Sound strong beer is very nutritious and wholesome; indeed, it is
generally considered more nourishing than wine. It is a most useful
drink to the weak, the lean, and the laborious, provided they are not
very subject to flatulency, nor troubled with disorders of the breast.
If taken in moderate quantity, and of the best quality, it will often be
found of great service to the invalid, in assisting to restore his
strength, spirits, and flesh. It should be drunk from the cask; bottled
beer being more likely to disagree with the stomach, and to produce
flatulency.

There is a general prejudice against beer in the case of the bilious
and the sedentary, but it appears to me without sufficient foundation.
Bilious people are such as have weak stomachs and impaired digestion,
and those who are sedentary are nearly, in these respects, always in a
similar state. Now, I have not observed that beer tends to weaken such
stomachs, or to become ascescent, or otherwise to disagree with them; on
the contrary, I believe, it will be found, in the majority of cases,
that this beverage agrees much better than wine, since it is far less
disposed to acescency, and better fitted to act as a stomachic, and,
therefore, to invigorate both the digestive organs, and the constitution
at large. That it is very far superior for such persons to diluted
spirit, in any form, I am fully persuaded. Of course, I here speak of
sound home-brewed strong beer, and of a moderate strength. No man can
answer for the effects of the stuff usually sold as beer; and we know
strong ale is always difficult of digestion.

Strong ale is, undoubtedly, the most nutritive of all malt liquors, but
being digested with greater difficulty than the other sorts, it cannot
with propriety be taken but by those who are strong, and who use much