that I gladly consented to act as one of the jurors.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 38 1902, November 15th 1902, page 673.

I wouldn't argue with him there. Technological and scientific advances most certainly improved the general quality of UK beer in the second half of the 19th century. Though, ironically, this is around the time the UK stopped being at the forefront of technical advances in brewing. For example, bottling techniques, where the UK adopted practices first developed in the USA.

One area where the UK lagged behind was in packaging. UK labels tended to be rather plain and straightforward. Unlike those from some of the more adventurous foreign brewers.

One of the first points to be noted at the exhibition was the pains expended abroad in making bottled beers attractive to the eye by choosing the most tasteful bottles and labels. It will not be invidious to state that the beers of the United States of America stood out prominently in this connection, whilst the Russian and Japanese samples deserve the highest praise for their artistic get-up.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 38 1902, November 15th 1902, page 673.

Modern technology had made brewing possible in places with unsuitable climates.

The adoption of scientific methods of brewing has rendered possible the production of beers in countries where the climate is by no means propitious, so that those who have taken up their abode in tropical countries need no longer be deprived of the luxury of malt liquors except at prohibitive prices. Indeed, the establishment of breweries would seem to proceed hand in hand with the spread of civilisation, and to-day some type of beer is produced practically all over the world.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 38 1902, November 15th 1902, page 673.

Before the development or artificial refrigeration in the 1870s, brewing had been pretty impractical in the tropics. With brewers in India having to locate their plant at altitude to find a suitably cool environment. With artificial refrigeration it was possible to brew literally anywhere on earth.

Rather surprisingly, all the beers shipped from far distant lands arrived in decent condition.

Bearing in mind the conditions obtaining in some of the countries from whence the beers emanated, and taking into account the distance they had to be sent, it would not have been surprising had many of the samples arrived in an undrinkable condition; yet such was not the case, and among the whole collection tasted not one of the beers could be described as actually unsound.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 38 1902, November 15th 1902, page 673.

Lots more still to come. Like the jury's rating of the different samples.