Is Lager Beer Poisonous | Whitman Archive

About This Item

Title: Is Lager Beer Poisonous
Date: 21 February 1857
Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Whitman Archive ID: per.00705
Source: Brooklyn Daily Times, 21 February 1857: 2. Our transcription is based on a digital image of a microfilm scan of the original issue. Microfilm of original issue held at Pennsylvania State University Libraries. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the journalism, see our statement of editorial policy.
Editorial note: This piece is unsigned, as was the case for most of Whitman's journalism. However, this editorial is part of a series of texts that deal with a coherent theme that has been identified by the Whitman Archive journalism team as likely authored by Whitman. This decision is based on a combination of historical and (auto)biographical accounts, similarity to contemporary Whitman writings, a history of scholarly attribution, extant clippings retained by Whitman, computational stylometric analysis, and, in some cases, manuscript evidence in Whitman’s hand.
Contributors to digital file: Christian Brauns Kaylen Michaelis Samantha Gilmore Kevin McMullen Karie Cobb
Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "Is Lager Beer Poisonous." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 16 July 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
Source File: per.00705.xml (TEI)

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IS LAGER BEER POISONOUS.—

Quite a discussion is being carried on in the Cincinnati papers relative to the amount of poison contained in the lager beer that is manufactured in that city.¹ It is said that coculus indicus—a poisonous drug—is used by all the brewers to give the liquid a bitter taste.

Notes:

1. The Cincinnati Enquirer of February 21, 1857, contains an article on the first page titled "Is Lager Beer Drugged?" which regards an ongoing discussion published in letters to the editors of the Enquirer and the Daily Cincinnati Commercial. [back]