Thursday’s ad is entitled Looking Over the Christmas Cards, and the illustration was done in 1953 by Douglass Crockwell. It’s #89 in a series entitled “Home Life in America,” also known as the Beer Belongs series of ads that the United States Brewers Foundation ran from 1945 to 1956. In this ad, a group of people at a holiday party have become so bored that they’ve started “Looking Over the Christmas Cards.” Luckily, as you can see in the mirror, the host has arrived with more beer. That should help, at least a little.
Archives for June 2016
Patent No. 2892472A: Filling System
Today in 1959, US Patent 2892472 A was issued, an invention of Rudolph H. Breeback, assigned to Crown Cork & Seal Co., for his “Filling System.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
Although the system of the present invention is described hereinafter as relating to the delivery of beer from Government tanks to filling machines in a brewery, it is within the scope of the present invention that other carbonated liquids, such as soft drinks, or the like, could be used with this system.
The system of the present invention basically requires a storage tank for the carbonated liquid and a filling machine with a reservoir therein for receiving the carbonated liquid from the storage tank for delivery to containers. The Government tanks used in breweries for brewing and aging beer are normally used as storage tanks for the filling machines, the beer in the Government tanks being transferred directly to the reservoir of the filling machines from which the beer is then flowed into containers. It is of course within the scope of the present invention that any tank which is used to supply the reservoir of a filling machine would be considered a storage tank, within the meaning of the appended claims.
Beer and other carbonated liquids must be handled gently throughout the filling operation, including the transfer from the storage tank to the filling machine. The entrained gases in a carbonated liquid have a’tendency to escape when the liquid is unnecessarily agitated. The foaming resulting from release of gases from the carbonated liquid causes inaccurate filling of containers, as well as loss of flavor of the beverage. Heretofore, beer has been transferred from the Government tank to the reservoir of the filling machine by utilizing differential pressure between the beer in the Government tank and the gas superposing the beer in the reservoir or by pumping beer into the reservoir dependent upon the level of beer in the reservoir. Such prior systems have required that the flow of beer between the Government tank and the reservoir of the filling machine be free due to carbonation, foaming results when beer is flowed. into the reservoir.
An object of the present invention is the provision of a filling system and method whereby beer is continuously flowed from a storage tank into the reservoir of a filling machine while containers are actually being filled, thereby eliminating surges and churning of the beer being flowed.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of a filling system and method wherein the beer is continuously flowed from a storage tank into the reservoir of the filling machine While the filling machine is in operation and filling containers, the flow of beer into the filling machine being stopped only when there is a substantial break in the feed of containers to the filling machine.
Still another object of the present invention is the provision of a filling system and method wherein the beer flow into a filling machine from a storage tank is continuous when the filling machine is filling containers, the continuous flow being varied in rate flow dependent upon level changes of the beer in the reservoir of the filling machine. By increasing the flow of beer .to the reservoir when the level of beer therein is low and by decreasing the flow of beer into the reservoir when the level of beer therein is high, a continuous flow of beer can be maintained while containers are being filled during the course of a working day and stopping and starting 0 the flow is substantially eliminated.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a system and method of supplying beer from a storage tank to a filling machine and then to a container, the influx of beer from the filling machines to the container varying the level of beer in the filling machine reservoir, the level of beer in the filling machine reservoir continuously controlling the rate of flow of beer from the storage tank thereto.
Patent No. 732682A: Beer Filter
Today in 1903, US Patent 2085186 A was issued, an invention of Jacob Frederic Wittemann, for his beer “Filter.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
My invention relates to improvements in filters or filtering-presses designed particularly for use in filtering beer and the like. In devices of this nature it is the general aim to provide as large a filtering-surface as possible, and this is usually done by multiplying Heretofore each element has generally consisted of several separate parts which must be assembled and also separately handled when it is desired to change the filter, as by substituting a fresh filtering mass and adding new elements.
The objects of the present invention are to produce a filter composed of interchangeable elements all the parts of each of which are combined in one fixed construction and to so construct these elements that when assembled the beer or other fluid to be filtered has ready ingress to and egress from the filter, while the air, water, or other foreign matter in the filter is readily discharged.
Beer In Ads #1957: Thanksgiving Day
Wednesday’s ad is entitled Thanksgiving Day, and the illustration was done in 1953 by Douglass Crockwell. It’s #88 in a series entitled “Home Life in America,” also known as the Beer Belongs series of ads that the United States Brewers Foundation ran from 1945 to 1956. In this ad, a Thanksgiving Day story unfolds in eleven separate illustrations, of which only four feature beer. It looks like a small gathering, with only a younger couple coming to the home of one of their parents, I presume. Greetings made, and food smelled, Dad gets beers from the icebox, which they all share, except for Mom who was busy getting the meal ready. Dad carves, and the womenfolk clean up, just as god intended. Then they all sit around and talk, probably about when there will be grandchildren.
Patent No. 2085186A: Beverage Cooling System
Today in 1937, US Patent 2085186 A was issued, an invention of Otto H. Eger, for his “Beverage Cooling System.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
This invention relates to cooling, and, more particularly, to a method of and apparatus for cooling beverages.
The general object of the invention is to provide an improved method of and apparatus for coolinga fiuid or beverage, particularly beer.
Another object of the invention is to use a cooling fiuid for cooling beer passing from a keg to a spigot, the cooling fluid then being used to cool bottles, cans or the like, positioned in a suitable receptacle.
A feature of the invention resides in cooling a cooling medium, passing the cooling medium through a jacket in heat exchange relation with the line through which beer is passed from a keg to a spigot, and then passing the cooling medium through a receptacle adapted to receive bottles or the like, and repeating the cycle.
Another feature of the invention resides in controlling the cooling of the cooling medium, responsive to variations in heat load on the system.
Lagunitas Announces Several Big Changes & New Ventures
Damn. Go big or go home, I guess. Tony Magee never does anything small … or halfway. Today Lagunitas Brewing announced a number of big changes and new ventures they’ve undertaken. Here’s the first part of the press release, laying out the general idea.
The Lagunitas Brewing Company of Petaluma CA is excited to announce that we are expanding the way we participate in some of the great communities that have helped us learn and grow as brewers. We believe that beer is the original social media and we know that the best way to connect with beer lovers is face to face, over a beer.
Today we are announcing a set of intense local alliances with very special local brewers whose work we admire and are proud to partner with. They are four completely different partnering situations and in concert we will learn from one another and help build our breweries together culturally and geographically.
We don’t live in a world of either/or, our world is both/and. Drawing from the best of the best to find new possibilities is the most thrilling way forward.
The why and how differs from one cultural region to another but the intention remains the same: Connect with, learn from and support our communities. “We expect to be surprised by the things that we encounter as we grow these relationships. This will be a big learning experience for us” says Tony Magee, Founder of Lagunitas.
And here they are, though I’ve re-ordered them in order of importance to me personally. Not exactly scientific, but hey, this is a personal blog, so there you have it. By far, the most surprising, though exciting one, is a joint venture with Brian Hunt and his Moonlight Brewing Co.
Moonlight Brewing Company (Santa Rosa, CA)
We’re thrilled to be entering into a joint venture with Moonlight Brewing Company. We will work alongside Brian and his people to expand the reach of a genuine national treasure. Moonlight opened in 1992, (the year before Lagunitas) at a time when the term “craft” didn’t even exist. Over the years, we’ve long enjoyed a great friendship with brewer/owner Brian Hunt and have huge respect for is people, the beers he brews and the reputation he has created. We’re looking forward to learning together and having a blast doing it.
Brian Hunt.
Independence Brewing Company (Austin, TX)
Lagunitas will combine resources with the great Independence Brewing of Austin TX to help them grow their brewing capacity and do more of what it is that they already do so well. Independence Brewing founders Amy and Rob Cartwright, along with their great people, will continue to lead their company and will help us deepen our own connection to Austin and the Lone Star State. We’re looking forward to learning from each other and sharing our local connections.
A Non-Profit Fund Raising Community Room #1 (NE Portland, OR)
On August 1st, Lagunitas will open the doors to our first Community Room, dedicated 100% to supporting non-profits with their fundraising efforts. The beer and the space will be completely donated to any bona fide Non-Profit organization so that they can focus on raising the funds they need to carry out their respective missions. A Lagunitas team and live music will be on-hand to ensure turnkey execution of the event and most importantly that all of their guests have a great time!
A 2nd Non-Profit Fund Raising Community Room (San Diego, CA)
Our 2nd Community Room will open January 2017. This space will also be made available exclusively to Non-Profit groups for fund raising.
A Lagunitas Taproom & Beer Sanctuary (Historic District Charleston, SC)
Lagunitas is under contract with the beautiful Southend Brewery and Smokehouse of Charleston, SC to convert the long time brewpub to a new Lagunitas Taproom and Beer Sanctuary in the heart of Old Charleston on famous East Bay Street. This turn-of-the-century landmark will be a cornerstone location for Lagunitas in the Southeast, offering small batch beers that are exclusive to the Charleston Taproom and brewed in the existing 10-barrel brewhouse. The Taproom also offers two different floors of event space which we will make available to local non-profits for their fundraising efforts. A Grand Opening party and more information to come in the near future.
Here, I’ll pick up with the remainder of the press release, giving more explanation.
This new thing for us represents our way forward into the brave new world of the brave new world of beer’s brave new world. I say brave thrice because it is exactly that; We don’t know exactly how this will unfold over time or what unforeseen paths forward it will reveal.
These new relationships will be learning experiences for all four of us. We all know that we love beer, we all know that we love brewing and the community that gathers around its fire. We all know that we all want to grow and make new connections. We know we all want to be productive and learn. We know we all want to earn a living and make a home for our employees who’ve put their chips down on the table alongside our own.
As we all learn and begin to grow together in this new paradigm I believe that we will find more partners in other parts of the country that we can also share with and cultivate regional relationships through. If we can get this first step right then it is just the beginning for all of us.
Lagunitas is the lead in the relationship because we gained adequate scale to be able to borrow the money it will take to be the lead and to help, but scale is not insight and money is not creativity. Insight and creativity are everything. They are the cornerstones of small brewing. That is the space where our four teams of brewers and marketers and managers are all standing eye to eye, playing together to try to make magic happen, and I for one am very sure it will. What form it will take will be ours to find out.
One thing is for certain, the future will not be like the past! Furthur….
Cheers all….!!
And, of course, Tony weighed in with his own take on the changes, though this was originally meant to preface the above information, but I wanted to lead with the news first.
Greetings Fellow Travelers,
Over the last 23 years of running-off the mash and filling the kettle we have come to understand that the new world of small brewing is less a ‘thing’ than it is a ‘journey’. A point on a curve. Jack Joyce, founder of Rogue Brewing in Newport, once said that we’re not in the beer business, we are in the ‘change business’. Ask any brewer older than 5 years and they will tell you that in 2010 small brewing was a whole other place. Ask one older than that and they will tell you the same about 2005, and 2000, and especially 1995. And so it is that 2020 will be unrecognizable to the brewers of 2016.
One thing that hasn’t changed though is the personal connection that beer lovers want with the people that make the beer they take into their bodies in the hope it will thrill their tastebuds as it enters their blood enroute to their brains to make it do tricks. This is pretty personal stuff and as brewers our job is to make that connection.
Last September we announced our own way of relating to the world outside of the United States through a joint venture with the last of the largest family-controlled (meet Charlene De Carvalho-Heineken..!) brewer in the world. Most U.S. beer lovers don’t know too much about the family and I really didn’t either until I began to meet them and understand them and their company and grew to love them as people and a company.
There is an old expression friends sometimes use when the go to lunch, ‘Let’s go Dutch’, meaning let’s split the bill. That expression, I’ve learned, comes from a place and a people. You haft’a wonder how it is that a small, mostly flooded, lowland country ever became a global colonial superpower? Most know that New York was once called New Amsterdam but most also don’t know that Brooklyn and Bronx and other local names are actually Dutch names too. The answer to the question is pretty straightforward: The went Dutch. The cooperated, collaborated, shared risk, partnered, co-invested and joint ventured. This is what we built with Heineken, we are pulling on the rope together.
I have seen that one way they achieved their own goals of growing Heineken was and is now to co-invest in local brewers around the globe, not to ‘consolidate’ or dominate or reduce competition, but to expand and nurture the opportunities to the benefit of themselves AND their partners. They do this with big brewers and with brewers far smaller than ourselves in all 24 time zones.
If one were to take a line drawing of a map of the borders of the 50 United States and lay that line drawing over the continent of, say, Europe, it would look a lot like, well, Europe. There’d be spaces the size of France and the UK inside of Nevada and Illinois and there’d be a Rhode Island like there is a Monaco and so on. In Europe nationalism matters and each country has historically meaningful brewers that are important to those individual countries. All over the world, beer is local. It’s gradually becoming more so here too. But Americans still like to think of us all as Americans and we have liked having 50-state nationally distributed brewers.
In the past, before and just after prohibition this wasn’t really so, but it became that way over time. Now it is going back the other way. Small brewing has played a role in re-igniting regional pride the way music and locally-sourced food is doing the same.
Having said all that, it’s no secret that the U.S. is a whole lot of places stitched together by a constitution, right? I mean, good people from Florida are very different from good people from South Dakota and Oregonians would never mistake themselves for Texans. Even Wisconsinites sometimes call Illinoisans ‘Flatlanders’ while some Minnesotans still think that grave-robbing is called date-night in North Dakota (it’s an old Johnny Carson joke….all apologies to North Dakota). There will always be nationally distributed brands and I sincerely hope that Lagunitas can continue to find a place in peoples hearts irrespective of geography by working to be something close to the bone, rooted to a fundamental human experience that actually does cross borders fluidly. But local matters, and will matter even more in the future.
This is very cool actually, because it means that if we can be genuinely local we can be part of the future. When we became genuinely local in Chicago we found lots and lots of new friends that we might not have by just shipping it in from the Left Coast. We’re already feeling the same vibe in Southern California even as we construct our new brewery there. It’s a great thing to be able to do. However we can’t do that everywhere. But….we can go Dutch everywhere, and that’s exactly what we are doing right here right now.
Patent No. 2322749A: Heating And Treating Wort
Today in 1943, US Patent 2322749 A was issued, an invention of John F. Silhavy, for his “Heating and Treating Wort.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
This invention relates to heating and boiling wort and more particularly relates to heating and boiling wort by using submerged combustion and passing hot products of combustion through the wort or passing gases through the wort while heating it.
Beer In Ads #1956: Vacationers’ Reunion
Tuesday’s ad is entitled Vacationers’ Reunion, and the illustration was done in 1953 by Douglass Crockwell. It’s #87 in a series entitled “Home Life in America,” also known as the Beer Belongs series of ads that the United States Brewers Foundation ran from 1945 to 1956. In this ad, apparently three couples who took a vacation together are watching a film of their trip. But the title of the ad is “Vacationers’ Reunion,” suggesting that they haven’t seen each other since their holiday. And that seems odd to me. If you’re close enough friends to go on vacation with another family, wouldn’t you think they’d continue to be in close contact after the trip, too? But maybe they needed time apart after spending so much time together. We never took any vacations when I was growing up with anyone else, though my real father and his new family did; they went caravaning with a number of the same families for two weeks every year and chose a new campground each time. Still, I tend to think of a vacation as a family affair.
Patent No. 763606A: Combined Brewing Kettle, Hop-Jack Tank And Cooker
Today in 1904, US Patent 763606 A was issued, an invention of Carl F. Hettinger, for his “Combined Brewing Kettle, Hop-Jack Tank and Cooker.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
My invention relates to brewing-kettles used in the preparation of malt liquors, and has for its object to provide a brewing kettle which may be converted alternately into a cooker or a hop-jack tank without interfering the preparation of malt liquors.
My improved apparatus or kettle being first used as a cooker, the ingredients are the mass is then conveyed into the usual mash is treated and supplemented in the mash-tub the brewing kettle is cleaned for the reception of the wort from the mash-tub. A hop strainer is then put into position in the kettle, so that after the wort has been boiled hops may be added to the wort in the kettle and the latter be used as a hop-jack tank, as will be hereinafter fully described.
The principal object of my invention is to provide one apparatus to serve the purposes and functions of three apparatus, with bet whereby not only a material saving in the cost of installation of a brewery is gained, but also the space occupied by such apparatus may be used for other purposes or the building may be made so much smaller.
My improved combined cooker, brewing kettle, and hop-jack tank consists of a vessel, an agitator therein, a removable telescoping hop-strainer, means for removing the same, a clean-out in the bottom of said vessel, and means for heating the latter; and my invention further consists of the improvements hereinafter more fully described, and pointed out in the claims.
Patent No. 3258288A: Can Carrier
Today in 1966, US Patent 3258288 A was issued, an invention of Lawrence L. Courter, for his “Can Carrier.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
My invention relates to devices for carrying containers and more particularly .relates to devices for grasping a plurality of the ordinary beaded-top type of can by their tops and thus enabling them to be transported in a group.
The uses of the invention may be particularly considered with respect to beer cans, although of course cans containing other commodities may equally well be picked up and carried by my carrier. A feature of present day merchandising of beer is that not only are cans used in place of bottles, but the cans are frequently sold in units of six cans, called picnic-packs or party-packs. These units are customarily put up in paperboard containers of egg-crate construction, having a bottom and four side walls and compartment dividers, and having two opposed walls continued upward and bent inwardly to form handles. Unfortunately such unit carriers do not stack particularly well, and being made of cardboard they can not sustain exposure to dampness such as might result from refrigeration by ice or ice-water. Furthermore their bulk when empty is the same as when full, and when discarded on beaches and picnic grounds they make an unnecessary and unsightly clutter.
It is an object of my invention to provide a carrier of flat configuration which will permit the so-called picnic packs .to be stacked one on top of another.
Another object of my invention is to provide a carrier which, when stacked, is substantially flat on its upper surface except only for centering rings for positioning cans in a superimposed layer.
A further object of my invention is to provide a carrier having hooks for lifting cans and flanges cooperating with the hooks to maintain the hooks in contact with the beaded rims of the cans.
Still another object of my invent-ion is to provide a carrier of limited flexibility, capable of being snapped on with a single pressure motion to a suitably grouped number of cans, and capable of releasing one can at a time as it may be called for.
Another object of my invention is to provide a carrier which covers the minimum area of cans carried thereby and none at all below the upper ends of the cans, so that the cans are practically fully exposed for rapid refrigeration, or advertising.
A further object of my invention is to provide a plastic carrier which may be used with cold water to refrigerate cans, and which yet contains so little material that it is economically practical.
Still another object of my invention is to provide a flexible carrier having a handle so constructed and so secured to the body of the carrier that it will normally lie in the plane of the body and yet may be lifted to a carrying position, due to flexibility of the material.