Jay Brooks - Brookston Beer Bulletin

Historic Beer Birthday: Frank Ibert

January 15, 2019 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Today is the birthday of Frank Ibert (January 15, 1859-January 15, 1911). He was born in Brooklyn, New York. His first brewery, founded in 1880, was the Joseph Eppig & Frank Ibert Brewery in Brooklyn. The following year, he left the brewery to his partner, allowing himself to be bought out, and founded his own brewery nearby, which he called the Frank Ebert Brewery. It opened in 1891, but was closed by prohibition in 1914. Some accounts suggest it may have opened earlier, and it does make sense that he wouldn’t have waited ten years to open another brewery.

The Frank Ibert Brewery circa 1898-1900, although another source says it’s from 1902.

This account, from Ancestry.com accompanies one version of the photo above:

Evergreen Avenue, Linden Street and Grove Street Frank IBERT Brewing Company formed in the late 1880s. The brick building that housed the Brewery itself, would be to the left of the horses. Valentine HOFMANN was the proprietor of the HOFMANN Cafe, as seen to the right of the horses, behind the people in the photo. (Valentine HOFMANN, Frank IBERT and their children.) Frank IBERT and Valentine HOFMANN were brother-in-laws. There was a passage way between the Brewery and the Cafe. The IBERT’S who was the brewmeister’s home was at 404 Evergreen Ave, right above the HOFMANN Cafe. They lived for a time on the upper floor and the HOFMANN family below. With the death of Frank IBERT in 1920s, the Brewery was sold to a son-in-law of HOFMANNS’, Frank WINTERRATH. (He married Valentine’s oldest daughter Margaret in 1907 in St. Barbara’s RC Church) WINTERRATH tried to make a go of the Cafe changing the name to “Linden Gardens.” With prohibition around the corner it did not stay in business for long, even after a go at as a speakeasy. The building was destroyed by fire in the late 1950s, leaving an empty lot where the Cafe & home once.

Here’s his obituary from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle:

A foam scraper for Ibert’s P.O.B.— “Pride of Brooklyn.”

And here’s a short account from a Hofmann family genealogy site:

Valentine went into the liquor business and became the co-owner with his brother-in-law Frank IBERT.(Margaretha’s sister, Mary Grammich married Frank Ibert). The Frank IBERT Brewing Company and HOFMANN Cafe. It was located on the corner of Evergreen,Linden and Grove, in Brooklyn. The top 2 floors were apartments. After Prohibition went into effect the brewery no longer produced beer but it did continue in the food end, becoming “The Linden Gardens” The building remained in the family until the 1950’s when it was destroyed by fire.

In 1902, Frank also patented a beer cooler.

Historic Beer Birthday: Anthony Durkin

January 15, 2019 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Today is not the birthday of Anthony Durkin (1831-January 15, 1868), but instead the day he died in 1868. Before the mid-1800s, record-keeping was spotty at best and only the well-heeled and royal consistently kept birth records. Durkin was born in Ireland, in County Mayo. He made his way to San Francisco, California as a young man, in the 1850s.

Durbin at 25, in 1857.

There’s not too much I could find about him, apart from this overview, from Brewery Gems.

In 1860, he established A. Durkin & Company, at 608-610 Mission St., for the purposes of brewing ale and porter. His two partners in the company were Charles M. Armstrong, a 35 year old Irish immigrant, and a German immigrant, Louis Luhden. In naming the brewery Anthony simply referenced its location, thus the Mission Street Brewery.

In their history of the Hibernia Brewery, there’s also this:

The first serious incident occurred on June 16th, 1861. The following account was reported by the Daily Alta California:

“A beautiful child, aged seven years, daughter of George Coffee, Boiler Inspector, fell into a vat of boiling beer in the Mission Street Brewery, last evening. A young man named Thomas Kennedy attempted to rescue the child and he also fell in. John McCabe, the cooper of the establishment, was severely scalded in his efforts to get them out. The child died almost immediately. Kennedy was taken to St. Mary’s Hospital. He will probably die.”

In spite of this tragic accident the business experienced steady growth and in 1863, in addition to its ale and porter, the brewery began producing lager beer. This wasn’t lager in the traditional sense, but a lager peculiar to the San Francisco area called steam beer. It was made without refrigeration but with a bottom fermenting yeast. Another steam beer producer, and major competitor, was a company that also took their name from their location, the Broadway Brewery.

In 1864, Anthony severely injured his left arm, leaving him partially disabled, but he didn’t quit brewing. Then in July of 1865, all that changed. The following is a newspaper account from the July 4th edition of the Daily Alta California:

“Anthony Durkin, the brewer who was disabled about a year since, by falling under a street car which fractured his left arm so that it was found necessary to perform the operation of excision of the elbow joint, met with another unfortunate accident while running to the fire with Engine Company No. 2, on Sunday morning. He tripped and fell while holding by the rope, and his arm, which had become in a measure useful again, went under the wheel of the engine, which crushed it into a shapeless mass, making what is termed by surgeons a ‘compound comminuted fracture’ of the worse description. Dr. Murphy, who is attending upon Mr. Durkin, has little hope of being able to avoid a full amputation this time.”

As a consequence of the accident, Anthony sold his interest in the brewery to his partner, the month after the incident.

Beer Birthday: Jaime Jurado

January 15, 2019 By Jay Brooks 4 Comments

Today is the birthday of Jaime Jurado, who for many years was the Director of Brewing Operations for the Gambrinus Company, which included several beer brands and breweries, such as Shiner, BridgePort, Pete’s Wicked and Trumer. A couple of years ago, he moved to Pennsylvania, where he was the brewmaster at Susquehanna Brewing Co. in Pittston, but more recently he moved back south, this time to Louisiana, where for five years he was the Director of Brewing Operations at Abita Brewing. About a year ago, he struck out on his own, and his doing brewery consulting. Jaime’s an incredibly talented brewer. More importantly, Jaime is one of the nicest people I know in the business. Join me wishing Jaime a very happy birthday.

A blushing Jamie at OBF in 2006.

Jamie with Lars Larson, brewmaster of Trumer Brauerei, at the Celebrator 18th anniversary party.

Jamie (far left) with some NBWA luminaries at the 2008 NBWA welcome reception. From left, Jamie, Lucy Saunders (the Beer Cook), Charlie Papazian (President of the Brewers Association), Kim Jordan (from New Belgium Brewing) and Tom Dalldorf (from the Celebrator Beer News).

Jamie with Todd and Jason Alström, founder of Beer Advocate, at the 2008 GABF.

Historic Beer Birthday: Joseph Junk

January 15, 2019 By Jay Brooks 1 Comment

Today is the birthday of German-born Joseph Junk (January 15, 1841-1887) who emigrated to the U.S. in 1868, and in 1883 opened the eponymous Joseph Junk Brewery in Chicago, Illinois. Unfortunately, he died just a few years later, in 1887, and his widow, Magdalena Junk, took over management of the brewery, renaming it Junk’s Brewery and then the Jos. Junk Brewery, which it remained until 1909. She increased production from around 4,000 barrels to 45,000 barrels of lager beer.

It then became the South Side Brewing Co. until prohibition, and afterwards reopened under that same name. But in 1937 in became the more fancifully named Ambrosia Brewing Co., then changed again one final time, to the Atlantic Brewing Co., before closing for good in 1965. It was located at 3700/3710 South Halstead and 37th Streets. According to Tavern Trove, “the brewery has been torn down. What was the Ambrosia Brewery is now the parking lot for Schaller’s Pump, a tavern located at 3714 S. Halsted, Chicago.”

Here’s a short article from the Western Brewer (Brewer’s Journal) from August 1909 reporting on the transition from Jos. Junk to South Side Brewing.

I was unable to find any photos of any of the Junk family, and in fact very little of anything, which I guess makes sense since they were the Junk Brewery, or some variation, for a relatively short time a very long time ago. Here’s what I did find.

A rare Junk bottle.

This is a South Side delivery truck taken around 1936.

The website where I found this claims it was from 1930, but American Breweries II states that it wasn’t called Ambrosia Brewing until 1937, so it’s probably from the late 1930s at the earliest. But another source says it’s from the 1950s, and indeed it as known as Ambrosia through 1959, so that’s perhaps more likely given the look of the postcard.

This is in the collection of the Chicago History Museum, but they appear to have no idea when it was taken.

This is the brewery around 1952, taken by Ernie Oest and featured at beer can history.

But by far, this is the most interesting bit of history on Joseph Junk I turned up. This is a newspaper article from the Chicago Tribune for March 29, 1902. It concerns what I can only assume is Joe and Magdalena’s son, since they refer to him as a “young man” and “member of the Chicago Brewery” rather then saying “owner.” Seems the young man went on a bender in San Francisco and ended up marrying some floozy he’d just met. But here’s the best bit. “The trouble began when the young man’s family learned that Lottie (is that not a floozy’s name?) had done a song-and-dance turn in abbreviated skirts.” Oh, the horror. It sounds like they could live with or tolerate the “song-and dance turn,” but not, I repeat not, if there were “abbreviated skirts” involved. That was the deal breaker, so they sent him off on “a Southern tour” and her packing back to Frisco, eventually settling on a payoff on $10,000, which in today’s money is over a quarter-million dollars, or roughly $276,150. It must have been the talk of polite society for months afterwards, bringing shame down on the Junk family.

Beer In Ads #2874: Brasserie De Baccarat

January 14, 2019 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Monday’s ad is for Brasserie De Baccarat, from the early 1900s, I think. From the late 1800s until the 1940s, poster art really came into its own, and in Europe a lot of really cool posters, many of them for breweries, were produced. This poster is for the Brasserie Rauch, located in the northeast region of France known as Baccarat, a French commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle. The brewery was founded by the Rauch Brothers in 1867, but it closed in 1949.

Beer In Ads #2873: La Meuse

January 13, 2019 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Sunday’s ad is for La Meuse, from 1900, or before. From the late 1800s until the 1940s, poster art really came into its own, and in Europe a lot of really cool posters, many of them for breweries, were produced. This poster is for the La Meuse, a river that runs through much of France. It was the industrial center of France at one time, and in the mid-1800s boasted over 40 breweries.

Potato Peel Beer

January 13, 2019 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

My good friend Luc De Raedemaeker, who among quite a bit more, publishes the Belgian beer magaine Biere Grand Cru that started in 2014. Knowing my love (some might say obsession) with frites, my universal name for fried potatoes or fries, he included me in a tweet about an article covering a new Dutch beer that uses potato peels from a frites business.

Beer in which old bread is processed during brewing, we already had, but also when making fries a lot of ‘waste’ is produced. To put it in the words of FrietHoes say “potatoes are round, french fries square”. Throwing away the leftovers would be a shame, especially because they are still trying to make their production process as sustainable as possible. In search of a solution they came into contact with Jopen as beer lovers and the solution was not far away.

Potatoes are full of starch and you can use some of them during the brewing process. Jopen therefore developed a beer in which the leftover potato (the ‘shells’) is added to the batter. Still nice fruity hopping and ‘Klaar is Kees’. The result is a dark blond beer with a hoppy aroma of citrus fruit and a nice bitterness so that it dries super smoothly. Ideal for a pack of salty fries …

I’m in.

I’ve had a few potato beers before. Widmer Brothers made one for OBF a number of years ago, I believe. And I certainly remember a couple more. But this is even more interesting because it’s recycling at its finest. Taking the leftover potato peels from making frites is just genius. The people behind it, Friethoes, grow their own organic potatoes, operate frites shops, food trucks, and have other potato-related businesses. But the peels were going to waste. So why not? Of course, now I’m dead keen to try a bottle. So they partnered with Brouwerij Troost to brew the beer.

Until I can get my own bottle, here’s a review of it from a Dutch blog called Lauriekoek:

Beer is usually made of malt, yeast and hops. Malt does not necessarily have to be malt, other sources of sugar and starch are also suitable for fermentation. You can also use potato starch, because that too can be converted into alcohol and bubbles by yeast. And that’s what FrietHoes did, together with brewery Troost. By working in a smart way on the potato residues as part of the ingredients in the beer, FrietHoes comes a step closer to the zero waste goal.

Peeling beer is described as a Weizen. Of course this is not a Weizen in the most German sense of the word, because it differs from the traditional ingredients. It is a bit between a Weizen and a Belgian wheat beer, partly because of the addition of coriander seeds and orange peel, to give it a fresher character. Peeling beer is sweet and a little weeïg, but a bit more acidic than other white beers and with the typical notes of banana and clove that you can also find in weizen beers. The acidity in this beer is easy to combine with fatty dishes such as everything that comes out of a frying pan.

All in all, FrietHoes has succeeded in developing a beer with potato that fits well with the deep-fried delicacies that they mainly sell. Whether it is a really accessible beer, I wonder. For a number of people, perhaps it is just a bit too sour.

And here’s another review from BierNet.nl:

Friethoes Schillenbier

New: Schillenbier from Friethoes . An unofficial Weizen beer made from hops, barley and pieces of potato from Friethoes fries factory. The fries bakers worked together with Brouwerij Troost to process the remains from the fries cutting plant and use them in a new and cool product. From now on: fries and beer from Friethoes.

Brewery Troost has often brewed with other ingredients with the aim to prevent waste. In the past they also brewed Pieper Bier and Bammetjes beer.

That’s how you make beer

Friethoes Schillenbier bottleYou already knew: beer is made from malt, hops and yeast. You mainly use malt to give color and flavor to your beer. The starch in malt also provides alcohol and bubbles with the help of a little yeast. You do not need malt starch per se, you can also use potato starch.

And that is exactly what Friethoes and Troost have done: the waste is converted into a main component. In the end, fewer raw materials are needed to make the same fries and the same beer. Hoera!

Es ist (k) ein Weizen
The new Schillenbier naturally had to taste good with fries, which is why the brewers chose Weizen beer . Weizen is sweet, mild and accessible and that fits well with a first-class salty burger.

The new Schillenbier consists of 50% wheat malt, a little barley and little hops. Officially you can not call that Weizen. If you are a bit of a German, you know that according to the Reinheitsgebot you do not use beeper starch in Weizen, even if it tastes exactly the same. No Weizen.

A responsible company

Friethoes wants to make fries in a responsible and honest way. That’s why it uses as many local potatoes and local ingredients as possible, uses green electricity for their fries and 100% E-numberless sunflower oil to bake the fries.

The packaging is made of biodegradable plastic, recycled paper and cardboard and the forks in the recycled wood store. Schillenbier is an initiative and an experiment to determine the value of the waste stream. The goal is to be the first zero waste fries company in the Netherlands by 2019.

Beer In Ads #2872: Birra Milano

January 12, 2019 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Saturday’s ad is for the Birra Milano, from the 1920s, or before. From the late 1800s until the 1940s, poster art really came into its own, and in Europe a lot of really cool posters, many of them for breweries, were produced. This poster is for the Birra Milano, located in Milan, Italy. The poster was created by Italian artist and illustrator Mario Borgoni.

Historic Beer Birthday: Adolph Coors III

January 12, 2019 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Today is also the birthday of Adolph Coors III (January 12, 1916-February 9, 1960). He was Chairman of the Board of Coors Brewing Co. and the grandson of founder Adolph Coors.

Adolph Coors III in the late 1950s.

Adolph Coors III also has a short Wikipedia page:

Coors was born on January 12, 1916, the son of Alice May (née Kistler; 1885-1970) and Adolph Coors II. He attended Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. Like most of his family, including brother Joseph Coors, Adolph graduated from Cornell University, where he was president of the Quill and Dagger society and a member of The Kappa Alpha Society. Coors was also a semi-professional baseball player.

On February 9, 1960, while on his way to work, he was murdered at the age of 44 in a foiled kidnapping attempt by escaped murderer Joseph Corbett, Jr. in Colorado. In September, the remains of Coors were found by hunters in a remote area around Pikes Peak. The subject of an international manhunt, Corbett was captured in Vancouver, British Columbia in October of that year.

The Adolph Coors Company Board of Directors posing together at the dedication of the new headhouse at the brewery in Golden, Col., on April 16, 1952. Three men are standing and three men are seated on top of the headhouse. Standing in back left to right are brothers, William K. Coors, Joseph Coors, and Adolph Coors III. Seated in front left to right are brothers Grover Coors, Herman Coors, and Adolph Coors II (from the Golden History Museum).

“Ad,” as he apparently was known, was “an avid skier” and “was inducted into the Colorado Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame in 1998.”

Skiing was a passion to “Ad”, as he is affectionately known, grandson of the founder of Coors Brewing Company. “Ad was an avid, enthusiastic and inexhaustible skier”, his brother Bill Coors remembers. “He was involved not only in the sport of skiing itself but active in its development as a major Colorado industry and in the promotion of Colorado as Ski Country, USA.” He imparted his love of the sport to his friends and family. A highly polished skier, he took every opportunity away from the brewery to hit the slopes on family vacations. “He wanted to help those he really cared about to gain a taste of the sport he loved,” recalls Cecily Garnsey, Coors’ daughter. Ad was instrumental in developing modern skiing in Colorado. He channeled his love and his resources toward establishing quality ski resorts in Colorado. He helped to found the Aspen Ski Corporation in 1946, and served on the board of directors until his tragic death on February 9, 1960. He was present at the opening of Sun Valley, became one of the earliest members of the Arlberg Ski Club at Winter Park in 1938, and was becoming involved with the development of Vail at the time of his death. Ad also helped to establish ski racing in the state, by bringing the World Alpine Ski Championships to Aspen in 1950 (serving as Finance Chairman), the first time the event was held in the US. His daughter remembers, “He loved to ski. He loved Colorado. And he wanted to see a marriage of the two.” Ad was a skier for life, and he tirelessly contributed time, money and energy to help others understand and appreciate his love for the sport.

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