Today is my friend Rod DeWitt’s 69th birthday. Rod was the Director of Plant Engineering & Process Control at Anderson Valley Brewing Co. in Boonville, but I think he’s most likely retired by now as I haven’t run into him for some time. Rod also played drums in the Rolling Boil Blues Band. Join me is wishing Rod a very happy birthday.
Rod and me at the Boonville Beer Festival in 2006.
At the Mammoth Lakes Bluesapalooza in 2007. From left: Marc Cohen, Rod, Tom Dalldorf, Bruce Joseph and Ken Hickmott.
Rod DeWitt, on the roof showing me the view depicted on every bottle of Anderson Valley Brewing during a private tour in May of 2006.
Today is the birthday of Julius Deglow (August 1823-August 4, 1885). He was born in Germany sometime in August, though the exact date is unknown, but since we know he died on August 4, that’s as good a date as any. He moved to Covington, Kentucky as a young man. In 1866, he founded what would become the Bavarian Brewing Co. Although ownership would pass to others, the brewery remained in business in some form until 1966.
This obituary of Deglow is from the Kentucky State Journal in Newport:
The many friends of Mr. Julius H. Deglow, the prominent tanner of Covington, will regret to learn of his rather sudden death Tuesday at about 1:30 o’clock. The deaths of Mr. Deglow and his wife are of a peculiarly sad nature. About three months ago they went to Germany to be cured of an illness, but not meeting with success, Mrs. Deglow came home to spend her last days. In a few days after her arrival she died. A telegram was sent Mr. Deglow in Germany, but he never received it, and he knew nothing of his wife’s death until he arrived in Cincinnati on Monday night. This sad news so affected him that he, too, died at his country residence on the Lexington pike about an hour after his arrival and taking his bed.
The Wikipedia page for the Bavarian Brewing Co. mentions Deglow, of course, since he founded the brewery, though how long he remained as an owner is unclear.
After the brewery was established as DeGlow & Co., new ownership interests within just a couple of years resulted in several change to its name beginning in 1868, including DeGlow, Best & Renner. However, in 1873, it was established as the Bavarian Brewery Co. Over the next several years the brewery operated under this name, but ownership interests varied. John Meyer obtained controlling interest and the brewery operated under his name for a short time, starting in 1879. Then in 1882, a German immigrant named William Riedlin, who established a saloon and beer hall called Tivoli Hall in the Over The Rhine area of Cincinnati, entered into partnership with John Meyer. It operated as the Meyer-Riedlin Brewery before Riedlin purchased controlling interest in the brewery from Meyer, incorporated the business under its former name and became president in 1889.
The Kenton County Public Library also has a history of the Bavarian Brewery, and again Deglow figured only very briefly in the first paragraph.
Bavarian Brewery can be traced back to the year 1866 when Julius Deglow and Charles L. Best began operating a small brewery on Pike Street in Lewisburg. In 1869, the brewery officially became known as Bavarian. William Riedlin and John Meyer were the next owners of the brewery. They purchased Bavarian in 1882. Seven years later, Riedlin became the sole owner. Anton Ruh was hired as the brew master.
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.
Monday’s ad was created for another in the series of Heute Bock works, which was published around 1890 to 1900. Heute in German means “today” and humorously Google translates the full text as “Today I’m Crazy.” This poster was made for an unspecified German brewery since in 1880 Alsace was part of Germany. The chromolithograph is marked as “403” and one source states the artist was a C. Burckardt and it was created or printed in Wissembourg, a town that today is part of France, but from 1871 to 1919 belonged to Germany. According to the British Museum, Burckardt was a “Lithographic printer and publisher based in Weissenburg; often lettered on prints as ‘C Burckardt’s Nachf.’ (‘Successor of C Burckardt’); succeeded by Rudolph Ackermann at an unknown date.” That information is consistent with all of the recent Heute Bock posters I’ve featured, so I suspect they were all done by the same printing house.
Today is the birthday of Emanuel Bernheimer (August 3, 1817-March 26, 1890). He was born in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, and apprenticed as a brewer in Germany, coming to New York City when he was 27, in 1844. With a partner, August Schmid, in 1850, he founded the Constanz Brewery on East 4th Street near Avenue B, and a couple of years later, with a different partner, James Speyers, he started the Lion Brewery on Columbus Ave, between 107th and 108th Streets in Manhattan, next door to the beer garden at the Lion Park, and indeed it is sometimes referred to as the Lion Park Brewery. The business was reorganized in 1868, and his old business partner August Schmid also became a partner in the Lion Brewery, and by 1890 its official name was the Bernheimer & Schmid Brewery, though they continued to trade under the Lion Brewery name. In 1895, it was the sixth-largest brewery in the U.S. After 1903, it was called the Lion Brewery of New York, presumably to avoid confusion with the many other breweries with Lion in their name. Lion survived prohibition but closed for good in 1942.
Here’s a biography of Bernheimer from Find-a-Grave, originally from the New York Times, for March 29, 1890:
Emanuel Bernheimer, one of the owners of the Lion Brewery and one of the oldest brewers in this part of the country, died at his home, 351 West Fifty-fifth street, on Thursday, from complaints incident to his advanced age. He had not been in good health for several years, and for some months was unable, save rarely, to leave his house. The funeral will be held at his home to-morrow at 9:30 A.M., the Rev. Dr. Gottheil officiating. The burial will be in the Salem Field Cemetery, the Rev. Dr. Silverman leading the services at the grave. Mr. Bernheimer was born in Germany in 1817, and served an apprenticeship of some years in a brewery in his native country before he came to this city in 1844. When he arrived here it was with some capital, and he engaged in the general importing business in Beaver-street. In 1850 he formed a partnership with August Schmid, and, recognizing the possibilities of brewing in this city, established the Constanz Brewery in East Fourth-street. This was one of the first breweries started here, and it was successful beyond the hopes of the partners. Hundred and Eighth-street, which, with its additions of a big garden and a park for picnics, soon became quite famous, parties being made up in all parts of the city to take the then long trip to Lion Park for an evening’s enjoyment. Mr. Bernheimer began the extensive and elaborate system of advertising which is now a characteristic of the trade, and was the first to establish beer saloons of his own in various parts of the city, gradually disposing of them to their lessees, much the same as is done at present. Under the firm name of Speyer & Bernheimer he continued the business for several years. About 1868 the firm was reorganized by the admission of August Schmid, and a year or so later it was changed into Schmid & Bernheimer by the admission of Joseph Schmid. In 1878 Mr. Bernheimer retired from active participation in the brewery business, his son, S. E. Bernheimer, succeeding him. The business was carried on under the name of Schmid & Bernheimer until Mr. August Schmid died in July, 1889. Then the firm was composed of Mr. Bernheimer’s three sons, S. E., Max E., and Henry Bernheimer. During the civil war Mr. Bernheimer was a liberal contributor to the various funds which were then established. He was a Democrat throughout his life, following his party in national affairs. In local politics he was disposed to be independent. He was one of the oldest members of the Temple Emanu-El, was an active participant in the work of the German Widows and Orphans’ Society, a patron of the Mount Sinai Hospital, the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, the German Hospital, and the Montefiore Home for Chronic Invalids. Besides his sons, he leaves one daughter. His wife died four years ago to-day.
And this account of Bernheimer is from the West Side Rag:
Emanuel Bernheimer was born in Germany in 1817 and served an apprenticeship there before coming to New York in 1844. He arrived “with some capital” and set up an importing business on Beaver Street. In 1850, he became a partner of August Schmid in the Constanz Brewery which is described as “successful beyond the hopes of the partners.” In all, at its height, the firm of Bernheimer and Schmid owned and operated five breweries, including the Lion, on Staten Island and in Manhattan.
Bernheimer’s genius seems to have been advertising. He began an elaborate system of marketing which was quickly adopted by his fellow brewers and he established “beer saloons of his own in various parts of the city, gradually disposing of them to their lessees,” not unlike the franchise system of today. The advertisement shown [here] is a perfect example of business savvy combined with some of the higher ideals of the day: “Kings and Emperors will gladly lay down their arms of warfare and drink to the health and happiness of all their peoples. The sun of that golden morn will soon rise and all nationalities will be found drinking our Pilsener and Wuerzberger – the beer of Surpassing quality and lasting flavor.” An image of 19th century paradise accompanied by a glass of Lion Brewery beer. Perfect.
Shortly after immigrating to the United States, Swiss-German August Schmid and Emanuel Bernheimer founded the Costanz Brewery at East 4th Street near Avenue B in 1850. The brewery produced a lagered beer, a favorite among German immigrants. By 1852, they built a second Costanz Brewery at Four Corners in Staten Island, home to a large German community. Five years later, Bernheimer became the partner of another German immigrant, James Speyers and founded the Lion Brewery in 1857 in Manhattan Valley.
A group of Catholic Bavarians helped build the Lion Brewery. When it was built, they held masses in the Brewery on Sunday mornings.
At its peak, the Lion Brewery occupied about six square city blocks, from Central Park West to Amsterdam Avenue and from 107th to 109th Street. At the time Manhattan’s Upper West Side was an open area with inexpensive land housing, many public institutions and an insane asylum. There were about five to ten thousand living in shanties after being displaced by the creation of Central Park in 1859. Consequently, with the brewery and surrounding areas, the Upper West Side failed to increase its real estate value until the early twentieth century.
In 1862, a $1 tax on each barrel of beer hurt small brewers but not Lion. The anti-saloon movement in the late 19th and early 20th century encouraged Lion to clean up its own saloons. Lion Brewery got caught up in a wave of mergers and closings among some of the smaller New York Brewers in the early 1940s which continued until 1941, when the business closed. The brewery (including the canning facilities) was auctioned off on August 26, 1943. The plant was demolished in 1944 and more than 3,000 tons of steel were taken from the original brewery structure and recycled for the war effort.
After the Brewery was knocked down the lot was paved over with cinders. On Sundays, after the war, returning World War II Veterans formed a Softball League and played almost every Sunday afternoon. Home plate was located near 107th street and Columbus Avenue. Today, apartment houses occupy the Lion brewery’s former location.
Around 1860, the brewery published a pamphlet titled “Observations on Brewing and Beer: With an Analysis and Scientific Testimony Relative to the Lager Beer of the Speyers’ Lion Brewery.” The pamphlet had a short history of the different kinds of beer, and an analysis showing that their lager beer was pure. The pamphlet also included some great line drawings of the brewery complex.
In 1850 recent Swiss German immigrants August Schmid and Emanuel Bernheimer founded the Costanz Brewery at East 4th Street near Avenue B. The brewery specialized in lagered beer, a favorites among their fellow immigrants. By 1852, their success encouraged them to build a second Costanz Brewery at Four Corners in Staten Island, then home to a large German immigrant community. Eight years later, Bernheimer became the partner of another German immigrant, James Speyers, in his Lion Brewery, established in 1857.
The Lion Brewery, depicted here, occupied a site bounded by what are now Central Park West and Amsterdam Avenue and extending from 107th to 109th Streets. The background view includes Central Park, with a glimpse of the Blockhouse, a relic from the War of 1812. (The Church of the Ascension is there now, built with the brewery’s help in the 1890s). During this period Manhattan’s Upper West Side was a relatively open area offering inexpensive land and it accommodated numerous public institutions including an insane asylum. Also clustered in the neighborhood were the shanty homes of between 5-10,000 thousand people displaced by the formal opening of Central Park in 1859. The combination of shanties, public institutions, and such foul-smelling industries as breweries explains why the Upper West Side failed to develop the real estate value of other areas bordering Central Park until the early twentieth century.
Late in the life of the Lion Brewery, it became involved in a number of mergers and acquisitions, eventually becoming The Greater New York Brewery, Inc.:
Lion brewing got caught up in a wave of mergers and closing among some of the smaller New York Brewers in the early 1940s. In late 1940, the Fidelio Brewing Co., located at 1st Ave. between 29th and 30th Streets., closed. However, on November 15, 1940, it reopened business as the Greater New York Brewery, Inc. In December 1940, the Greater New York Brewery merged with the Horton Pilsener Brewing Co., which was located at Amsterdam Ave. and 128th Street. Horton Brewing President Alex White became a director of Greater New York Brewery and they continued producing previous Horton products. In January 1941, the Greater New York Brewery merged with City Brewing Corporation of Queens. In February of 1941, Horton, as part of Greater New York Brewery, closed its doors. On April 9, 1941, City Brewing Corporation, as part of Greater New York Brewery, temporarily had its license canceled because of illegal merchandising in the form of gifts to retailers. (It apparently reopened at a later date.)
In May of 1941, Greater New York Brewery, Inc. acquired the Lion Brewery. It was the only brewery of the four that merged that had facilities to package beer in flat top cans. But by February of 1942, the Lion Brewery was closed and put up for sale. There being no buyers, the brewery (including the canning facilities) was auctioned off on August 26, 1943. In 1944 over 3,000 tons of steel were taken from the original brewery structure and recycled for the war effort. In April, 1946, the Greater New York Brewery, Inc. became known as the Greater New York Industries. This entity remained in operation until 1950.
For its short lifetime the former Lion Brewery continued to produce beer in cans labeled as products of the Greater New York Brewery. The two flat tops produced are scarce, but not truly rare. However, during its short life span, the Greater New York Brewery also produced a very rare crowntainer and two rare quarts containing Lion beer and ale. There are only 3 of the Beer quarts known today and the Ale is not much more common. Another rare Lion can, a Lion Pilsner, was produced by Pilsner Brewing in New York in the 1940s, but I do not yet know this company’s relationship to the original Lion Brewing. Today, apartment houses occupy the Lion brewery’s former location.
Today is the birthday of Ellis Wainwright (August 3, 1850-November 6, 1924). He was born in Godfrey, Illinois, but grew up in nearby St. Louis, where his father Samuel Wainwright founded the Wainwright Brewery with his brother, also named Ellis. Wikipedia describes him as “an American capitalist, brewer, art collector and socialite from St. Louis, Missouri. He was President of the St. Louis Brewing Company and Director of the St. Louis and Suburban Company.”
Although he did run the Wainwright brewery, among other pursuits, he’s “best known for the Wainwright Building in downtown St. Louis, which was one of the first skyscrapers in the world and one of the most important office buildings of the period.”
Today is the 55th birthday of Steve Donohue, former brewmaster at Firehouse Grill & Brewery in Sunnyvale, California. Steve is an unsung brewer who deserves more accolades and fame. After Firehouse, He spent some time brewing at Hermitage Brewing while working on opening his own place. Steve’s brewery, Santa Clara Valley Brewing finally did open and, not surprisingly, seemed to be going gangbusters, but unfortunately he closed during the pandemic. Join me in wishing Steve a very happy birthday.
Steve with Peter Cogan from the Tied House, during the 2009 Celebrator party.
Hermitage assistant brewer, Steve, Peter Licht and me during a visit to the Hermitage Brewery in San Jose several years ago.
Steve at last year’s 22nd Celebrator anniversary party at the end of SF Beer Week.
Pete Slosberg with Steve.
Steve Altimari, brewer at High Water Brewing, Steve and Steve Shapiro, from Beer by Bart.
Note: Last two photos purloined from Facebook, taken by Arie Litman.
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 ad was created for one more Heute Bock, which was published around 1890. Heute in German means “today” and humorously Google translates the full text as “Today I’m Crazy.” This poster was made for an unspecified German brewery since in 1880 Alsace was part of Germany. The chromolithograph is marked as “404” and one source states the artist was a C. Burckardt and it was created or printed in Wissembourg, a town that today is part of France, but from 1871 to 1919 belonged to Germany. According to the British Museum, Burckardt was a “Lithographic printer and publisher based in Weissenburg; often lettered on prints as ‘C Burckardt’s Nachf.’ (‘Successor of C Burckardt’); succeeded by Rudolph Ackermann at an unknown date.” That information is consistent with all of the recent Heute Bock posters I’ve featured, so I suspect they were all done by the same printing house.
Today is the birthday of Armin Louis Neubert (August 2, 1864-July 3, 1946). He was born in Wolkenstein, Saxony, Germany. His father died when he was five, and he grew up with an uncle, who allowed him to train as a brewer while attending school. After a stint in the German-Saxon Army, he moved with his uncle to the United States. After helping his uncle set up his American business, he moved from city to city working for prominent breweries for several years before finally settling in Minnesota, spending twenty years as the head brewer of the Minneapolis Brewing Co., though his official title was “Production Superintendent.” The year after he took the job, he introduced the popular “Grain Belt Beer.”
In 1900, the Minneapolis Brewing Co. bought the Black Hills Brewing Co. in Central City, South Dakota. A new brewery was built, designed by Armin Neubert and he was also named vice-president when the business was reorganized.
When Neubert retired from the Minneapolis Brewing Co. in 1914, he moved his family to Central City, which he’d become fond of during his numerous visits there over the years, and continued to work at Black Hills. Unfortunately, the brewery closed at the beginning of 1917 when the state voted to start prohibition two years before the national prohibition, though it stayed in business by switching to soft drinks and near-beer. But it was a pain in the ass, and Armin apparently was disheartened by what had happened to the industry he loved and the brewery was closed in 1927, and sold the next year. “After that, he moved to a ranch he’d bought near Great Falls, Montana and became a wheat farmer. But after a few years he turned the ranch over to his son and retired to Santa Cruz,” California.
Apparently, a new Black Hills Brewing Co. is in the works, though it gives the original founding date as 1878.
But after prohibition ended in 1933, Neubert was lured back into the brewery industry and was asked to get involved in reopening the old Salinas Brewery, in California.
Armin was to receive equity in the new company as payment for his engineering work, and his son, Armin K., who had an engineering degree, was included in the deal. The Salinas Brewing & Ice Company was opened and soon gaining recognition for its excellent “Monterey Beer.” Armin, Sr. was brewmaster, and Armin, Jr. was the treasurer of the firm.
Eventually, Neubert ended up owning the Salinas Brewery outright, with his son, who’d been involved since the beginning, as president.
Then in February of 1937, Rettenmayer met with an untimely death, followed in November by the death of a prime stockholder and director of the company, Dr. Wm. Fehliman. This resulted in the restructuring of the company in 1938, and the Neubert family gaining sole control. The company’s name was changed to the Monterey Brewing Co., with Armin, Jr., president.
There’s surprisingly very little information about Neubert, and no pictures I could find, and almost everything here is from the website Brewery Gems. They also have a much fuller biography of Armin Neubert.
Here’s a short obituary from the Santa Cruz Sentinnel in 1946:
Today is the birthday of Albertus Carolus “Albert” Moortgat (August 2, 1890-September 14, 1983). He was the youngest son of Jan Léonardus Moortgat, who founded the brewery which became known as Duvel Moortgat. Albert took over the brewery around 1914 and in 1917 created their iconic beer, Duvel, although they didn’t call it that until 1923.
This is his entry from Dutch Wikipedia, which I altered somewhat so it reads more naturally.
Albert’s father first left the management of the brewery to his brother Joseph (1875-1914), but after his early death he left the management to Albert. The first Duvel was brewed in 1917, but it was not until 1923 that the beer was marketed under that name. Albert went to Scotland to learn how to make this beer and initially called it “Victory Ale.”
In 1921 Moortgat became mayor of Breendonk. Moortgat remained mayor until he was arrested in September 1944, during the Allied liberation of Belgium, and accused of collaboration with the German occupier. He was sentenced to four years in March 1946, but he was released at the end of August 1947.
In 1917 Albert Moortgat married Virginie Plaskie (1891-1977), a daughter of a brewer from Ramsdonk. They had 12 children.
This account of the early history of the brewery is from the company’s website:
It all began when Jan-Léonard Moortgat and his wife founded the Moortgat brewery farm in 1871. Around the turn of the century, Moortgat was one of the over 3,000 breweries operating in Belgium.
Jan-Leonard experimented by trial and error, and his top-fermented beers were soon greatly appreciated in the brewery’s home town of Puurs and far beyond. Before long, the Brussels bourgeoisie was also won over by his beers.
Business was booming and Jan-Leonard’s two sons, Albert and Victor, joined the company. There was a clear division of labour: Albert became the brewer, Victor was responsible for delivering the beer to Brussels by horse and dray.
Albert and the Moortgat family c. 1895. Albert is in the front row on the left.
The First World War brought Belgium into contact with England and especially with English ales, which were quite popular at the time.
Inspired by the success of English ales, Albert decided to create a special beer based on the English model.
To create this type of ale, Albert wanted to work with only the best ingredients.
He travelled to the UK to get the specific strain of yeast he wanted and initially met with considerable resistance from the local brewers. It was only after a veritable odyssey across England that he was finally able to get his hands on a precious sample from a Scottish brewery. Our yeast is still cultured from the very same strain to this day!
The staff of the Moortgat brewery in the 1920s. Neatly dressed. Albert Moortgat is the second from the right in the first row.
The two brothers continued to search and experiment until they had perfected the recipe.
To commemorate the end of the First World War, the new beer was initially dubbed ‘Victory Ale’.
Today is the birthday of Chris LaPierre (August 3, 1971-July 28, 2024). LaPierre was born near Sacramento, California while his father serve din the military, but eventually settle in New Jersey. Chris was a longtime brewer at Iron Hill Brewery, and was a Senior Head Brewer and brand ambassador of the brewpub chain when he passed away in late July of 2024. After finishing his degree in journalism at Syracuse University, he became an avid homebrewer, then took a job with Dock Street Brewery, which changed his career trajectory. He moved to Boston to work as a at Harpoon Brewery, before moving back to Philly in 2002 and taking a head brewer job at the West Chester brewpub for the Iron Hill Brewpub chain. I think I first met Chris at Falling Rock during GABF years ago, and we also judged together a few times at GABF and the World Beer Cup, and he was a fun person to share a beer with. I’d invited him to judge the World Beer Awards with me back when I was involved, but we never were able to work out the details. I was happy I was able to join the celebratory toast to him during the Craft Brewers Conference held in Philadelphia earlier this year. Join me in drinking a toast to Chris’ memory tonight.
Here’s his obituary from the Philadelphia Inquirer:
Iron Hill co-owner Mark Edelson, Charlie Papazian and Chris picking up a GABF medal in 2011.
Chris with Mark Edelson serving Iron Hill beer at the opening of Philly Beer Week in 2008.
