Category Archives: History

The Past on Tap: Ancient Beer in Celtic Europe

February 24, 2024 The Beer Professor Leave a comment

Last week I attended a lecture at the Toledo Museum of Art. The event was organized and hosted by the Toledo Society of the Archaeological Institute of America. The title of the lecture was “The Past on Tap: Archaeological Evidence for Ancient Alcohol in Iron Age Celtic Europe”, and delivered by Dr Bettina Arnold, Professor of Anthropology at University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.

Dr. Arnold’s lecture focused on presenting archaeologial evidence and analytical advances used in investigating feasting practices and brewing of malt and honey-based beverages during the period 1200 BC and 600 BC in Celtic Europe. The Celts were a collection of tribes who were unified by a shared culture and language. They originated in central and Western Europe, particularly central and eastern France, southern Germany and the Czech Republic. Subsequent migrations saw them extend their geographical footprint to include the British Isles, the Iberian Peninsula, and northern Italy. Despite their dispersed geography and reputation of being fierce warriors, it is worth noting that the Celts never established an empire (as the Romans did).

In her work as an archaeologist. Dr. Bettina has excavated Celtic burial mounds in southwest Germany. Among other items, Bettina discovered vessels that had been used to hold alcohol. Archaeologists use a variety of analytical techniques in their research, including organic residue analysis (ORA). ORA involves the investigation of organic residues that are trapped in, or adhered to, ancient artifacts. In seeking to understand what ancient peoples drank, the artifacts of interest are vessels that were used to store or consume alcohol. In addition to ORA, Professor Arnold also uses what she calls mortuary consumption evidence. Mortuary consumption evidence refers to the artifacts (e.g., drinking vessels) that are buried or entombed with a corpse. These often provide an indication of the status that the individual held within the society within which they lived.

The research of Professor Arnold and other scholars showed that the Celts made both beer and mead. The ancient beer would have been made with either wheat, barley, and millet. The items discovered by Bettina include a fully intact cauldron used for serving alcoholic beverages. Previous excavations by other archaeologists at a nearby site yielded nine drinking horns, one of which could hold nine pints of ancient ale. At feasts, beer and wine would have been brought to diners in flagons, where it was decanted into drinking horns, which were made of natural horn and often decorated with gold foil bands. The anthropologist Michael Dietler has called the Celts “prodigious drinkers” and “reckless inebriates”, while the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus referred to their “furious passion for drinking”. Their is no doubt that the Celts like to feast and drink, a practice that they hoped to continue in the afterlife, witness the drinking horns and a large bronze cauldron (used to hold mead) found at the grave of a Celtic chieftain’s burial site near Hochdorf in Germany. As Dr Arnold has stated, “the Celts believed in a type of BYOB afterlife. You had to bring alcohol with you and throw a big party when you got to the other side. A sign of a good leader was generosity.” The purpose of feasting and drinking was not just hedonistic pleasure. It had what one might call a political purpose, being a mechanism to strengthen ties with allies. The Celts that Professor Arnold has researched also drank wine, but this was not produced locally, being imported from the Mediterranean region.

A Celtic drinking horn from Tuttlingen in southwestern Germany. Tuttlingen was established as a Celtic settlement (Source: Wolfgang Sauber)

Research by Maxime Rageot and colleagues, published in the online academic journal PLoS ONE, suggests that beer consumption may have been socially stratified with elites drinking beer made from barley or wheat, with warriors consuming beer made with millet. The reasons for these differences are not, unfortunately, reported.

In a 2018 paper in The Journal of Medieval Monastic Studies, Max Nelson suggests that Celtic brewing traditions influenced monastic brewing that became common in parts of Western Europe during the Middle Ages. Written evidence suggests that, during the 9th century, European monasteries introduced hops as an ingredient in the brewing of beer during the 9th century. Nelson, however, cites archaeological evidence which suggests that this may not be the case, and that hops were being used by Celts in northern Italy in 6th century B.C. While hops functioned as preservatives (important in the days before pasteurization or refrigeration) Nelson (p. 59) notes that “besides its preservative function, the bitterness of hops could help balance out the taste of an ancient beer, which might otherwise have been overly sweet from malt, sour from bacterial contamination, or smoky from fire-brewing”. The Greek historian, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, called Celtic beer “a foul smelling liquor made from barley rotted in water”. Based on archaeological evidence found at early Iron Age settlement of Eberdingen– Hochdorf in Germany, Hans-Pete Sitka of the University of Honenheim suggests that this particular Celtic beer was“probably a dark, smoky, and slightly sour. A caramelised taste would have decreased the sourness. Floating yeast sometimes produces a light lemon taste. If flavouring agents such as mugwort and carrot seeds were added, this beverage would have had a very different taste from our typical modern beer.”

Towards the end of her lecture, Professor Arnold described attempts by a number of contemporary craft breweries to recreate ancient Celtic beer. This included Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee, WI who worked with Arnold, to create ”a recipe inspired by evidence collected from the archaeological remains.” Based on organic residue analysis, the beer they tried to recreate, in addition to yeast, contained four ingredients – barley, honey, mint and meadowsweet. In terms of taste, the final product has been described as “smooth and pleasant — almost like a dry port, but with a minty, herbal tinge to it.” While Lakefront’s Chris Ranson described the ancient Celtic beer as “drinkable”, she doubted that there would be a sizable market for it among modern-day craft beer drinkers.

The Celtic people were not the only ancient society to brew beer. Nor were they the first. For example, around 10,000 BC, various hunter gatherer groups would periodically come together at Göbekli Tepe, a Neolithic archaeological site (home to the world’s oldest known megaliths) in eastern Turkey for the purposes of ritualistic feasting. Brewing vats and images of festivals have been discovered there by archaeologists, with the beer being made from fermented wild crops. In similar fashion, at Qiaotou in Zhejiang Province in China, archaeologists have discovered vessels containing residues of ingredients used to brew beer. The beer, according to the authors, was “likely served in rituals to commemorate the burial of the dead.” The Qiaotou site dates to around 7,000 BC.

Ancient beer may not have tasted much like the beer that we drink today. But it did serve a similar purpose in the sense that it brought people together and provided a mechanism through which people could relax and bond, much like it does today.

Further Reading:

In addition to the readings below you can learn more about the Celts by visiting the website of the Center for Celtic Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Dr. Arnold is also the founding editor of the electronic journal e-Keltoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies.

Dietler, Michael. 1994. Quenching Celtic thirst. Archaeology, Volume 47, Issue 3, pp. 44-48.

Nelson, Max. 2018. Celtic and Egyptian beer-production traditions and the origins of monastic brewing. Journal of Medieval Monastic Studies, Volume 7, pp. 47-77.

Rageot, Maxime, Angela Mötsch, Birgit Schorer, David Bardel, Alexandra Winkler, Federica Sacchetti, Bruno Chaume, Phillips Della Casa, Stephen Buckley, Sara Cafisdo, Janine Fries-Knoblach, Dirk Krause’s, Thomas Hope, Philipp Stockhsmmer, Cynthiaanne Spiteri. 2019. New insights into Early Celtic consumption practices: Organic analyses of local and imported pottery from Vix-Mont Lassois. PLoS ONE, Volume 14, Issue 6.

Sitka, Hans-Peter. 2011. Early Iron Age and Late Mediaeval malt finds
from Germany—attempts at reconstruction of early Celtic brewing and the taste of Celtic beer. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, Volume 3, Issue 1, pp. 41-48.

Dietrich, Oliver Dietrich, Manfred Heun, Jens Notroff, Klaus Schmidt, and Martin Zarnkow. 2012. The role of cult and feasting in the emergence of Neolithic communities. New evidence from Göbekli Tepe, south-eastern Turkey. Antiquity, Volume 86, Issue 333, pp. 674–695.

Wang, Jiajing, Leping Jiang, and Hanlong Sun. 2021. Early evidence for beer drinking in a 9000-year-old platform mound in southern China, PLOS ONE, Volume 16, Issue 8.

History, Scholarship, Social Drinking

Drunk

January 28, 2024 The Beer Professor Leave a comment

Drunk is both an adjective and a noun. The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines the former as “having the faculties impaired by alcohol”, and the latter as “one who is drunk”. Drunk is also the name of a book written by Edward Slingerland. The full title is “Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization”. It is a fascinating book and one I have just finished reading. The author, Slingerland, is Distinguished University Scholar and Professor of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia in Canada. While Slingerland is an academic, Drunk is a book that is written for a general audience.

The front cover of “Drunk” by Edward Slingerland

The basic thesis underpinning Slingerland’s treatise is that alcohol has played, and continues to play, an important role in society; a role that is generally beneficial both to the individual and to society as a collective entity. A key characteristic of alcohol is that it triggers the release of endorphins whose effects include enhancing a person’s overall mood, while decreasing anxiety and stress levels. In our transformed, more relaxed state, alcohol helps us “with the communal demands of being human” (p. 106).

Central to Slingerland’s thesis is that part of the human brain called the prefrontal cortex (PFC), which “plays a role in regulating emotions in interpersonal relationships and social situations.” Alcohol, however, temporarily disarms the PFC, the locus of rational thinking and self-control, and make us more playful, creative, emotional, and trusting. As a result, consumption of alcohol facilities social bonding among people who may not otherwise be pre-disposed to bond and work cooperatively. As noted by Slingerland, alcohol “functions to bind together non-related individuals” (p. 257) Indeed it has fulfilled this role for thousands of years.

One of the many examples given by Slingerland is Göbekli Tepe, a Neolithic archaeological site (home to the world’s oldest known megaliths) in eastern Turkey where disparate and otherwise unconnected groups of hunter-gatherers periodically met for the purposes of ritualistic feasting. Brewing vats and images of festivals dating to around 10,000 BC have been discovered at Göbekli Tepe.
The ancient beer that was brewed played a central role in the feasting that took place there. According to the Archaeologist Oliver Dietrich and his colleagues “at the dawn of the Neolithic, hunter-gatherers congregating at Göbekli Tepe created social and ideological cohesion through the carving of decorated pillars, dancing, feasting—and, almost certainly, the drinking of beer made from fermented wild crops.” This pattern of feasting and consuming alcohol was replicated in many ancient pre-agricultural societies throughout the world.

Göbekli Tepe in eastern Turkey, an ancient site of feasting and drinking of beer made from fermented wild crops

Slingerland provides numerous more contemporary examples of the benefits of moderate alcohol consumption. He talks about visiting the Whiskey Room on a Google campus where coders retire with colleagues to have a wee dram and engage in creative back-and-forth of ideas. He also tells of getting together with his graduate students and faculty members, post-seminar, in a pub on the UBC campus. Much of the conversation revolved around research ideas, with the end result being the establishment of a new research center, a multi-million dollar grant, and a slew of high impact research projects.

It should be noted that in addition to the real-world examples of the benefits of moderate alcohol consumption, Slingerland does cite and discuss many laboratory-based scientific studies which provide support for his central thesis. With respect to maximizing creativity, how much alcohol is beneficial? That particular sweet spot is a blood alcohol content of 0.08, or the equivalent of two beers with an an ABV of around 5%.

Slingerland is an advocate of social drinking. Indeed, in his final chapter he warns against the dangers of drinking alone. He cites the work of Robin Dunbar, an evolutionary psychologist. In 2017, Dunbar co-authored a paper in which he explored the functional benefits of moderate alcohol consumption. In particular, he found that people who have a pub they they frequent on a regular basis “tend to be more socially engaged, feel more contented and are more likely to trust other members of their community than those who do not drink at all”. Visiting the same pub on a regular basis often results in engaging in social drinking with other regular customers, thus providing patrons with a strong social network. Summing up Dunbar’s findings, “moderate, social drinking brings people together, keeps them connected to their communities, and lubricates the exchange of information and building of networks (p. 192).

Slingerland also touches on a topic that is close to my heart as a professional academic – the value of attending an academic conference, as opposed to participating via Zoom or a similar communication platform. As he so eloquently states, “a unique intellectual benefit provided by in-person academic or professional conferences is the networking, brainstorming, and idea-honing that goes on over meals, over coffee breaks, and most of all informal venues, as the day draws to an end and the intoxicants come out” (p. 180). Indeed it was at an academic conference in New York City in 2012 that a conversation, over a beer, with a colleague from Kennesaw State University was the catalyst for my first paper on the craft beer industry; thus The Beer Professor was born. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, many scientific organizations offer hybrid conferences, whereby participants can choose to participate in-person or virtually. Sadly, those who choose the latter option miss out on the added value that in-person attendance bestows. As Slingerland observes, “even the best videoconference is a poor substitute for the visceral buzz of interpersonal chemistry, catalyzed by chemical intoxicants, that comes from in-person socializing in pubs and cafes” (p. 181).

While Slingerland’s book outlines the benefits of drinking alcohol, it is important to note that he warns against its excessive consumption. Indeed, his final chapter is devoted to the dark side of consuming alcohol, with a discussion of topics such as the negative health consequences, drunk driving, and the role of alcohol in contributing to violence against women. He also discusses the discovery of distillation, by which humans were able to produce spirits whose Alcohol By Volume levels are significantly higher than that of either beer or wine. According to Slingerland, “the many functional benefits of alcohol notwithstanding, distillation radically increases its danger to both individuals and society” (p. 237). During the Industrial Revolution in Europe, beers such as Guinness were considered a temperance drink, while high potency distilled spirits were not. As noted by Mark Schrad , writing in Foreign Policy, the growing availability of distilled spirits in early 19th century Europe meant that “once jovial communal celebrations devolved into drunken riots“, while “murder, other crimes, and arson all increased”. This became a concern for European Socialists who saw the devastating effects of spirits on the working class, while lining the pockets of profit-minded and predatory capitalists. In Germany, the Social Democratic Party called for a nationwide boycott of schnapps but not beer. Emile Vandervelde, leader of the Belgian Labour Party and President of the Second International (a collaborative network of European socialist parties) held the position that there’s “no real difference between the moderate use of fermented beer or wine and the complete abstinence from alcohol.” Spirits, not beer and wine, were the real problem.

Slingerland’s book is a lively read. It is well written and follows a logical flow. Anyone interested in the history of alcohol and its role in societies, ranging from ancient to modern, will find it a worthwhile purchase.

Further Reading:

Dunbar, Robin I. M., Jacques Launay, Rafael Wlodarski, Cole Robertson, Eiluned Pearce, James Carney, and Pádraig MacCarron. 2016. Functional Benefits of (Modest) Alcohol Consumption. Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology, Volume 3, Pages 118–133.

Schrad, Mark Lawrence. 2021. How Europe’s Temperance Movement Saved Beer. Foreign Policy, September 26.

Slingerland, Edward. 2021. Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization. Little, Brown Spark Publishers.

Craft Breweries, History, Michigan

From Paper to Beer: The Mill At Vicksburg

June 28, 2021 The Beer Professor Leave a comment

“Sooner or later, everything old is new again” wrote Stephen King, in his novel The Colorado Kid in 2005. He might have well said it as he gazed upon the restoration of the Mill at Vicksburg in 2021.

From a leading producer of fine paper in the early 20^th century, originally built by Lee Paper Company, eventually being abandoned at the beginning of the 21^st century this massive building will soon be home to a world class destination for craft beer lovers. It’s taken many years of hard work, vision, community relationships, and cooperation from a vast number of stakeholders to restore a 420,000 square foot building and transform it into a multi-faceted facility, set to open in 2025. In addition to housing a brewery, the Mill will house a boutique hotel, conference/event space, and a museum housing beer memorabilia. The Mill is located in the village of Vicksburg (population 2,906) which is located in Kalamazoo County, MI, and sits nicely equidistant between Chicago, IL and Detroit, MI – it is about 150 miles from both.

It all started with a phone call. Chris Moore, the visionary and now owner for the Mill at Vicksburg, received from his mother Sue back in 2014. The Mill had been part of the fabric of Vicksburg for nearly a century and after paper making had left the region, it had fallen into disrepair and talk of its demolition was becoming common. The Mill had been such an important part of Chris’s life, both his father and grandfather made careers there, along with some stints for him as a young man. It was the economic engine of the community and the thought of losing this giant seemed tragic, akin to losing a part of the community identity.

Chris Moore – the visionary behind the Mill at Vicksburg

After many meetings at the local, state, and federal level Chris managed to save the Mill while also preserving its integrity indefinitely, getting it added to the Federal Historic Registry. He also began forming what the future would hold for the Mill and how it could be an economic engine once again. Beer would be a big part of the Mill’s future.

Chris has a long-held passion for beer and brewing. It began in the 80s, influenced in part by the early efforts of Larry Bell in his first foray with Kalamazoo Brewing in the mid 1980s (eventually becoming the nationally renowned Bell’s Brewery and then working at Widmer Brothers Brewing in 1989, another early pioneer in America’s brewing renaissance.

In 2016 Chris and co-founder Brian Stan opened Old Stove Brewing Co. in Pike Place Market in Seattle, WA. Old Stove has since expanded to the MarketFront of Pike Place. Their brews have won awards and the connection between the legendary gastronomic offerings of Pike Place and their beer will continue at the Mill. The importance of pairing food and beer adds to a rich layer of offerings that are being developed for the project in Vicksburg. In opening Old Stove Brewing , Chris said he felt like he was ‘standing on the shoulder of giants’ referencing all the hard work, including the tough legislative efforts pioneers like Kurt Widmer made, paving the way for thousands of breweries. It didn’t stop there. Many of these early trailblazers even had to build their own brewery equipment to see their vision through. These early influences helped shape the opportunity Chris saw to leverage his passion for beer, brewing, and history while turning the Mill into something very special once again.

Chris’s deep fascination with the beer industry also includes unique and rare brewery memorabilia which he began collecting many years ago. With so much history behind the Mill at Vicksburg it was only logical that these artifacts of American brewing history would be preserved and celebrated; ideally, while enjoying a delicious brew. Leaning on reputable collectors and historians, the breweriana collection has grown substantially and will have its own museum in Vicksburg called the Cone Top Brewery Museum. The Mill is working closely with the National Association of Breweriana Advertising to collaborate on the museum.

The Mill at Vicksburg has a growing breweriana collection

Something as monumental as revitalizing the Mill cannot be done in a vacuum, and the Village of Vicksburg is a big part of what will make the Mill successful. Chris has wryly stated that ‘all roads lead to Vicksburg’, leaning on the broad infrastructure of transportation that allowed the vast papermaking industry in SW Michigan to thrive for nearly a century. Road and rail are abundant, but massive economic inputs of a project this size are significant. Vicksburg is a very charming and historic town, but like many downtowns across the Midwest, efforts need to be made to preserve and celebrate the architecture, commerce, and vibrancy to support future growth. Chris has assembled a team to help him support the Village’s efforts to not only preserve the history and vitality but also help prepare it for a significant economic lift the Mill will once again bring.

As chronicled elsewhere in this blog, the resurgence of brewing across America started with homebrewing. Homebrewing and craft brewing are intertwined in countless ways across the country. Larry Bell started as a homebrewer before opening his own homebrew equipment shop. On the other side of the country, the legendary Ken Grossman started Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., after finding his passion in homebrewing. The Mill will have features that celebrate homebrewing history and its future, the final scope of which will be finalized in the coming years. Homebrewers are perhaps the greatest advocates for craft brewing and a vital part of its identity. The Mill wants to recognize the grassroots history, entrepreneurialism and passion that has built, not only a national industry but a global one.

History will be part of the fabric that weaves through the ecosystem of the Mill, including of course, brewing. Over the last three decades innovative American craft brewers have created new styles and processes, while continuing to search for resources to create even more distinct brews. Going back over a century, rural brewers across the country and abroad had to utilize resources that were available locally, from grains to yeast. Chris has long felt the need to support American farming, sponsoring Cascadia Grains since 2016 and the Great Lakes Hop and Barley Conference since 2017. Vitality and diversity are critical for healthy agriculture and in turn, brewing. Further, it supports brewing innovation, a pillar of craft brewing enterprise. Brewing at the Mill will embrace brewing history, its rural roots, innovation and support the local farming community.

There is much, much more to share and celebrate about the future of the Mill at Vicksburg, particularly on the brewing side. With the Mill slated to open in a few years, stay tuned for more details about how the Mill will be a compelling destination for all those that love history, music, and of course, delicious brews.

Guest Blogger

This blog entry was written by guest blogger, Brian Bastien.

Brian Bastien

A passionate advocate of the craft beer industry, Brian’s brewery career began as a homebrewer before completing a BA at University of Western Ontario, in Economics. His 20-plus years of experience leading teams and building markets across North America includes senior roles with Moosehead, Carlsberg, and most recently as a VP with Newlands Systems, a custom brewery equipment manufacturer. While studying an International MBA at the University of Wales, he wrote a dissertation on strategic brewery brand growth across global markets. Brian is leading the brewery and distillery strategy, planning and design for The Mill’s multi-brewery facility, a vital economic driver for the redevelopment. The beverage operations will concurrently accomplish the goals of tenant attraction, job creation, and destination tourism for The Mill. Active in community roles, Brian has over ten years of leadership experience serving local non-profits, most recently serving as president and chair for the Women in Need Society in Calgary, Canada. In 2018 he finished brewery studies in Chicago at the World Brewing Academy and completed distillery studies at Siebel in 2019.

History, International, People

Reid’s Brewery

May 4, 2021 The Beer Professor 2 Comments

A few weeks ago I was on the Internet and decided to Google my surname – Reid. According to Ancestry.com the name Reid means:

“nickname for a person with red hair or a ruddy complexion, from Older Scots reid ‘red’. topographic name for someone who lived in a clearing, from Old English r¯d ‘woodland clearing’.”

Ancestry.com also informed me that between 1841 and 1921, there were more Reids in Scotland than in any other country. I remember reading, many years ago, that it was one of the most common surnames in Scotland. Again, a little Googling confirmed this. In 2014, it was the 11th most common surname in Scotland.

Even more interesting was the fact that in 1840, according to Ancestry.com, there were 51 Reid families living in Ohio (for those of you that do not know me, I was born in and grew up in Scotland, but now live in Ohio). This represented approximately 10% of all the recorded Reid’s living in the United States. Indeed, in 1840, Ohio had the highest population of families named Reid in the US.

Number of Reids by State in 1840 (Source: Ancestry.com)

What does any of the above have to do with beer? Nothing actually, except it was while I was down this Google rabbit hole searching the Reid name that I discovered that in 19th century London, UK there was a brewery called Reid Brewery Co. Ltd. My attention peaked and I did a little internet sleuthing to see what I could discover about the brewery that bore my name.

I begin the story of the Reid Brewery in 1775, when Richard Meux and Mungo Murray formed a partnership and purchased Jackson’s Brewery in London’s Mercer Street. The purchase price was £15,000. Coincidentally, Mercer happens to be my late-Mother’s maiden name. The brewery suffered a major fire in 1763 Rather than rebuild in the same location, Meux and Murray decided to build a new new brewery on the somewhat appropriately named Liquorpond Street (now Clerkenwell Street). A new name, Griffin Brewery, was also agreed upon by the two business partners. In 1790, Murray made the decision to leave the partnership.

In 1787, Griffin Brewery produced an impressive 49,651 barrels of beer. In 1793, Andrew Reid, a distiller and wine and spirit merchant, became a partner with Meux, and formed what then became Meux, Reid & Co. The brewery’s annual output continued to grow and reached an excess of 100,000 barrels for the first time in 1795.

In 1797, Richard Meux Jr. and Andrew Reid’s brother, John, became partners in the brewery. In 1816 Thomas Meux resigned from the partnership, which then became Reid & Co. At the time of Meux’s resignation the brewery’s annual production was 190,000 barrels. In the years following Meux’s resignation Reid & Co. purchased several smaller breweries in both London and its environs. John Reid died in 1821 and his brother, Andrew, died in 1840. William Reid, son of Andrew Reid, maintained the Reid family’s interest in the brewery.

By 1853, Reid’s was London fourth largest brewery – there were somewhere in the region of 160 breweries n London at this time. The primary style of beer brewed by Reid’s was Porter. In all likelihood, some of that beer made its way to India to supply the British army there. In 1898 Reid & Co merged with the large London brewer Watney and another brewer, Combe and Co. This is considered the first big merger to take place in the British brewing industry. After the merger, Griffin Brewery on Liquidpond Street (owned by Reid) was closed. Production was concentrated in Watney’s Stag Brewery in the Pimlico district of London. The merged entity, Watney, Combe, Reid, became a major force in London brewing.

The Reid brand name continued to be used until the 1950s. In the early 1950s Watney’s was brewing and bottling three variants of their Reid’s Stout – Reid’s Stout, Reid’s Family Stout, and Reid’s Special Stout. Two versions of the Reid’s Stout was available – one with an ABV of 4.39% and the other with an ABV of 6.75%. The Family and Special Stout had ABVs of 3.21 and 4.72% respectively.

While the original brewing company bearing the Reid name is long gone, there is at least one craft brewery in the United Kingdom bearing the name – Reids Gold Brewing Company in Stonehaven, Scotland, which was established by Barry Reid in 2018.

History, Holidays, Labels, Rituals

Christmas Ales

December 17, 2020 The Beer Professor Leave a comment

The Book of Ecclesiastes wisely states that “there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens”. Adapted to the world of craft beer the appropriate sentiment might read that “there is a time for everything, and a season for every beer under the heavens”. While the seemingly ubiquitous IPAs are enjoyed year round there are several styles of beer that are associated with particular periods on the calendar. While I am not a fan off pumpkin beers I know plenty of people who look forward to their appearance each fall. Oktoberfest Marzens, in contrast, is a style whose arrival I eagerly await. And as I write this we are a few weeks away from Christmas, and Christmas Ales are in abundance. I do enjoy Christmas Ales and currently have a six-pack of one from Bell’s Brewery of Comstock, MI sitting in my basement refrigerator.

Christmas Ale from a Bell’s Brewery in Comstock, MI

Earlier this week, I gave a talk on a Christmas Ales to alumni of the University of Toledo. With the Covid-19 pandemic in full swing it was a virtual talk. When I agreed to give the talk I knew a little bit about Christmas Ales, but learned more about them as I did some research. Christmas Ales have their origins in pre-Christian pagan rituals. Take Norway as an example. Long before Christianity, Norwegians celebrated the winter solstice by brewing and drinking beer to honor Odin, Frey, and other Norse gods. The period was known as Jul, and stretched from mid-November to mid-January. Indeed the brewing of Ale was one of the most important tasks of the early winter season, with the first brew often laid out or poured on a stone for the local gnomes and spirits. Peasants would travel to the local pagan temple, bringing along food and ale for a feast Everyone was expected to take part in the drinking of Ale The first toast was to be made to Odin, then the other gods. Additional toasts were then drunk to the memory of the departed. No Norwegian farm was complete without a brewhouse — the bryggehus – this was the case up until about 200 years ago.

King Hakon the Good, who ruled Norway from 934 to 961 made it illegal to celebrate Christmas without Ale. Those who didn’t have Ale at their Christmas feast were issued a fine. In the 13th century the Gulating, an annual parliamentary assembly that met in Gulen on Norway’s west coast, passed a law similar to the decree issued by Haakon the Good. According to the Gulating:

“Yet another beer brew we are required to make, man and wife from equal amounts of malts, and to bless it Christmas night in thanks to Christ and St. Mary, for a good year and peace.

If this is not done, three marks must be paid to the bishop. But if someone sits three winters without doing so, or cannot pay the fees that we have added for our religion, and this can be proven, then he has forfeited every penny of his worth. The king shall have half, and the bishop the other half. But he may confess his sins and make church penance and stay in Norway. If he will not he shall leave the realm of our king.”

Fines and possible banishment from the kingdom indicate how seriously Christmas Ale was taken in 13th century Norway.

King Hakan the Good issued a decree making it illegal to celebrate Christmas without Ale

12 Dogs of Christmas Ale contains honey, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg

After talking about Christmas Ales in Medieval Norway, I turned my attention to Christmas Ales in modern-day America. Interestingly enough, Christmas Ale is not a recognized beer style – at least not by the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) or the Brewers Association. The BJCP does include a Winter Seasonal Beer among its list of over 150 recognized styles. So what is a Winter Seasonal Beer and what are its defining characteristics? According to the BJCP Winter Seasonal Beers “suggest cold weather and the Christmas holiday season, and may include holiday spices, specialty sugars, and other products that are reminiscent of mulling spices or Christmas holiday desserts”, while “a wide range of aromatics is possible” including those “reminiscent of Christmas cookies, gingerbread, English-type Christmas pudding, evergreen trees, or mulling spices.” For example, 12 Dogs of Christmas Ale, brewed by Thirsty Dog Brewing Co. of Akron, OH includes honey, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. The flavor of a Christmas Ale will reflect the spices used in the brewing process. In terms of appearance, Christmas Ales tend to be generally medium amber to very dark brown, with darker versions being are more common.

While they have existed in Europe for over a thousand years, Christmas Ales first made their appearance in the United States in the early 1900s. Prohibition arrived in 1920 and lasted until 1933, making American Christmas Ale fairly short lived. They did not reappear in the aftermath Prohibition. Indeed, it was not until 1978 that Christmas Ales reappeared on the American brewing landscape. And we have Fritz Maytag and Anchor Brewing in San Francisco to thank for that. Founded in 1896, the brewery was on the verge of going out of business when Maytag purchased a 51% share in 1965. Maytag rejuvenated the brewery’s fortunes, partly by expanding its portfolio of beers to include IPAs, Barleywine, and Porters. In 1975 Maytag introduced the first Christmas Ale to be brewed in the United States since the end of Prohibition – Anchor’s Christmas Ale.

Anchor Brewing was struggling until Fritz Maytag purchased a 51% share of the brewery in 1965

Each year Anchor’s Christmas Ale is brewed using a different recipe and over the years it has evolved from a Pale Ale to spiced Brown Ale. Not only does the recipe change from year to year, but so does the beer’s distinctive label. The label always features a tree, but a different tree each year. Between 1975 and 2019 (with the exception of 1976), the labels were all designed by the same artist – 93 year-old Jim Stitt. His decision to retire, however, meant that the 2019 label was the last one designed by Stitt. The 2020 label was designed by Nathan Yoder. Given the unique challenges that 2020 has presented Yoder opted for a label that featured The Three Graces, a trio of sequoia trees, which represent radiance, joy, and hope. After the year that we have all just experienced I think that it’s safe to say that we would welcome all three of these in abundance.

Each year Anchor’s Christmas Ale is adorned with a different label featuring a different tree. Labels from 1975-1982 are shown here

93 year old Jim Stitt, now retired, designed all the labels for Anchor Christmas Ale between 1975 and 2019. The only year Stitt did not design the label was 1976 (Photo credit: SFGate.com)

The three sequoia trees on the label of Anchor’s 2020 Christmas Ale represent radiance, joy, and hope

Female Brewers, History

Wine, Women, and Basketball – But What About Beer?

March 16, 2020 The Beer Professor Leave a comment

The University of Toledo (UT), where I work, has a men’s and a women’s basketball team. I am not a basketball fan, so I really do not follow the fortunes of either one. On average, I probably attend a college basketball game once every five years or so. Back in January one of our doctoral students forwarded me an e-mail she had received promoting upcoming games for both the men’s and women’s teams. I am sure I had received the same e-mail, but upon seeing from the subject line that its content was about basketball, had probably deleted it. In sending me the e-mail, the student drew my attention to two upcoming UT basketball games – one involving the men’s team and one involving the women’s team. The men’s game was promoted as “Men’s Basketball Craft Beer Night”, while the women’s game was promoted as “Women’s Basketball Wine Night”. Fans were invited to come early to the Men’s game and sample some craft beer beforehand; come to the Women’s game and sample some wine beforehand. The student who brought these promotional ads to my attention questioned whether those responsible for them had given much, if any, thought to gender stereotypes. For both ads were clear examples of gender stereotyping – beer for the guys and wine for the gals. When I first saw these ads, I have to admit, they made me cringe.

In defense of the ads, one might argue that the UT Athletics Department were simply recognizing the reality that more craft beer drinkers are male than female, and more wine drinkers are female than male. According to a 2018 Nielsen Harris on Demand survey, 68.5% of craft beer drinkers who drink craft beer “at least several times a year” are male; 31.5% are female. Interestingly, the survey identified two markets where female craft beer drinkers outnumber male craft beer drinkers – Portland, OR and Providence, RI. In contrast, a 2018 study by Sonoma State University found that 60% of wine drinkers are female, and 40% are male. Despite these demographic differences, I will still submit that the the ads were an unnecessary exercise in gender stereotyping. Why not simply advertise the first game as being one where craft beer would be available beforehand, and the second as one where wine would be available beforehand?

Of course, this type of stereotyping is nothing new. A 2012 study by researchers at The University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University found that alcohol-related ads in women’s magazines were primarily focused on champagne and sparkling wine, while alcohol-related ads in men’s magazines focused on beer. Indeed, craft beer and gender stereotyping is a topic I have written about before.

Not only do many women enjoy craft beer, but they also are a number of women who own breweries and/or commercially brew beer. Last month, I attended the annual Nebraska Tourism and Adventure Travel Workshop in Nebraska City, NE. In addition to giving a presentation at the workshop, I was also a member of a panel on “Maximizing Your Exposure with Partnerships”. There were three of us on the panel. I was the only male. The other two panel members were Jessica Kraus, co-owner of Lost Way Brewery in Holdrege, NE and Jessi Hoeft of First Street Brewing Company in Hastings, Nebraska. The panel was moderated by Gabby Ayala, Executive Director of the Nebraska Craft Brewers Guild. Jessica is also Executive Director of the Holdrege Chamber of Commerce. These are smart, intelligent, successful women who know what they are talking about when it comes to beer and the craft brewing industry. For me, it was honor to share the stage with and learn from them.

Sharing the stage with (left to right) Gabby Ayala (Nebraska Brewers Guild), Jessi Hoeft (First Street Brewing), and Jessica Kraus (Lost Way Brewery) at the 2020 Nebraska Agritourism & Adventure Travel Workshop (Photo Credit: Nebraska Tourism Commission)

Unfortunately, and undeservedly, female brewers are often less highly regarded than their male counterparts. A recent study by researchers at Stanford University found that “craft beer described as produced by a woman is evaluated more negatively than the same product described as produced by a man.” According to Sarah A. Soule, one of the researchers on the project, “our research suggests that customers don’t value and are less inclined to buy traditionally male products if they think they’ve been manufactured by women . . . There’s an assumption that your woman-made craft beer . . . won’t be as good.”

It is easy to forget that before men arrived on the scene, brewing beer was primarily a task done by women. Indeed, in both Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt the beer that was brewed was done so almost exclusively by women. It was the same in pre-industrial Europe, where making beer was just one of a number of household tasks performed by women. Such was the case for Katharina von Bora, wife of the 16th century leader of the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther. Von Bora brewed all the beer for the Luther household. And her husband loved it, often heaping praise on his wife’s brewing skills. In one of his many letters, Luther wrote, “I keep thinking what good wine and beer I have at home, as well as a beautiful wife.” In discussing the historical role of women as brewers, Allison Schell of the National Women’s History Museum refers to it as a “forgotten pairing“. What an apt description. It became forgotten because, in shifting from an economy based on agriculture to one based on manufacturing, the brewing of beer moved from small-scale home production to larger scale commercial production – and when that happened, men took over the brewing process.

Katharina von Bora brewed the beer for the Luther household
Source: Wikimedia Commons

So when it comes to beer and the brewing industry we (and by that I mean men) need to treat our female peers with respect. Whether they are brewers or consumers we have to understand that their gender does not define them. Rather, they are defined by their love, passion, and knowledge of beer. They are co-equals and partners in this wonderful journey that we, who love are craft beer, are taking.

Meeting an Icon

February 18, 2020 The Beer Professor Leave a comment

One of my favorite books about the craft brewing industry is The Audacity of Hops: The History of America’s Craft Beer Revolution by Tom Acitelli. I highly recommend it to anyone wanting a very readable account of the emergence and evolution of craft brewing in the United States. In the book you will learn of the key events and key people that were at the heart of the craft beer revolution. One of the most enjoyable and informative parts of Acitelli’s book is learning about the part played by particular individuals. These include Michael Jackson (British beer writer), Fritz Maytag (owner of Anchor Brewing Company), Jack McAuliffe (owner of New Albion Brewing Co.), and others.

Earlier this month I had the opportunity to meet and chat with one of the craft beer pioneers featured in Acitelli’s book. I was invited to be the opening keynote speaker at the 4th Annual Beer Marketing and Tourism Conference in St. Petersburg, FL. In attendance at the meeting was Pete Slosberg, the co-founder of Pete’s Brewing Company. During the early 1990s Pete’s Brewing Company was the country’s second largest craft brewing company, after Boston Beer Company. Like many of the early craft brewing entrepreneurs, Slosberg was a home brewer. In 1986, with Mark Bronder, he founded Pete’s Brewing Company. The brewery’s signature product was an American Brown Ale, called Pete’s Wicked Ale. While inspired be English Brown Ales, Slosberg’s creation was distinctively American – it sat somewhere between an English Brown Ale and a Porter, and was more bitter than both. As a result, Slosberg is credited with creating American Brown Ale as a separate style.

Hanging out with Pete Slosberg (left) at 3 Daughters Brewing in St. Petersburg, FL

At the conference Slosberg made a presentation titled “Modern Guerrilla Marketing”. Guerrilla Marketing is an advertising strategy that utilizes “low-cost unconventional marketing tactics that yield maximum results”. As the owner of a start-up craft brewery, guerrilla marketing was critical to the early success of Pete’s Brewing Company.

In designing the original packaging for Pete’s Wicked Ale, Slosberg wanted to make sure that his beer stood out on the shelf. He therefore chose purple as its dominant color, and included a mugshot of his dog Millie. Against the rather mundane packaging of mass produced beers of the late-1980s, there was no doubt that Pete’s Wicked Ale was a standout. As Slosberg told conference attendees, “weird things draw your attention. Little things can be memorable. Make people do a double-take”. In another marketing “stunt” to promote his beer, Slosberg found himself naked in a bathtub of Pete’s Wicked Ale. It was another one of those weird double-take moments.

Promoting his beer – Pete Slosberg in a bathtub of Pete’s Wicked Ale

Some of the advertising for Pete’s Wicked Ale was not cheap, but it still fell into the “weird” category and turned heads. A prime example was his 1994 television commercial which ran during shows such as Seinfeld, Melrose Place and Northern Exposure in major markets such as Boston, Minneapolis, and San Francisco. For the commercial Slosberg sat at a red-draped table on the sidewalk in downtown San Francisco. On the table were some bottles of Pete’s Wicked Ale. As pedestrians walked by, Slosberg called out to them, asking them if they would like his autograph. The commercial (which can be viewed here) shows most pedestrians shunning Slosberg’s invitation. One who did stop is seen, shortly afterwards, scrunching up Slosberg’s autographed picture and tossing it into the nearest trash can. Named by The New York Times as one of the ten best advertising campaigns of 1994, the newspaper noted that “the campaign deftly plays up his image as the quintessential little guy taking on the beer behemoths.”

During his presentation to conference attendees, Slosberg talked about his entrepreneurial philosophy. To Slosberg, initial discussions about starting a company should focus on the goals/core values of the company, and not on the product. In discussions with his business partner, Mark Bronder, Slosberg identified three goals/core values for Pete’s Brewing Company:

Make a world class product
Get in on ground floor of a new industry or segment of an industry
Treat the product with reverence and everything else with irreverence (the fun factor)

Pete Slosberg at the Beer Marketing & Tourism Conference speaking about guerrilla marketing

The success of Pete’s Brewing Company was achieved without Slosberg and Bronder owning a brewery. All of Pete’s beers were brewed under contract. Over the years they contracted with a number of breweries to brew their beer. These included Palo Alto Brewing Co. (Palo Alto, CA) and August Schell Brewing (New Ulm, MN).

At its peak, Pete’s Brewing Company had 85 employees and annual sales of $71 million. Its beer was available in 47 states and, within the craft beer segment of the industry, only Boston Beer Company sold more beer. And the beer was good. In 1987, Pete’s Wicked Ale was voted the top ale, and was ranked one of America’s top five beers. While Pete’s Wicked Ale was its flagship beer, the company did produce five other products- Pete’s Wicked Lager, Pete’s Wicked Red, Pete’s Wicked Honey Wheat, Pete’s Wicked Winter Brew, and Pete’s Summer Brew.

In 1996, twelve years after its founding, Pete’s Brewing Company was acquired by The Gambrinus Company of San Antonio, TX. The cost of the acquisition was an impressive $69 million. In 2011, Gambrinus announced that they would be discontinuing the beers they produced under the Pete’s brand. Following its acquisition by Gambrinus, Pete’s Wicked Ale struggled in the market place. Perhaps that was because Gambrinus changed the recipe to make the beer lighter. Or perhaps it was because the beer no longer had its charismatic spokesperson to promote it in the marketplace.

I feel both honored and humbled to have met Pete Slosberg, and to have engaged in a couple of one-on-one conversations during the two-and-a-half day’s of the conference. He had an unassuming personality, was easy to chat with, and, within a few seconds of meeting him, he put you completely at ease. As someone who is interested in the history of craft brewing in the United States, it was a huge privilege to meet and spend some time with one of the industry’s early trailblazers. As a craft beer drinker, the debt of gratitude that I Pete Slosberg, and others like him, is both huge and significant.

History, Neighborhoods

From Mills to Breweries: Charlotte’s NoDa Neighborhood

November 8, 2019 The Beer Professor Leave a comment

I was in Charlotte, NC recently. I was there to attend the 42nd annual Applied Geography Conference. As is customary in my conference travels, I used any spare time I had to explore the local craft beer scene. This was my third visit to Charlotte, since 2012, so I actually was quite familiar with the growth of the city’s craft beer sector. During my last visit in 2016, I had visited three Charlotte breweries (Birdsong Brewing Company, The Unknown Brewing Company, and Heist Brewery) as part of a Charlotte Brews Cruise tour. Charlotte has also been one of my case study cities for my academic work on America’s burgeoning craft brewing industry. With my colleague Isabelle Nilsson of the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, we examined the impact of craft breweries on property values. Our research showed that being within one-half mile of a craft brewery increased the value of single-family homes by 9.3%. In another piece we examined the role that craft breweries have played in the revitalization of Charlotte’s historic NoDa neighborhood.

NoDa is a fascinating neighborhood, with historical ties to North Carolina’s textile industry. Production of textiles began in North Charlotte (as NoDa was known then) in 1903 with the opening of Highland Park Mill No. 3. Two other mills were subsequently opened in the neighborhood- Mecklenburg Mill In 1905 and Johnson Mill In 1916. At that time, North Charlotte was geographically separated from the city of Charlotte, being located three miles north of the city.

In close proximity to the Highland Park and Mecklenburg mills were mill villages. These villages, constructed by mill owners, provided homes for the mill workers and their families. Mill villages had basic services such as a school and a church. At the nexus of the two mill villages was a commercial district, where services such as grocery stores, a barber’s shop, a drug store, etc. could be found.

By the mid-1960s, low-cost labor in developing economies in Asia and Latin America posed a serious threat to the American textile industry. Mills closed and employment dwindled. The impact of this overseas competition was felt in and around the Charlotte region, The Highland Park Mill No. 3 and the Mecklenburg Mill closed in 1969, while the Johnson Mill closed in 1975. The closing of the mills signaled tough times for North Charlotte. People left the neighborhood, seeking employment elsewhere and abandoned homes fell into a state of disrepair. Poverty, crime, low-income housing, drug houses and prostitution came to characterize the neighborhood.

The revitalization of the neighborhood began in the 1980s, when two artists, Paul Sires and Ruth Ava Lyons, opened the Center of the Earth Gallery on North Davidson Street. Other artists quickly followed, and North Charlotte became a small, but thriving, arts community. The neighborhood still faced challenges, however, and remained rough around the edges. The Great Recession of 2007-2009 was not good to the neighborhood , which was now known as NoDa. The neighborhood survived, however, and today is home to a diversified range of businesses, including cafes, restaurants, bakeries, yoga studios, and breweries.

The first brewery to call NoDa home was NoDa Brewing Company, which opened its doors in October 2011. Today, the neighborhood is home to ten breweries. While in Charlotte, I had the opportunity to visit four of them Birdsong Brewing Co., Heist Brewery, Protagonist, and Wooden Robot Brewery. Of the four, Heist has the strongest connection to the neighborhood’s historic textile industry. It is, in fact, located in the old Highland Park Mill. Inside the brewery, their is a framed description of the mill’s history.

Heist Brewery is located in the historic Highland Park Mill

The history of Highland Park Mill is displayed in Heist Brewery

Visible from Heist Brewery are a number of the single-Storey homes once occupied by mill families. Some of these have been restored by local residents. The mill homes are protected by protective easements, a legal document signed by both the homeowner and Preservation North Carolina, which prevent homeowners from making changes that compromise the home’s historical integrity. As recently as 2015, NoDa’s refurbished mill homes were selling for anywhere between the high $200,000 and the mid $400,000.

An old mill worker’s home in Charlotte’s NoDa neighborhood. This home is visible from Heist Brewery.

Charlotte has a vibrant craft beer scene. As is the case in many cities I have visited, craft beer has a habit of connecting the beer drinker with a community’s history. To a large extent, this is due to the fact that many craft breweries, in search of inexpensive real estate, occupy older abandoned buildings in historically interesting neighborhoods. Thanks to my wonderful hosts, Isabelle Nilsson and her husband Jeff, I had the opportunity to experience the NoDa neighborhood, complete with its wonderful craft breweries and fascinating history.

Signs of the Times

September 21, 2019 The Beer Professor Leave a comment

My wife and I visit Cincinnati, OH several times throughout the year. Our oldest daughter lives there, so we take every opportunity we can to spend time with her. Plus, we both really like Cincinnati. It is an interesting and vibrant city. For me, it holds some special memories. It was the first large American city I ever visited. I arrived in the United States in 1985, to attend graduate school at Miami University in Oxford, OH. To get from Oxford to Cincinnati is about a fifty minute drive, so it became a favorite destination during my two years at Miami.

Every time my wife and I visit Cincinnati it is usually for a couple of days, which gives us enough time to visit a museum or park or some other attraction that we had never visited before. On our most recent trip, we made a visit to the American Sign Museum (AMS). According to its website, the AMS is the “largest public museum dedicated to signs in the United States”. The 20,000 square feet museum has over two hundred items on display, the vast majority of which are neon signs. The signs date from the late nineteenth century up thru the 1970s. As you might imagine the signs for a plethora of businesses and products – drugs, paint, gasoline, restaurants, bars etc. Some of the signs catch the eye more than others. A 1963 McDonald’s sign is particularly eye-catching. It features Speedee, a character who was eventually phased out in favor of Ronald McDonald. Another classic piece of Americana on display at the AMS is a Big Boy statue, which dates from the 1960s.

The McDonald’s sign on display at the American Sign Museum

Not surprisingly, there are also a number of beer signs. So I thought I’d use the remainder of this blog entry to look at some of the brewery/beer signs and tell the story behind them.

Sunshine Beer: Sunshine Beer was one of the beers brewed by the Sunshine Brewing Company of Reading, PA. The brewery, opened in 1880, was owned by Peter Barbey & Son. Colloquially, the beer was known as Sunny. Some old television commercials advertising Sunny can be viewed here. Sunshine Brewery closed in 1968 and the building was demolished during the 1970s. A video of the brewery being demolished can be found here.

Kaier’s Beer: Kaier’s Beer was brewed by the Chas. D. Kaier Brewery of Mahanoy City, PA. Kaier was a German immigrant, arriving in the United States at the age of nineteen in 1857. He opened the brewery opened in 1880. Kaier was quite the entrepreneur. In addition to the brewery, he owned forty taverns, an ice company, an opera house, a hotel, and a host of other business in Mahanoy City. During Prohibition, the brewery remained operational by producing both legal (no greater than 0.5% alcohol by weight) and illegal beer (3.2% alcohol by weight). The illegal beer was transferred by a pipeline down the Mahanoy Creek to a barn on the city’s Vine Street where it was put into kegs. The brewery had ‘spotters’ stationed on all roads leading into Mahanoy, who would inform the brewery when Federal agents entered town. Keg filling operations were then temporarily suspended. By 1951, Kaier’s was one of the largest breweries in Pennsylvania, producing 183,500 barrels of beer. In 1966, the brewery was sold to Henry F. Ortlieb Brewing Co. of Philadelphia, who closed the brewery in 1968.

Seitz Beer and Ale: Seitz was a brewery in Easton, PA. Opened by Frederick Seitz in 1821, it was the town’s first brewery. At its peak in 1933, the brewery employed seventy people and produced 70,000 barrels of beer. In 1874 Seitz built a bottling plant, allowing the brewery to become the first brewery in Pennsylvania to sell beer in bottles. To keep the doors open during Prohibition, Seitz produced a non-alcoholic brew called ‘cereal beverage’. At the same time, Seitz was pumping beer by a hose under the Delaware River to neighboring New Jersey. New Jersey had not ratified the eighteenth amendment banning alcohol. As a result the Federal ban on alcohol was not as severely enforced in the state. Similar to the Kaier Brewery in Pennsylvania, Seitz were tipped off when Federal agents were about to show up. Seitz eventually closed for business in 1938.

Broadway Brewery: Broadway Brewery started out its life as San Francisco Brewery in 1853. The founder and owner, Jacob Frederick Sprecht, was a German immigrant. By 1862, the brewery was under new ownership and was renamed Broadway Brewery. The name reflected the brewery’s location on Broadway Street. In 1893 the brewery was destroyed by a fire. By August of that year a new brewery had been built and was up and running. Although the name was retained, the new brewery was located on 19th Street. By 1899, the brewery was producing twenty thousand barrels annually. It had fifteen employees and eight horse-drawn beer wagons, which delivered beer to San Francisco saloons. On January 17, 1917, the Broadway Brewery became part of the California Brewing Association (CBA). CBA was a co-operative designed to give member breweries greater buyer and selling power. By the end of the year, however, the Broadway Brewery was closed.

Ballantine Beer: Ballantine Beer was brewed by P. Ballantine and Sons Brewing Company, founded in Newark, NJ in 1840. Its founder, Peter Ballantine, was a Scottish immigrant. At its peak, during the 1940s and 1950s, it was the third largest brewing company in the United States. Its popularity during this period was helped by the fact that Ballantine was the first television sponsor of the New York Yankees. Starting in the mid-1960s, due to competitive pressure, Ballantine entered into a period of decline, from which they would not recover. In 1972, Falstaff Brewing Corporation purchased Ballantine. The new owners closed the Ballantine brewery in Newark, choosing to brew Ballantine’s various beers elsewhere. In 1985 Falstaff was purchased by the Pabst Brewing Company. Over time Falstaff and Pabst modified the recipes of the various Ballantine beers. A number of Ballantine beers are brewed today, including the Ballantine IPA. The Ballantine neon sign on display at the American Sign Museum is in its original crate. As the label on the top right hand corner of the crate indicates, the sign was manufactured by Adversigns Inc. of Berwick, PA in the 1950s, and was shipped to the Penn-Sheraton Hotel (now the Omni William Penn Hotel) in Pittsburgh, PA

Sign at the American Sign Museum explaining the history of the Ballantine beer sign

These are just some of the beers signs on display at the American Sign Museum. There are others, of course, including signs for Heilman’s Old Style Lager, Hudepohl Beer, and Schoenling Beer. These signs are an important piece of American brewing history. It is great to see that they have survived the decades and, thanks to the American Sign Museum, are here for the general public to enjoy.

History, Ohio

Carillon: Honoring the Past

July 3, 2019 The Beer Professor Leave a comment

A few weeks ago, my wife and I were planning an overnight trip to just north of Cincinnati, OH. We were going there to celebrate a friend’s birthday. The drive would be approximately three hours. And given that we’re planning to leave mid-morning we decided to look for a possible lunch venue along our route. Anytime we are on the road and have a lunch stop, I always try to see if there is a brewery where we can eat and have a beer. We figured we would be near Dayton, OH around lunchtime, and so I looked for breweries there. In my search I came across Carillon Brewing Co. I had read about Carillon a few years ago and had always had an interest in visiting it.

Carillon Brewing Co. is a little different than most craft breweries. It is located inside Carillon Historical Park. The park is a sixty-five acre open-air history museum that depicts the history of Dayton from the late-1700s to the present.

Carillon Brewing Co. was established in 2014. One of the brewery’s claim to fame is that it is the nation’s only production brewery that is located inside a museum. Inside the brewery itself, there are displays highlighting Dayton’s brewing history. Like many other city’s across the United States, British-inspired ales were the dominant type of beer produced. When German immigrants started arriving in significant numbers in the 1840s, they introduced Lager to the city. By the 1880s there were as many as fourteen breweries operating in the city, and by 1900 Dayton’s breweries were producing three million gallons of beer annually.

This map inside Carillon Brewery provides information on Dayton’s brewing history in the 1850-1856 period

According to the brewery’s website, all of the beer brewed at Carillon is a “historical recreation of the earliest brews made in Ohio’s breweries.” Many of the processes used to brew the beer replicate those of the nineteenth century. Beer is brewed in open kettles, fermented in oak barrels, and is unfiltered. And when available , Ohio-grown hops are used. Beers on the menu include Coriander Ale, Irish Red Ale, and Pale Rye Ale (no IPAs!). The staff at the brewery are dressed in period costume. With my lunch, I opted for their Ginger Pale Ale. In addition to brewing beer, bread using spent grain from the brewing process is made daily onsite. My wife and I enjoyed some with the soup we had for lunch, and purchased a loaf to take back home with us.

For $150, Carillon offers you the opportunity to be a brewer for the day. It is quite a long day, which starts at 11:00 am and runs until 7:30 pm. While we can read about the process of brewing beer, and even look at diagrams that identify the various steps, it is my belief that there is nothing like a little bit of hands-on experience to enhance one’s understanding.

While craft beer has bought us a unprecedented diversity of wonderful beers (The Brewers Association recognizes over 150 different styles of beer), it has, I believe, also contributed to a growing appreciation of brewing history. This is manifest in any number of ways. In my town of Toledo, OH, for example, the Toledo Historical Museum organize a History and Hops Brewery Tour, in which participants learn about the city’s brewing history. The tour starts at one of the city’s craft breweries – Maumee Bay Brewing Company. In a similar fashion, the Over-the-Rhine Brewery District Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation (BDCURC) in CincinnatI, OH offer a number of walking tours that recount that neighborhood’s historical connection with beer. In St. Louis, MO, the Bellefontaine Cemetery and Arboretum offer the Beer Barons Tour. The cemetery contains around forty burial sites that have a connection with St. Louis’s rich brewing history. The tour provides people with an opportunity to learn about the city’s beer entrepreneurs.

Individual breweries are discovering and recreating old beer styles that have not been brewed in decades. For example, breweries in Louisville, KY are brewing their version of pre-Prohibition Kentucky Common beer. The city’s Apocalypse Brew Works produce a Kentucky Common beer using a 1912 recipe from the Oertel Brewing Company; a recipe that calls for corn grits.

Kentucky Common – a beer style that was popular in the Louiseville, KY region in the pre-Prohibition era is now being produced by a number of Louisville breweries. The one pictured here was brewed by Louisville’s Bluegrass Brewing Company.

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Milton, DE have an Ancient Ales series, whose recipes are based on residue discovered on chemical analysis of drinking vessels from various sites around the world. They do this in partnership with University of Pennsylvania archaeologist, Dr. Patrick McGovern. The result has been beers with evocative names such as Midas Touch, Chateau Jiahu, and Birra Etrusca Bronze.

History is important. It grounds us in our roots, helps us understand change, and can inspire us to learn more. And thanks, in part to craft beer, there seems to be a growing interest in the history of both beer and brewing. This is a good thing.

TheBeerProfessor