ABSTRACT
Brewing is one of Edinburgh's oldest, most characteristic, and most firmly established industries and is closely woven into the general commercial fabric of the city. The main raw materials required for brewing itself in normal times are barley, hops, sugar, yeast, and water of a certain peculiar hardness. It is no doubt to the natural supply of such water afforded by the old sandstone wells that the success of the Edinburgh industry is mainly due. Brewing firms in Edinburgh are either private or public limited companies—chiefly private, thanks to the strong family element. Most firms have been in the family for generations. Brewers in the United Kingdom are combined in the Brewers' Society and its large number of subsidiary organizations for guidance and information on all points of general interest affecting the industry, such as fiscal demands or criticism of the trade on moral grounds, as well as on all the technical matters involved in trade processes and materials.
