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Historic Beer Birthday: Conrad Windisch

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Today is the birthday of Conrad Windisch (March 26, 1825-July 2, 1887) who was a co-founder, along with Gottlieb Muhlhauser of the Windisch-Muhlhauser Brewing Co. of Cincinnati, Ohio, which was known as the “Lion Brewery.” He was originally a partner in the more famous Christian Moerlein Brewery, but in 1866 was bought out by Moerlein. During the same period, he also owned and ran the C. Windisch & Co. Brewery, located in the Covington, Kentucky, but it closed after just one year, in 1862. After leaving the Christian Moerlein Brewery, he partnered with Muhlhauser on the Lion Brewery, which remained open until prohibition.

Here’s a short biography from Find-a-Grave:

Brewer. A native of Germany, he was born in the village of Eggloffstein in Bavaria. At the age of 13, after an education in the common schools, he began to work full time for his father, Ulrich Windisch, at the family’s brewery and farm. During the German Revolution of 1848, he left his homeland and emigrated to America. Windisch first settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and worked for a brewer for a brief period of time before moving west to work at breweries in Belleville, Illinois, and St. Louis, Missouri. He eventually came to Cincinnati in 1850 and found similar work. Windisch worked for Koehler at the Buckeye Street Brewery for three years until he became a partner with Christian Moerlein in 1853. He also started his own brewery in 1862 and sold his interest to Moerlein in 1866 to devote his time to his own interests. With his brother-in-law, Gottlieb Muhlhauser, as well as Muhlhauser’s brother, Henry, the Muhlhauser-Windisch & Company was established. It was more commonly known as the Lion Brewery because of two stone carved lions atop each of the two gables at the entrance. The business soon became one of Cincinnati’s foremost brewers. They were among the first to introduce ice machines and was the city’s second largest during the 1880’s. In 1854, Windisch married Sophia Wilhelmina Kobmann, who was also from his native village and lived on an estate in present day Fairfield in Butler County, Ohio. He died at his residence in 1887 when he was 62 years old. The brewery continued with his son, William A. Windisch and later with another son, Charles Windisch and remained in operation until 1920 when Prohibition caused the doors to close.

conrad-windisch-brewery-letterhead

Their brewery became known as the “Lion Brewery” because of the two lions that rested atop the brewery’s gables and many of their beer names used a lion in the name and on the labels.

Lion-Brewery1

The History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio has a short history of the Windisch-Muhlhauser Brewing Company:

Lion-brewery-history

Paired Creation also has a history of the brewery.

Beer Birthday: Rudi Ghequire

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Today is the 67th birthday of Rudi Ghequire. Rudi’s been the general manager and brewmaster of Belgium’s Brouwerij Rodenbach, in Roeselare, West-Vlaanderen, since 1982. He’s been the face of Rodenbach as long as I can remember, even since Palm bought the brewery in 1998, Rudi’s been the face of the company. I’ve run into him at a few events over the year, and he gave us a tour during the Brussels Beer Challenge a couple of years ago. Join me in wishing Rudi a very happy birthday.

Giving our tour.
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Rudi at the Foeders.
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Outside the brewery.
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The Foeders at Rodenbach.

Beer In Ads #5186: Today’s The Day!

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Two years ago I decided to concentrate on Bock ads for awhile. Bock, of course, may have originated in Germany, in the town of Einbeck. Because many 19th century American breweries were founded by German immigrants, they offered a bock at certain times of the year, be it Spring, Easter, Lent, Christmas, or what have you. In a sense they were some of the first seasonal beers. “The style was later adopted in Bavaria by Munich brewers in the 17th century. Due to their Bavarian accent, citizens of Munich pronounced ‘Einbeck’ as ‘ein Bock’ (a billy goat), and thus the beer became known as ‘Bock.’ A goat often appears on bottle labels.” And presumably because they were special releases, many breweries went all out promoting them with beautiful artwork on posters and other advertising. With Spring approaching, there are so many great examples that I’m going to post two a day for a few months.

Thursday’s first ad is for Bock Beer at least twenty breweries located in Brooklyn, Union City, Stapleton, Newark, and New York itself (by which I assume they mean Manhattan but it’s not clear) which was published on March 26, 1934. This ad was for the Brewers Board of Trade, Inc. of New York, which appears to have been a local trade organization active from the 1930s through perhaps as late as 1960. They were celebrating the fact that this was the first Bock release in fourteen years, and the first one after prohibition was repealed. This ad ran in The Brooklyn Eagle, of Brooklyn, New York.

Beer In Ads #5185: Too Good To Last

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Two years ago I decided to concentrate on Bock ads for awhile. Bock, of course, may have originated in Germany, in the town of Einbeck. Because many 19th century American breweries were founded by German immigrants, they offered a bock at certain times of the year, be it Spring, Easter, Lent, Christmas, or what have you. In a sense they were some of the first seasonal beers. “The style was later adopted in Bavaria by Munich brewers in the 17th century. Due to their Bavarian accent, citizens of Munich pronounced ‘Einbeck’ as ‘ein Bock’ (a billy goat), and thus the beer became known as ‘Bock.’ A goat often appears on bottle labels.” And presumably because they were special releases, many breweries went all out promoting them with beautiful artwork on posters and other advertising. With Spring approaching, there are so many great examples that I’m going to post two a day for a few months.

Wednesday’s second ad is for Acme Bock Beer, which was published on March 25, 1936. This ad was for the Acme Brewing Co. of San Francisco, California, which was originally founded in 1907, though they also opened a location in the Los Angeles area. Today the brand is owned by North Coast Brewing. This ad ran in The Modesto Bee, of Modesto, California.

Beer In Ads #5184: It’s Here!

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Two years ago I decided to concentrate on Bock ads for awhile. Bock, of course, may have originated in Germany, in the town of Einbeck. Because many 19th century American breweries were founded by German immigrants, they offered a bock at certain times of the year, be it Spring, Easter, Lent, Christmas, or what have you. In a sense they were some of the first seasonal beers. “The style was later adopted in Bavaria by Munich brewers in the 17th century. Due to their Bavarian accent, citizens of Munich pronounced ‘Einbeck’ as ‘ein Bock’ (a billy goat), and thus the beer became known as ‘Bock.’ A goat often appears on bottle labels.” And presumably because they were special releases, many breweries went all out promoting them with beautiful artwork on posters and other advertising. With Spring approaching, there are so many great examples that I’m going to post two a day for a few months.

Wednesday’s first ad is for Utica Club Bock Beer, which was published on March 25, 1960. This one was for the West End Brewing Co., of Utica, New York, which today is known as the FX Matt Brewery or Saranac Brewing, but was originally founded in 1888 by F.X. Matt. This ad ran in The Post-Standard, of Syracuse, New York.

Beer In Ads #5183: Mt. Whitney Bock Beer Is The Tops …

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Two years ago I decided to concentrate on Bock ads for awhile. Bock, of course, may have originated in Germany, in the town of Einbeck. Because many 19th century American breweries were founded by German immigrants, they offered a bock at certain times of the year, be it Spring, Easter, Lent, Christmas, or what have you. In a sense they were some of the first seasonal beers. “The style was later adopted in Bavaria by Munich brewers in the 17th century. Due to their Bavarian accent, citizens of Munich pronounced ‘Einbeck’ as ‘ein Bock’ (a billy goat), and thus the beer became known as ‘Bock.’ A goat often appears on bottle labels.” And presumably because they were special releases, many breweries went all out promoting them with beautiful artwork on posters and other advertising. With Spring approaching, there are so many great examples that I’m going to post two a day for a few months.

Tuesday’s second ad is for Mt. Whitney Bock Beer, which was published on March 24, 1936. This one is for the Fresno Brewing Co., of Fresno, California, which was originally founded in 1900 by Ernst Eiler and his son. This ad ran in The Fresno Bee, also of Fresno, California.

Beer In Ads #5182: Spring’s Herald, Pfeiffer’s Bock Beer

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Two years ago I decided to concentrate on Bock ads for awhile. Bock, of course, may have originated in Germany, in the town of Einbeck. Because many 19th century American breweries were founded by German immigrants, they offered a bock at certain times of the year, be it Spring, Easter, Lent, Christmas, or what have you. In a sense they were some of the first seasonal beers. “The style was later adopted in Bavaria by Munich brewers in the 17th century. Due to their Bavarian accent, citizens of Munich pronounced ‘Einbeck’ as ‘ein Bock’ (a billy goat), and thus the beer became known as ‘Bock.’ A goat often appears on bottle labels.” And presumably because they were special releases, many breweries went all out promoting them with beautiful artwork on posters and other advertising. With Spring approaching, there are so many great examples that I’m going to post two a day for a few months.

Tuesday’s first ad is for Pfeiffer’s Bock Beer, which was published on March 24, 1915. This one is from the C. Pfeiffer Brewing Co., of Detroit, Michigan, which was originally founded in 1899 by Conrad Pfeiffer. This ad ran in The Detroit Free Press, also of Detroit, Michigan.

Historic Beer Birthday: John Christoph Wunder

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Today is the birthday of John Christoph Wunder (March 24, 1855-February 11, 1929). He was born in Streitberg, Germany, and emigrated to the U.S. in 1872, when he was 17, settling in Minneapolis Minnesota. Ten years later he became naturalized as a citizen. He worked as a liquor agent, and eventually opened his own saloon in 1887.

Here, Tavern Trove picks up the story:

In 1884 he was an agent for a liquor dealer in that city. By 1887 Wunder had his own saloon. In 1895 Wunder, along with Charles H. Sievers of Minneapolis, John G. Hinkle of St. Paul, William Bryler of St. Louis, and C. F. Kessler of San Diego together capitalized the San Diego Brewery of California. He left that partnership in 1898 to purchase the Bavarian Brewery in San Francisco, whereupon he renamed it the Wunder Brewery. He phased out its flagship Bavaria Lager Beer in favor of his own Wunder Beer. He continued to run the brewery until it was merged into the Union Brewery syndicate. The brewery closed in 1909 and Wunder retired in Germany.

Wunder brewery employees in 1894.

The Bavarian Brewery had been founded by Philip Frauenholz in 1852 at Vallejo & Green Streets in San Francisco, but later moved to Greenwich & Scott Streets. After buying the brewery in 1898, Wunder renamed it the Wunder Brewing Co. and it remained that until he closed in 1909. Somebody reopened it, sort of, under the name Wunder Beverages in 1930 at 830 Isabella Street and ran that until 1955.

Two years after retiring to Germany, Wunder passed away in December of 1928 when he was 73 years old. This short obituary is from the Oakland Tribune on December 20, 1928:

San Francisco, c. 1898.

Historic Beer Birthday: John Mannheim

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Today is the birthday of John Mannheim (March 24, 1822-1880). He was born in Kärlich, Germany, and emigrated to the U.S. atv least as early as 1849, since he married German-born Veronica Berg that year in Iowa. He first settled in Dubuque, Iowa, where he ran a hotel, then moved to Chatfield, Minnesota, where he had a variety store. At some point he began brewing because in the 1869 Minnesota census he was listed as a brewer, but ten years later, having moved to Glendale, Montana, the census listed him as a baker. In 1874, he founded the John Mannheim Brewery, which was also known as the Glendale Brewery.

The brewery c. 1885.

In 1877, he brought on a partner, Frank Gilig, who took over the brewery when Mannheim died in 1880, but it burned down in 1887.

One of the few ads I could find, from after Gilg took over the brewery.
Another 1885 view of the brewery, this time in the background, on the left.

Beer In Ads #5181: “Handy” Guide To Better Bock

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Two years ago I decided to concentrate on Bock ads for awhile. Bock, of course, may have originated in Germany, in the town of Einbeck. Because many 19th century American breweries were founded by German immigrants, they offered a bock at certain times of the year, be it Spring, Easter, Lent, Christmas, or what have you. In a sense they were some of the first seasonal beers. “The style was later adopted in Bavaria by Munich brewers in the 17th century. Due to their Bavarian accent, citizens of Munich pronounced ‘Einbeck’ as ‘ein Bock’ (a billy goat), and thus the beer became known as ‘Bock.’ A goat often appears on bottle labels.” And presumably because they were special releases, many breweries went all out promoting them with beautiful artwork on posters and other advertising. With Spring approaching, there are so many great examples that I’m going to post two a day for a few months.

Monday’s second ad is for Ballantine’s Bock Beer, which was published on March 23, 1939. This one is from the P. Ballantine & Sons Brewing Co., of Newark, New Jersey, which was originally founded in 1840.  This ad ran in The Press of Atlantic City, of Atlantic City, New Jersey.