Today is the 51st birthday of Drew Beechum, who’s a past president of the Maltose Falcons homebrewing club and its current webmeister. He’s also the author of The Everything Homebrewing Book: All you need to brew the best beer at home! and wrote a regular column for Beer Advocate magazine. Join me in wishing Drew a very happy birthday.
Today would have been the 65th birthday of Des de Moor, who was a London-based freelance beer writer who passed away in March of this year. I honestly can’t recall exactly when we met, but we’d been judging together at beer competitions and attending other beer events around the world for a number of years, and Des was great fun to share a pint with. He was also the author of the CAMRA Guide to London’s Best Beer Pubs & Bars. Join me in drinking a toast to Des de Moor tonight with your favorite English ale.
Today is the 56th birthday of Brenden Dobel, who until recently was the head brewer at Thirsty Bear in San Francisco, but then briefly at 21st Amendment, before moving over to Almanac on Alameda. Brenden grew up in the Bay Area, but learned brewing in Bavaria, at Doemans. He also brewed at Reccow and Broken Drum, before coming to Thirsty Bear over ten years ago. Brenden’s a terrific guy to share a pint with and discuss arcane subjects like history or English literature. If he hadn’t found brewing, he most likely would have ended up a teacher, or perhaps a sailor. Please join me in wishing Brenden a very happy birthday.
Today is the birthday of Henry Becker (April 19, 1851-April 20, 1906). He was born in Bavaria, and emigrated to the U.S. when he was 21, coming first to New Orleans, and two years later settling in Terre Haute, Indiana. At some point, he became involved with the Seventh Street Brewery, which had been founded in 1848 (although another source seems to dispute that believing they are unrelated and that Becker’s was founded independently in the 1870s, which actually makes some sense to me). Its name was changed to the Terre Haute Weiss Beer Brewery in 1898 (if related to Seventh Street), but after Becker’s death in 1906, his son took it over, renaming it the Henry J. Becker Brewery. Becker’s son then sold it two years later, in 1908. The buyer, Charles J. Graf, closed it for the good the same year.
There’s very little information I could find on Becker or his brewery. It appears to have been very small, with capacity below 500 bbl, making it something of a proto-nano in its day. I could also not find any photos of Becker or the brewery and no breweriana whatsoever, aprt from the bottle below, which must be from between 1906-09. One unusual fact I did find is that they brewed a Berliner Weiss.
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.
Saturday’s ad is for Broadway Brewing Bock Beer, which was published on April 18, 1905. This ad was for the Broadway Brewing & Malting Co., of Buffalo, New York and was founded by Albert Albrecht in 1852. This ad ran in The Buffalo Evening News, also of Buffalo, New York.
Today would have been the 52nd birthday of New Zealand beer writer Neil Miller. He wrote regularly for Beer and Brewer magazine, the beer blog at Real Beer NZ and the Malthouse Blog. Though born in Scotland — Broxburn — he made Wellington his home. I met Neil when he was visiting the states with Luke Nicholas and other New Zealand beer aficionados for the Craft Brewers Conferences in 2009. They came over early to tour the west coast before CBC began in San Diego that year. We met up at my local brewpub, Moylan’s, and Neil hilariously tells a story about that meeting that I was completely unaware of at the time. Thanks to the series of tubes known as the internet, we’ve managed to keep in touch since then. Unfortunately, Neil passed away June 1, 2021. Join me in drinking a toast to Neil tonight.
[Note: Photos Purloined from Facebook.]
Today is beer blogger extraordinaire Alan McLeod’s 64th birthday. Alan runs a good beer blog, called — curiously enough — A Better Beer Blog, which replaced his earlier “A Good Beer Blog.” I’m not sure what came first, the goodness or the blog. Anyway, though I’ve yet to meet Alan in person I feel as if he’s already a great, not just good, friend through our many conversations via e-mail and commenting on one another’s blogs. If you haven’t read his essay in the book Beer & Philosophy yet, rush right out and buy yourself a copy. He also published The Unbearable Nonsense of Craft Beer, with Max Bahnson, available as a Kindle single on Amazon, and a few years back co-wrote both Upper Hudson Valley Beer and Ontario Beer: A Heady History of Brewing from the Great Lakes to Hudson Bay. Join me in wishing Alan the very merriest of birthdays. Cheers, mate.
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.
Friday’s first ad is for Pittsburgh Bock Beer, which was published on April 17, 1906. This ad was for for the Pittsburgh Brewing Co., of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and was founded by Edward Frauenheim in 1861. This ad ran in The Pittsburgh Press, also of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I love the ad copy on this one. “The fabled ambrosia of the ancients never slacked [did they mean slaked?] any man’s thirst except in the imagination.”
Today is the birthday of William O. Poth (April 17, 1876-March 9, 1901). He was the son of Frederick J. Poth and the older brother of Harry A. Poth. In 1870, his grandfather founded the Fred A. Poth Brewery, which by 1875 was the largest brewery in the U.S. His brother Harry was the brewer, but it’s unclear what William’s role at the family brewery was. I could find very little about him, even his Find-a-Grave page doesn’t list the date of his death. But I did find it mentioned in the trade publication The Western Brewer from March 1906:
The Poth brewery, from an illustration done in the early 1890s.
I couldn’t find any photographs of him, which isn’t too surprising given I couldn’t find any of his father and only one of his brother, Frederick J. Poth. Sadly, I could find almost nothing else about him, either.
The Poth & Sons Brewery around 1900.
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 ad is for Harvard Bock Beer, which was published on April 16, 1912. This ad was for the Harvard Brewing Co. of Lowell, Massachusetts, which was originally founded in 1893 as Consumer’s Brewing Co. This ad ran in The Boston Evening Transcript, of Boston, Massachusetts.
