Today is the birthday of Anton Geiger (February 18, 1833-May 2, 1876). He was born in Nenningen, Germany, and emigrated to the U.S. when he was 21, in 1854. This account is from Tavern Trove: “He eventually settled in Iowa City, Iowa, where he met and married Clara Williams in around 1865.  Miss Williams was the daughter of Barbara Williams, a widow now rewed to Simeon Hotz. Hotz owned a brewery on Linn & Market streets and upon his stepdaughter’s marriage he brought his new son-in-law Geiger into the firm as junior partner.  Together they operated the brewery for eleven years.”

“Anton Geiger died on the 2nd of May, 1876 at just 43 years of age.  His father-in-law Simeon quit the brewery business for a time and leased the firm to his brewmaster. Despite the loss of the heir-apparent, the brewery continued in the family for another forty years, until finally being forced into the soft drink business by Iowa’s prohibition laws.  The company ultimately faded out of existence in 1933.”

And this is about the history of the brewery, published in the Iow City Press Citizen in 1978:

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.

Sunday’s first ad is for Robert Portner’s Bock Beer, which was published on February 15, 1896. This ad was for the Robert Portner Brewing Co., of Alexandria, Virginia, which was originally founded in 1862 by Edward Abner, Fred Recker, and, of course, Robert Portner. This ad ran in The Alexandria Gazette, also of Alexandria, Virginia.