348 MALT AND BEER IN SPANISH AMERICA. 



THE KINDS ON THE MARKET. 



From these tables it will be seen that foreign beers, amounting in 

 value in 1887 to $590,771 and in 1888 to $744.930, form no small item of 

 Argentine imports. As will be further seen, the great bulk of the re- 

 ceipts are from Germany and. Great Britain. Indeed the United States 

 scarcely figures in them at all. 



You may say of the imports of beer to this country just about what 

 may be said of similar imports to the United States that nearly all 

 varieties known to commerce find, to a more or less extent, a market 

 and have a foothold here. The kinds generally received from Great 

 Britain and Germany, however, owing probably to the fact that they 

 have to make a long sea voyage through and across the tropics are 

 fortified a little heavier with alcohol than the ordinary lager beer man- 

 ufactured either here or in the United States, and I think this addi- 

 tional alcohol is found to be necessary to their proper preservation. 

 England sends pale ales, porter, and stout, while Germany sends Im- 

 perial, Mainz, Culmbacher, Pilsener, etc. 



The only varieties of beer I have thus far seen here from the United 

 States were the "export lager" of the Anheuser-Busch Company of 

 St. Louis, and a brand which I do not now remember from New York. 

 I can say this, however, that they are both well received here, though 

 they are perhaps when duties are added too high-priced to compete 

 successfully, even though they may be of a better quality, with the high- 

 class lager which is now turned out from some of the breweries of this 

 city. If the United States brewers are prepared to send here such 

 heavier brands of ales, porters, and stouts as England and Ireland 

 furnish, there might be an opportunity for gaining a foothold, but the 

 latter are too well known to commerce to be readily displaced ; while of 

 the light beers the local breweries here, owing to the high tariff which 

 protects them, must continue to have pretty much the monopoly of the 

 trade. 



HOW PLACED HERE. 



The manner in which foreign beers and ales are placed on the market 

 here is for the most part through local agencies. Each class or brand, 

 whether of English or German make, has a special arrangement with 

 some well known general importing house in Buenos Ayres or iu Rosario, 

 which advertises itself as u special" or " sole agent" for the European 

 exporters. The labels or trade-marks on the bottles likewise in all cases 

 have the name of the house through which they are imported, so that 

 it is known where each and every variety can be obtained, and as far 

 as possible to prevent frauds these marks are duly " registered" in the 

 national patent office, the law exacting a penalty from those who at- 

 tempt to infringe upon them. 



