Archives for July 16, 2021

Beer In Ads #3788: Old In Experience — New In Spirit

July 16, 2021 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Friday’s ad is for “Rainier Beer,” from 1933. This ad was made for the Seattle Brewing & Malting Co., who made Rainier Beer, and was later known as the Rainier Brewing Company of Seattle, Washington. This one is from just after the end of prohibition, and uses the tagline “A Nationally Famous Beer Since 1878.” The ad shows a worker and a man with a pipe in a suit sharing a beer at what looks like a construction site. The ad also includes this curious text. “Rainier salutes the ‘New Deal’ — with the finest veer ever to bear its name.”

Historic Beer Birthday: William McEwan

July 16, 2021 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Today is the birthday of William McEwan (July 16, 1827-May 12, 1913). He was a Scottish politician and brewer. He founded the Fountain Brewery in 1856 (later known as McEwan’s), served as a member of parliament (MP) from 1886 to 1900.”

Here’s a short biography from the University of Glasgow:

William McEwan, the son of John McEwan, shipowner of Alloa, Scotland, was born in 1827. He served his apprenticeship with John Jeffrey, an Edinburgh brewer, and in 1856 he established his own business, the Fountain Brewery, in Fountainbridge in Edinburgh. He quickly established a large Scottish market and in the 1860s built up a successful colonial export trade. His sister married James Younger, an Alloa brewer, and one of their sons, William, joined his uncle’s business. When William McEwan entered politics in 1886, William Younger became the firm’s manager.

William McEwan & Co Ltd was registered in July 1889 as a limited liability company to acquire the business at a purchase price of GBP 408,000. The company acquired the trade and goodwill of Alexander Melvin & Co of the Boroughloch Brewery, Buccleuch Street, Edinburgh, in 1907. It merged with William Younger & Co Ltd, Abbey Brewery, Holyrood Road, Edinburgh, to form Scottish Brewers Ltd in 1931, and that company merged with Newcastle Breweries Ltd in 1960 to form Scottish & Newcastle Breweries Ltd. The Fountain Brewery was closed by S & N at the end of 2004.

The Right Honourable William McEwan (1827-1913), MP

Here’s an account of his early life from Wikipedia:

McEwan was born in Alloa, Scotland in 1827, the third child of ship-owner John McEwan and his wife Anne Jeffrey. His older sister Janet married James Younger head of his local family brewing business in 1850. He was educated at Alloa Academy. He worked for the Alloa Coal Company and merchants Patersons.

He worked in Glasgow for a commission agent and then as a bookkeeper for a spinning firm in Yorkshire.

From 1851 he received technical and management training from his uncles, John and David Jeffrey, proprietors of the Heriot brewery in Edinburgh. In 1856 he established the Fountain Brewery at Fountainbridge in Edinburgh with money from his mother and his uncle, Tom Jeffrey. After growing sales in Scotland, his nephew William Younger of Alloa began an apprenticeship with him and eventually became managing director. Exports were made to Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and India, with McEwan’s having 90% of sales in north-eastern England by the turn of the century. The brewery became part of Scottish & Newcastle.

William McEwan by Arthur Marx (photographer)

McEwan became a member of parliament for Edinburgh Central after the 1886 general election, representing the Liberal Party. He was returned unopposed in 1895 and continued to serve until 1900. He became a Privy Counsellor in 1907, but declined a title.

In Vanity Fair, 1902.

Historic Beer Birthday: Richard L. Yuengling, Sr.

July 16, 2021 By Jay Brooks 3 Comments

Today is the birthday of Richard L. Yuengling, Sr. (July 16, 1915-March 25, 1999). He was the great-grandson of David Yuengling, who founded America’s Oldest Brewery, Yuengling Brewing, which was founded in 1829 (as the Eagle Brewery) in Pottsville, Pennsylvania.

Here’s his obituary from the Pottsville Register:

Richard L. Yuengling Sr., 83, whose great-grandfather, David G., founded America’s Oldest Brewery in 1829, died Thursday evening at ManorCare Health Services, Pottsville, after an extended illness.

He was the fourth-generation owner of D.G. Yuengling & Son Inc. Brewery.

“He was a great person to work for,” said James P. Buehler, a 27-year employee recently elevated to brewmaster. “It’s a shame. He was a good man,” with a lot of friends, he added.

“On behalf of a mournful city, we extend our condolences to the Yuengling family,” Mayor Terence P. Reiley said.

Dick Sr. and brother F. Dohrman who preceded him in death took over management of the brewery when their father, Frank D., died at age 86.

Carol B. Johnson, whose husband, the Rev. Theodore T., was pastor of Trinity Episcopal Church in Pottsville from 1952 to 1975, has fond memories of Dick Sr., who used to attend church there.

“The Yuenglings were all a part of our life in Pottsville,” she said.

Dick Sr. and his brothers- and sisters-in-law were active and interested church members, she said from their home in a Northumberland retirement community.

He ran a good business, and was very kind and thoughtful to his mother, the late Augusta Roseberry Yuengling, she said. His father was the late Frank D.

Dick Sr. was more reticent than his son and daughter, Patricia H. Yuengling, who lives in LaMesa, Calif., she said.

During Dick Sr.’s tenure, in 1976, the brewery was recognized as “America’s Oldest,” and placed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated a state historic site; and in 1979, its 150th anniversary was celebrated.

In 1985, Dick Jr. bought the company from his father.

Dick Sr. was an asset to the city, Reiley said. “Mr. Yuengling clearly kept the strong family tradition going that the brewery currently enjoys.”

That success was built upon Dick Jr.’s predecessors, including his father, Reiley said.

Thinking back to his childhood, Reiley recalled Yuengling as pleasant and accommodating when St. Patrick’s Church set up its parish block party between Fourth and Fifth streets near the brewery.

Buehler said Yuengling was always ready for a party, and the first to tend the Rathskeller bar to share a beer, he said.

Born in Pottsville, July 16, 1915, he was formerly of 1322 Howard Ave., Pottsville.

He was a veteran of World War II, serving in the U.S. Army Air Corps as a staff sergeant with 1060th AAF Base Unit.

In addition to F. Dohrman, he was preceded in death by his wife of 56 years, the former Marjorie Hood, in 1997; two other brothers, David G. and Frederick G. Yuengling Sr.; a sister, Augusta Y. Ulmer.

In addition to Dick Jr. and Patricia, surviving are five grandchildren; several nieces and nephews; grandnieces and grandnephews.

Here’s what the Yuengling Wikipedia page has about Richard Sr.:

Richard L. Yuengling Sr. and F. Dohrman Yuengling succeeded Frank Yuengling after their father’s death in 1963.

Yuengling experienced an increase of sales after a renewed interest in history owing to the United States Bicentennial in 1976. Yuengling bought the rights to use the Mount Carbon (Bavarian Premium Beer) name and label when Mount Carbon Brewery went out of business in 1977. Yuengling initially brewed beer at Mount Carbon but eventually abandoned it. The dairy remained in business until 1985.

And this is his yearbook photo and entry from the Hill School from 1935. One curious fact is that some sources give his birth year as 1914 while others say 1915. But even his Find a Grave has photos of two separate gravestones showing differing birth years. One appears to be a military marker.