It may be proper to remark here that very pale malt is seldom thoroughly sound-dried (or cured as it is called, a very expressive term), which is very probably the cause why so much of the pale strong ale which is brought to London never stands the summer.
It may also be remarked, as showing the absurdity of fashion, that many people who are accustomed to drink very pale strong ale, will not drink any of the weaker qualities unless they be of a much higher colour than the other, having an idea that it cannot have any strength but when it is of a darker colour.
FININGS.
All sorts of beer, if sound and well brewed, will, in due time, become bright; but when drank so new as is generally the practice, fining is absolutely necessary to give it that brilliant transparency which is so pleasant to the eye, and without which the best beer would be objected to.
The most efficient fining for beer which we have yet discovered is isinglass; the best of which is obtained from the sounds of the sturgeon, a fish found in the Danube, and rivers of Muscovy. In this country an inferior sort is prepared from the