Germany.
Of the many beers of this country, perhaps the most deserving of notice here is the Mum of Brunswick, well known and appreciated for its excellence. The process observed in its manufacture has been, it is said, always kept a mystery,[113] and to prevent discovery, the men who brewed it were hired for life. The origin of the word Mum is obscure. The German Mumme, a strong ale producing silence[114] from intoxication; the Danish word for a mask, because it exhibits the parties drinking it with a new face; and Christian Mummer of Brunswick, the supposed inventor of the drink, have been by turns suggested. The varied kinds of Schenk, or winter beer, and Lager, or summer beer, are fairly well known. The Leipzig Goose and the Berlin white beer are refreshing drinks in summer. An excellent description of Bierbrauerei apparatus is given in Brockhaus’ Conversations Lexikon, Band iii. The most important beer factories are in Munich,[115] Erlangen, Zirndorf, Nürnberg, and Vienna.
German beer is far less potent than that of England, but want of strength is made up by the quantity taken. From the time of Goethe, and long before, Germans were great consumers of beer, and the scene in his “Faust,” of students in Auerbach’s Cellar, was typical of his time. Now-a-days there is no degeneracy in the German beer drinker, and a Viennese “Saufender Renommist” will drink his thirty half-pints of Märzen at a sitting. German beers are now readily attainable at any German restaurant in London.