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Archives for October 29, 2022

Beer In Ads #4246: Miss Rheingold 1953 On The Mini-Cruiser

October 29, 2022 By Jay Brooks

Saturday’s ad is for “Rheingold Beer,” from 1953. 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. Miss Rheingold for 1953 was Mary Austin. I haven’t been able to find out very much about her, and there are some contradictions in what I did unearth. She was born in Flatbush, Brooklyn in 1921, and didn’t start modeling until she was thirty, in 1951. Before that, she worked at the National City Bank. According to a newspaper item in 1976, she married a Frank Fillen right after her Rheingold year and had seven kids, settling in Long Island. However, another more reputable account seems to suggest she married a Frances Xavier Killeen, but in 1950, before her stint as Miss Rheingold. But the seven kids part seems true. But then I also found her obituary when she passed in 2012, and she appears to have later married a Philip Holden Fett, also on Long Island. In this ad, from August, she’s on what she refers to as ”the newest thing in boats,” which is apparently called a mini-cruiser. I’m not terribly knowledgable about boats, but it looks a fairly standard pleasure boat, although it does come fully stocked with beer.

And below is the same ad in the half-page layout:

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

Historic Beer Birthday: Frederick Hinckel Sr.

October 29, 2022 By Jay Brooks

hinckel
Today is the birthday of Frederick Hinckel Sr. (October 29, 1832-October 29, 1881). He was born in Prussia (Germany) and along with Johann Andreas Schinnerer founded the Cataract Brewery (a.k.a. the F. Hinckel & A. Schinnerer) in 1852. “Its premises occupied half a city block, bounded by Swan Street, Myrtle and Park Avenues.” Twelve years later, in 1864, Hinckel owned the brewery outright, and changed its name to the Hickel Brewery, which remained its name until closing in 1920 (or 1922) due to prohibition.

fred-hinkle-sr

hinckel-brewery-letterhead

Here’s a biography of Hinckel from a “Bi-centennial History of Albany,” published in 1886:

fred-hinkel-sr-bio-1

hinckel-brewery-wagon
A Hinckel Brewery beer wagon.

Henkel-Brewery-1880-malthouse
Although the brewery closed in 1920 because of prohibition, and never reopened afterwards, the build was preserved and today is an apartment complex.

hinckel-ceramic-bottle

Filed Under: Birthdays, Breweries, Just For Fun Tagged With: History, New York

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