Help me with history

[The Burgomaster]

Okay . . . I've seen a few westerns where guys wander into a saloon and order a cold beer.

My question is this: if there was no electricity (and therefore no refrigeration), how the hell did the beer get cold?

I guess if the town was at the base of a mountain they could haul down some ice, but how often could they do that? How long would the ice last before melting?

Of course, the really TOUGH cowboys always drank whiskey, "to wash away the trail dust in my throat." But they never asked for it with ice.

Someone help me with this.

And while we're on the subject, why were they always eating beans? I mean, can you imagine what a diet of beans and beer will do to a man?

[Evan3]

Yes, Joe, you are like my dream come true.

Back in those times, there was such a thing as an ice delivery man. However, most drinks were served up warm. Also, most barsw in that time did not really serve beer, if any did at all, which like most historical movies, is a huge inaccuracy. Think about it, would taps really work back then?

As for beans, my guess would be that beans, like potatoes and pasta and such stuff were a big filler. Maybe it was a precursor to beef stew. That and beans, like pasta, seem to last forever, a good thing when u are rustling cattle, hunting down outlaws with your possee, or moving on to the next town's whorehouse.

[The Burgomaster]

I agree that beans are good when you're hunting down outlaws and rustling cattle and such. But what about when you're sitting on the porch swing, a-courtin' Emmy Lou?

[frannie]

Evan3 wrote:

> most barsw in that time did not really serve beer, if any did
> at all, which like most historical movies, is a huge
> inaccuracy. Think about it, would taps really work back then?
>

Germans have been brewing beer and tapping kegs for hundreds of years.  some breweries are getting close to 1000 years old

[Newt]

The Sumerians were brewing beer 6,000 years ago.  They had a Goddess of fermentation.  One of her hymns was a beer recipe.

Just about every civilization since (and some not so civilized) have had home brew.  The Egyptians, the Greeks, the Celts.

Mind you, the beer tended to be made in open bowls and had to be filtered (usually through a straw) to remove the chunks.

Makes me glad to be Canadian - where we have REAL beer!

[Mofo Rising]

Here's a history of brewing in Kansas.  It's pretty long, but there's some information about what you're looking for at the beginning.  Of course, it's mostly about Germans in Kansas, so I don't know how widely it would apply.

I would imagine as you got further to the southeast you would see a wider proliferation of tequila and mezcal.  I have no sources to back that up.

As far as beans, well, easy protein, widely available, don't spoil.  Before modern transportation and refrigeration, people were pretty much stuck with what they could grow or hunt in the area.  Beans and corn would be a staple crop.  Beef and prok were probably pretty easy to get, along with easy garden crops.  But if it didn't grow in your area, you were out of luck.  Yes, we have no bananas.

Diet of beans.  Cheap alcohol.  Lots of cows and horses.  No bathing for weeks/months at a time.  It was a manly stink.  Must be why cowboys are featured in so many romance novels.

[Squishy]

And then there is The Beer Fairy. It's alive!

[Scott0]

If you watch the Back to the Future movie where he goes back to Western times and meets Billy the Kid, Marty sits down at a bar and asks for a glass of ice water, and the guys at and behind the bar simply laugh at him. Ice was sort of a luxury in some ways in that there was a limit to the amount, and it  wasn't easily accessible once you ran out. You had to wait until the next delivery round to get some more.

Scottie

[nshumate]

We're speaking of Emmy Lou who didn't shave anywhere on her body, bathed once a week on Saturday night, and probably wore the same dress for several days until it could stand up by itself, sitting on the porch swing of the farmhouse surrounded by the scent of several hundred head of cattle and the dogs that lived under the porch, with the leftover smells of whatever they had for dinner for the last four months wafting out of the house (including, very likely, beans), sitting next to a man who spent his entire day riding a sweating horse behind cattle and perspiring without the benefit of deodorant?

Honestly, unless he honked like a foghorn, I don't know that they'd notice anything.

[The Burgomaster]

I guess the lack of hygiene is similar to all those movies about medieval times where all the damsels look so beautiful and clean. They ignore the fact that people generally didn't bathe in those days (not EVEN once a week), and they didn't brush their teeth, either.

Imagine kissing a stinky damsel with green, filmy teeth that still had pieces of meat and eggs and stuff stuck in them? Yum . . .

[Deej]

It's my understanding that the saloons in the major cowtowns and mining camps(Dodge City, Abilene, Ft. Worth, Tombstone) could be actually quite well stocked. Apparently, not only did they serve beer and whiskey, but also gin, brandy, and other liquor. One could also order a cocktail, although, unless known as a "regular fellow" or else widely feared, most opted for less sophisticated drinks. The following is from American West, and describes briefly how saloon keepers ran their businesses to cater to the Texas cowboys....

" Saloon keepers named their places, Alamo and Lone Star and served brandies, liqueurs and the latest mixed drinks. Ice usually was available so even beer could be served cold. Some saloons advertised anchovies and Russian caviar on their cold menus."

So, I guess it wasn't all pop-skull whiskey and beans.  They even had baths, and/or gravity showers available at the barber shop that the cowboys fresh off the trail used to clean up before a night of drinking, gambling and drunken violence.