美国国家公共电台 NPR How The Story Of Beer Is The Story Of America

 

(SOUNDBITE OF BEER CAN OPENING)

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

If you crack open a beer this Fourth of July, history might not be the first thing on your mind. For Theresa McCulla, though, the story of beer is the story of America.

THERESA MCCULLA: If you want to talk about the history of immigration in America or urbanization or the expansion of transportation networks - really any subject that you want to explore you can talk about through beer.

SHAPIRO: It's McCulla's job to find those connections and tell their stories. She's the first brewing² historian at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. She's only been on the job since earlier this year, and already she has combed through the Smithsonian's archives and pulled out treasures that show beer's part in American history, whether that has to do with advertising³, technology, gender⁴ roles or even popular entertainment.

MCCULLA: And so this is...

SHAPIRO: It says "Budweiser's A Friend Of Mine."

MCCULLA: "Budweiser's A Friend Of Mine."

SHAPIRO: Wait, is that actually a musical?

MCCULLA: It is a piece of sheet music...

SHAPIRO: No. It's a song called "Budweiser's A Friend Of Mine"?

MCCULLA: Yes, it is. Yes. And so this premiered at the "Ziegfeld Follies⁵" in New York on Broadway in 1907.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BUDWEISER'S A FRIEND OF MINE")

BILLY MURRAY AND THE HAYDN QUARTET: (Singing) Bud Budweiser's a friend of mine, friend of mine, yes, a friend of mine.

MCCULLA: The lyrics⁶ of this song tell the story of a man who goes out drinking in a bar and sings about how he prefers his Budweiser to his wife because his beer does not talk back to him. But the song concludes with his wife pouring him a schooner⁷ of Budweiser at home so he does not need to drink elsewhere. And so all is well.

SHAPIRO: Or you want to talk about immigration? More than a million German immigrants came to the U.S. in the second half of the 1800s. And they were beer drinkers.

MCCULLA: They brought new kinds of brewing yeast⁸. They brought different kinds of brewing methods. And suddenly they produced this lager beer, a kind of very light, crisp brew¹ that became very popular with Americans.

SHAPIRO: Those immigrants transformed the kind of beer Americans drink and established a new industry in the process. The drink went from heavy English-style ales to the cold, quaffable⁹ style that's common today. And instead of homebrews, by 1900, many cities had entire neighborhoods full of breweries¹¹. McCulla says one thing that's especially interesting about the story of American beer today is that it has come full circle from the early days of homebrews to mass-produced beer through the crash of Prohibition¹² and now back to a resurgence¹³ of microbreweries.

MCCULLA: We now have so many breweries in this country we have exceeded the pre-Prohibition number of breweries. We've reached over 5,000 breweries at this point. And so it's truly the golden age of - to be a beer drinker.

SHAPIRO: I didn't have to travel far from the Smithsonian to see that entire cycle in one place.

CATHERINE PORTNER: I'm Catherine Portner, and I'm the president and co-founder of Portner Brewhouse here in Alexandria, Va.

SHAPIRO: The sign outside of Portner's says established 1869, re-established 2012. Catherine's great-great-grandfather, Robert Portner, was a German immigrant. At its peak, his company was the biggest employer in the city of Alexandria. More than 600 people worked for him, churning out more than 6 million bottles of beer every year. Some of the early marketing¹⁴ materials are in the Smithsonian's collections.

PORTNER: Original advertisements that we still have note Robert Portner's brewing company as the original King of Beers.

SHAPIRO: This is long before Budweiser started using that phrase. Portner's company was forced to close during Prohibition. And that was it until Catherine and her sister, Margaret Portner, re-opened the brewery¹⁵ just a few miles from where the original one stood. There are historical artifacts in cases along the walls. The kitchen serves up pub food with a German twist. And at the in-house brewery, they've recreated some of the original Portners' brews¹⁰ based on the notes their great-great-grandfather wrote in German. Catherine fills a couple glasses from the tap.

PORTNER: This is the Hofbrau Pilsner that we have reconstructed from the Robert Portner Brewing Company.

SHAPIRO: The color is a cloudy yellow.

Cheers.

PORTNER: Cheers.

SHAPIRO: It doesn't taste like a glass full of American history or immigration or technology, even though on some level it's all of those things. It just tastes like a really good beer.

1 brew   

v.酿造，调制

参考例句：

• Let's brew up some more tea.咱们沏些茶吧。
• The policeman dispelled the crowd lest they should brew trouble.警察驱散人群，因恐他们酿祸。

2 brewing   

n. 酿造, 一次酿造的量 动词brew的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• It was obvious that a big storm was brewing up. 很显然，一场暴风雨正在酝酿中。
• She set about brewing some herb tea. 她动手泡一些药茶。

3 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

4 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

5 follies   

罪恶，时事讽刺剧； 愚蠢，蠢笨，愚蠢的行为、思想或做法( folly的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He has given up youthful follies. 他不再做年轻人的荒唐事了。
• The writings of Swift mocked the follies of his age. 斯威夫特的作品嘲弄了他那个时代的愚人。

6 lyrics   

n.歌词

参考例句：

• music and lyrics by Rodgers and Hart 由罗杰斯和哈特作词作曲
• The book contains lyrics and guitar tablatures for over 100 songs. 这本书有100多首歌的歌词和吉他奏法谱。

7 schooner   

n.纵帆船

参考例句：

• The schooner was driven ashore.那条帆船被冲上了岸。
• The current was bearing coracle and schooner southward at an equal rate.急流正以同样的速度将小筏子和帆船一起冲向南方。

8 yeast   

n.酵母；酵母片；泡沫；v.发酵；起泡沫

参考例句：

• Yeast can be used in making beer and bread.酵母可用于酿啤酒和发面包。
• The yeast began to work.酵母开始发酵。

9 quaffable   

adj.（酒）可饮用的

参考例句：

10 brews   

n.（尤指某地酿造的）啤酒( brew的名词复数 )；酿造物的种类；（茶）一次的冲泡量；（不同思想、环境、事件的）交融v.调制( brew的第三人称单数 )；酝酿；沏（茶）；煮（咖啡）

参考例句：

• He brews beer at home. 他在家里酿造啤酒。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They produce the country's best brews of beer. 他们生产该国的佳酿啤酒。 来自辞典例句

11 breweries   

酿造厂，啤酒厂( brewery的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• In some cases, this is desirable, but most breweries prefer lighter-type beers. 在一些情况下，这是很理想的，但是大多数啤酒厂更倾向于生产酒度较低的啤酒。
• Currently, there are 58 breweries producing Snow Beeracross the country. 目前，全国共有58个雪花啤酒厂。

12 prohibition   

n.禁止；禁令，禁律

参考例句：

• The prohibition against drunken driving will save many lives.禁止酒后开车将会减少许多死亡事故。
• They voted in favour of the prohibition of smoking in public areas.他们投票赞成禁止在公共场所吸烟。

13 resurgence   

n.再起，复活，再现

参考例句：

• A resurgence of his grief swept over Nim.悲痛又涌上了尼姆的心头。
• Police say drugs traffickers are behind the resurgence of violence.警方说毒贩是暴力活动重新抬头的罪魁祸首。

14 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

15 brewery   

n.啤酒厂

参考例句：

• The brewery had 25 heavy horses delivering beer in London.啤酒厂有25匹高头大马在伦敦城中运送啤酒。
• When business was good,the brewery employed 20 people.在生意好的时候，这家酿造厂曾经雇佣过20人。