Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

  • Home
  • About
  • Editorial
  • Birthdays
  • Art & Beer

Socialize

  • Dribbble
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • GitHub
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Powered by Head Quarters Built on WordPress

Archives for July 2, 2022

Beer In Ads #4135: Miss Rheingold 1949 & Her Duck Decoy

July 2, 2022 By Jay Brooks

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-54.jpeg

Saturday’s ad is for “Rheingold Beer,” from 1949. This ad was made for the Rheingold Brewery, which was founded by the Liebmann family in 1883 in New York, New York. At its peak, it sold 35% of all the beer in New York state. In 1963, the family sold the brewery and in was shut down in 1976. In 1940, Philip Liebmann, great-grandson of the founder, Samuel Liebmann, started the “Miss Rheingold” pageant as the centerpiece of its marketing campaign. Beer drinkers voted each year on the young lady who would be featured as Miss Rheingold in advertisements. In the 1940s and 1950s in New York, “the selection of Miss Rheingold was as highly anticipated as the race for the White House.” The winning model was then featured in at least twelve monthly advertisements for the brewery, beginning in 1940 and ending in 1965. Beginning in 1941, the selection of next year’s Miss Rheingold was instituted and became wildly popular in the New York Area. Pat McElroy was Miss Rheingold 1949. She was born Patricia Ann McElroy in Victoria, Texas, in 1928, but grew up in Austin. At some point she moved to New York and became a model. After being elected Miss Rheingold, in February of 1949 she married Cliff Lozell, an art director with the prestigious ad agency Young & Rubicom, and the couple later retired to Florida. Pat McElroy Lozell passed away in 2005. In this ad, from late October, she’s out in the marsh doing some duck hunting with her trusty pointer, a shotgun and a duck decoy, which is apparently a great lure for even the smartest ducks. But here’s where the copywriters earn their pay. She goes on to explain that “nothing can lure New Yorkers away from the one and only Extra Dry beer … Rheingold!”

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, History, Rheingold

Historic Beer Birthday: William F. Weber

July 2, 2022 By Jay Brooks

national-saginaw

Today is the birthday of William F. Weber (July 2, 1853-1909). He was born in Detroit, Michigan, but moved to Saginaw as a young man, marrying Bertha Raquet, whose father Peter Raquet founded the P. & J. Raquet Brewery in 1870, renaming it the National Brewery a few years later. When his father-in-law died, Weber and two other sons-in-law continued to run the business. One was bought out, and when another one died, his wife, one of Raquet’s daughter’s, Emma, stepped in and she and William F. Weber soldiered on and the brewery remained in business until 1941, when they switched back to soda (which they made during Prohibition) and continued making National Pop, at least until the 1980s.

National-brewery

This is his obituary, from the American Brewers’ Review:

weber-obit-1
national-sag-mich-button
weber-obit-2
National-brewery-1890s
The National Brewery in the 1890s.

This account of the brewery is from the Michigan Federation of Labor’s “Official Year Book” for 1906-07.

national-brewery-saginaw
Leader-beer
national-bottled-beer-tray-1930s

Filed Under: Birthdays, Breweries, Just For Fun Tagged With: Michigan

Historic Beer Birthday: John Fritsch

July 2, 2022 By Jay Brooks

pennsylvania

Today is not the birthday of John Fritsch (December 1827-July 2, 1906). Unfortunately, the exact date of his birth is not known, just the year. But we do know he passed away on July 2, 1906, so this is as good a day as any. He was born in Germany, but came to America, settling in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1846, when he was 19 years old. He became foreman of the Blaess & Burgman Brewery, and later married the boss’s daughter, Elizabeth Blaess. He thereafter opened his own brewery, John Fritsch Brewing, but when his son Emile joined him in the business, changed the name to the John Fritsch and Son Brewery. The brewery closed for good a year after his death, in 1907.

john-fritsch

Here’s his obituary from the Western Brewer and Journal of the Barley, Malt and Hop Trades:

john-fritsch-obit-1
john-fritsch-obit-2

I wasn’t able to find very much additional information about Fritsch or his brewery. He did, however, sue a newspaper editor for libel in Harrisburg. This short article is is from the Harrisburg Telegraph, from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on March 16, 1879:

john-fritsch-libel-1

Then two days later, the Harrisburg Telegraph for March 18, 1879 had this fuller report:

john-fritsch-libel

Filed Under: Birthdays, Just For Fun Tagged With: Germany, History, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

Find Something

Northern California Breweries

Please consider purchasing my latest book, California Breweries North, available from Amazon, or ask for it at your local bookstore.

Beer Bulletin Email

Enter your email address to receive daily digests:

Recent Comments

  • Susan Appel on Historic Beer Birthday: John Roehm
  • S. Pavelka on Beer Birthday: Rich Norgrove
  • Celebrating Texas History With Alamo Beer: An Iconic Taste Of The Lone Star State – SanctuaryBrewCo on Fictional Beer Brands
  • Neal Carey on Historic Beer Birthday: Anton Zahm
  • Experience The Taste Of Duff Beer: Limited-Edition Cans And Home Brewing Kits – SanctuaryBrewCo on Fictional Beer Brands

Recent Posts

  • Beer Birthday: Peter Catizone February 3, 2023
  • Historic Beer Birthday: Julius Stroh February 3, 2023
  • Beer In Ads #4340: Miss Rheingold 1955 Raising The Flags February 2, 2023
  • Historic Beer Birthday: Anton Schwarz February 2, 2023
  • Beer Birthday: Luke Nicholas February 2, 2023

Tag Cloud

Advertising Anheuser-Busch Announcements Bay Area Belgium Brewers Association Brewing Equipment Budweiser Business California Christmas Europe France Germany Guinness Health & Beer History Holidays Hops Humor Infographics Kegs Law Mainstream Coverage Miller Brewing Northern California Pabst Packaging Patent Pennsylvania Press Release Prohibitionists Rheingold San Francisco Schlitz Science Science of Brewing Sports Statistics The Netherlands UK Uncategorized United States Video Washington

The Sessions

session_logo_all_text_1500

Next Session: Dec. 7, 2018
#142: One More for the Road
Previous Sessions
  • #141: Future of Beer Blogging
  • #140: Pivo
  • #139: Beer & the Good Life
  • #138: The Good in Wood
  • #137: German Wheat
Archive, History & Hosting

Typology Tuesday

Typology-png
Next Typology:
On or Before March 29, 2016
#3: Irish-Style Dry Stout
Previous Typologies
  • #2: Bock Feb. 2016
  • #1: Barley Wine Jan. 2016
Archive & History

This month’s posts

July 2022
S M T W T F S
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31  
« Jun   Aug »

BBB Archives