MALT AND BEER IX SPANISH AMERICA. 363 



(i to If- ]>(! (in!, lusher than Un> HambingMid Bremen beers. 



Malt is not imported. An " extract of malt" is sometimes sent to 

 the interior, but it is said that at some small brewing establishment at 

 Bogota they also have a local preparation, but the beverage made is but 

 an inferior imitation of foreign brands. 



Packages for local sale of the above-named German beers are put up 

 in -I dozen to a case, and for interior trade in 5 dozen to a case; average 

 weight 65 kilograms (13 kilograms per dozen). 



Cases contain 3 or o dozen German beers, imperial one-half pint 

 bottles, sheathed in straw cones. The cases are made of thoroughly- 

 seasoned Norway pine or spruce of five-eighth inch thickness for tops 

 and bottoms, and one-half inch for sides and ends, bound with thin 

 strap iron one-half inch wide. The cases are of the following dimensions: 



Inside measurements : 3-dozen case, 11 Jinches wide, lOinchesdeep, and 

 20J inches long. For 5-dozen case, 13 inches wide, 11J inches deep, 26j 

 inches long. 



As the duty is levied on gross weight of package and contents, light 

 material for boxing is a desirable feature. An extra one-eighth of thick- 

 ness in box material would add a large percentage of unnecessary ex- 

 pense, to an invoice of several hundred cases. 



A cask of 10 dozen of lager, from a Milwaukee brewery, has given 

 much satisfaction in style and quality to an importing house here who 

 intend to send a liberal order. The same house imported over 2,000 

 cases from Hamburg during the past year, but consider, with many of 

 their local consumers, that Milwaukee is the best yet offered as a malt 

 beverage. Price not stated. 



For local consumption the packing in casks may be suitable, but it is 

 not good for the interior trade. The German bottler, knowing that the 

 gross weight of package is an important factor in the trade with this 

 country, use bottles as thin as consistent with safety ; our brewers seem 

 to think thick concave bottoms necessary, an increase of weight to the 

 bottle and a decrease in its cubic capacity and contents as compared 

 with the German flat bottomed bottle. 



A case of 5 dozen sent from Chicago last year weighed 5J kilograms 

 more than a Bremen case of 5 dozen, and each Chicago bottle contained 

 one eighth of a pint less than the Bremen bottles. The Chicago case was 

 made of soggy, unseasoned stuff, three-fourths inch in thickness, bound 

 with heavy strap-iron. Each bottle was larger in appearance than the 

 German, with a thick concave bottom, capped with heavy, lead foil, over 

 a needlessly heavy wire. The importer objects to this extra and useless 

 expense; the consumer would like more beer and less glass for his 

 money. 



S. M. WHELPLEY, 



Vice- Consul. 



UNITED STATES CONSULATE, 



Barranquilla, February 10, 1890. 



