A HISTORY OF SURREY 



established firm of Messrs. Crowley, and also 

 by M«srs. Nalder & Collyer's and Messrs. 

 Page & Overton's Brewery Companies. 

 Farnham, the hop-growing district of Surrey, 

 has also three breweries, namely, the Farn- 

 ham United Breweries, Limited, Messrs. Bar- 

 ling & Sons, and Messrs. Matthews & Co. 

 Messrs. Lascelles, Tickner & Co. have a 

 considerable brewery at Guildford, and there 

 are also other breweries there and in some of 

 the adjacent parishes, at Albury, Cranleigh, 

 Gomshall, Shalford and Bramley for in- 

 stance. The following scattered places in 



the county possess also one or more breweries, 

 namely : Cobham, Epsom, Redhill, Rei- 

 gate, Letherhead, Dorking, Horley, Thames 

 Ditton, Surbiton, Cheam, Ashtead, Walling- 

 ton, Walton-on-Thames, Egham, etc. Of 

 the London and suburban districts more par- 

 ticular mention has already been made in 

 this account. Amongst other Surrey suburbs 

 not already noticed in connection with the 

 industry, but now possessing their own 

 breweries, are Bermondsey, Balham, Brixton, 

 Clapham, Putney, Tooting and Wimble- 

 don. 



DISTILLING 



From the history of the Surrey brewing 

 industry we are naturally led on to the sub- 

 ject of the other manufactures in which the 

 preparation of fermented liquor from malt or 

 other substances is one of the first principles. 

 In the early stages of the distilling of spirits 

 and the making of vinegar the process much 

 resembles that of beer brewing, as in all 

 these the preparation of a fermented wort is 

 first necessary, and all require very similar 

 apparatus in the shape of mash-tuns, coppers, 

 coolers, fermenting vats and the like. The 

 later and more important stages in distillation 

 are however entirely imlike any to be found 

 in brewing. Moreover the history of the 

 two industries in England brings out this im- 

 portant contrast, that whereas the brewing of 

 ale or beer is one of our oldest arts, and the 

 beverage produced has been the national one 

 from time immemorial, distilling is com- 

 paratively of recent introduction so far as it 

 has been utilized for the production of a 

 marketable commodity. The knowledge of 

 the art is indeed said to have been introduced 

 into Europe, and perhaps into this country, as 

 early as the eleventh century, but it was con- 

 fined to the monasteries, where the product 

 was used for medicinal purposes. Not until 

 the Tudor period was the secret more 

 generally divulged and distilling practised for 

 trade purposes. Occasional references, to be 

 noted below, to the existence of the industry 

 in Surrey occur in the seventeenth century. 

 These references become more numerous 

 during the course of the following century, 

 and at the present day some of the firms 

 associated in one way or another with the 

 manufacture of spirits or vinegar are among 

 the oldest established and most important in 

 the county. 



The distilling industry in Surrey has been 

 almost entirely confined to the metropolitan 



districts of the county. Hence it forms a 

 part of that bigger industry of which down 

 to recent times London was practically the 

 only centre in England. Although Liver- 

 pool has now established its claim to be con- 

 sidered a centre of the manufacture, the older 

 city still maintains its pre-eminence, and a 

 few general remarks on the peculiar conditions 

 under which distillation has for long been 

 practised in England are necessary before we 

 can attempt to deal with the more particular 

 examples in the history of the industry which 

 our own county affords.' 



Briefly then it is to be remarked that in 

 the manufacture of beer the flavour is im- 

 parted to the wort before fermentation. 

 This is done also in the case of most foreign 

 spirits, which retain some of the flavour of 

 the fruit or saccharine substance from which 

 the wort is prepared. In Scotland whisky is 

 distilled from pure malt by means of pot- 

 stills, and to a lesser extent this is the case in 

 Ireland, where however raw cereals are 

 generally blended with the malt. In Eng- 

 land, on the other hand, the wort is almost 

 always prepared from grain with a small ad- 

 mixture of malt and sugar, and the distillation 

 is performed by patent stills on the principle 

 patented in 1830 by ^neas Coffey, a Dublin 

 distiller.* The produce of these stills is very 

 properly known as silent spirit from its want 

 of flavour. Hence therefore the necessity ot 

 a second operation, in which, whilst the im- 

 purities of the first distillation are corrected, 

 the desired flavours to suit the various tastes of 

 customers are imparted. This second opera- 

 tion is the province of the rectifier. Under 

 the various Excise laws, by which the distilla- 



' See art. ' Whisky ' in Chamberfs Encychpadia 



(1892). 



Patents of Invention, No. 5974. 



394 



