" DE-ALCOHOLIZATION. "
[TO Thr EDITOS OF TUB '1 SPXCTATOne..] SIR,—De-alcoholization is a subject which surely calls lot much more than a passing reference. If practicable and widely adopted, it will go further towards solving the drink question satisfactorily than any measure at present known. Mr. Overbeck, writing in the last number of the Spectator as a chemical expert, shows that de-alcoholization is practicable. Most of us know many people, whose example would be very influential, who say that they would cease from drinking alcoholic liquors if they could get really palatable non- alcoholic beverages to replace them. This has generally been believed hitherto to be impossible. Mr. Overbeck, and your editorial note on his letter, seem to prove that now, at any rate, this belief is erroneous. With the general adoption of de-alcoholization the "moderate drinker," in the form of a disseminator of a taste for strong drink, would disappear. Liquor of all kinds would he imbibed, not for its nearly immediate effects, but for its agreeable flavour, just as fruit and most table dishes are consumed. Still, no wine-growing, brewing, or distilling interest would suffer. The wording of your editorial note prompts me to give a personal reference. My cellar for a considerable time past has had in it a stock of non-alcoholic beer. In appearance it closely resembles the well-known "Pilsener," to which it is but slightly, if at all, inferior in flavour. It has, I readily admit, one weak point. The percentage of bottles the contents of which are turbid and unsightly, though not high, is certainly higher than is the case with ordinary lager beer.—I am, Sir, &c., A. B.
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