Democratic Sentinel, Volume 6, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 June 1882 — Lager Beer in America. [ARTICLE]

Lager Beer in America.

The first lager beer shop in this city was opened by John Bechtel, in the basement of the Evening Post building, in 1840. The beverage proved popular, and in a couple of years Bechtel began to brew beer on Staten island. Previous to his time the little that was used came in bottles from Germany. To-day it is estimated that there are two quarts of lager beer consumed for every pint of all other alcoholic compounds dispensed over the counter to bibulous Americans. Fully 60,000 persons are engaged in brewing lager beer, and the business pays internal taxes amounting to over #14,000,000 per annum. Bechtel died at a ripe old age, which speaks well of the beverage he made ; that is, if he drank it himself. — New York Sun.