Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

Socialize

Historic Beer Birthday: John Moffat

By

moffats

Today is the birthday of John Moffat (May 11, 1766-July 13, 1845). Moffat was born near the town of Moffat, Scotland, in 1766, coming to America in his late twenties, in 1793. He founded one of the earliest breweries in Buffalo, New York, along with his son James, in 1833. I was unable to find a portrait of John Moffat, or much about him personally.

moffats-drawing

According to John & Dave’s Buffalo Brewing History, John Moffat, along with his son James, acquired what was Buffalo’s second brewery and named it the Moffat Brewery.

Kane, Peacock and Relay brewery was short lived however and a 1909 article in the Buffalo Evening Times indicates John Moffat and his son James purchased the brewing operation around 1833. Also, the 1836 Buffalo City Directory lists Moffat as a brewer at that location. The 1839 Directory lists James Moffat & Co. as a “Brewery, Soap and Candle Factory”. The Moffat Brewery continued in operation until son James died and it was sold to Arthur Fox and became the Fox and Williams Brewery. In 1876 it was sold back to the Moffat family and continued in operation at the same location until the advent of Prohibition forced their closure in 1920. After Prohibition the Phoenix Brewery continued brewing “Moffats Pale Ale” through an agreement with the Moffat family.

And here’s an account from “Buffalo Beer: The History of Brewing in the Nickel City,” by Michael F. Rizzo and Ethan Cox.

moffats-brewery

And “History of the City of Buffalo and Erie County, Volume 2,” published in 1884, has this to say about Buffalo’s earliest brewers, including Moffat:

buffalo-brewers

Beer Birthday: Jack McAuliffe

By

new-albion-banner
Today is the 80th birthday — The Big 8 – O — of Jack McAuliffe, the father of the modern microbrewery. Jack incorporated his New Albion Brewery in October of 1976, and began producing beer the following year from his tiny brewery in Sonoma, California. His 1-barrel system suggests he may also have been the first nanobrewery, as well. I finally got a chance to meet Jack when he was San Francisco for CBC several years ago, and was privileged to spend some time with him the week after CBC when Jack visited Russian River Brewery and then the next day he graciously showed us the original site of his New Albion Brewery. I’ve since been fortunate to spend time with Jack on several more occasions, and it’s always a treat. Join me in wishing Jack a very happy birthday.

P1010239
Me and Jack at Russian River Brewery a few years ago when they launched the new New Albion beer in bottles.
P1030638
Maureen Ogle, Jack and Julie Johnson, from All About Beer magazine, during the Craft Brewers Conference when it was in San Francisco.
P1030788
Vinnie Cilurzo, from Russian River Brewing, with Jack, showing us around the original site of the New Albion Brewery.
P1000136
Jack and Boston Beer’s Jim Koch at their annual media brunch during GABF a few years ago.
IMG_3765
Jack and Fritz Maytag at an awards luncheon where both of them were inducted as the first members of the California Beer Hall of Fame in Sacramento.
P1030766
Jack and me at Russian River Brewery.

Beer In Ads #4965: Wiessner’s Bock Beer

By

Last year I decided to concentrate on Bock ads. 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.

Saturday’s ad is for Wiessner’s Bock Beer and was published in 1909. The brewery was the J.F. Wiessner & Sons Brewing Co. of Baltimore, Maryland, which was originally founded in 1863. This ad ran in The Baltimore Sun, also of Baltimore, Maryland. It’s funny to see Gambrinus (“The Inventor of Beer” — who knew?) riding a goat with the tagline “From Gambrinus to Wiessner., From Primitive Methods to the Climax of Perfection.”

Historic Beer Birthday: George Fix

By

Today is the birthday of George Fix (May 10, 1939-March 10, 2002). Fix was primarily a mathematician “who collaborated on several seminal papers and books in the field of finite element method. For my purposes, he’s much more well know in the beer community as “a beer and homebrewing enthusiast and educator, as well as the author of several books about brewing. He died of cancer in 2002.”

Here’s the beer part of his Wikipedia entry:

Fix also applied his talents to amateur beer brewing. He won hundreds of awards across the United States for his beers, and was named Homebrewer of the Year in 1981 by the American Homebrewers Association (AHA). He was a consultant to numerous microbreweries and brewpubs, and served as an expert witness in brewing-related litigation. He served on the Board of Advisors of the AHA, the editorial board of Brewing Techniques magazine, the steering committee of the Masters Championship of Amateur Brewing, and was a member of Beer Judge Certification Program, the American Association of Brewing Chemists, and the Master Brewers Association of America. In 1999, he wrote Principles of Brewing Science, considered a standard reference for home- and craft-brewers. He also co-authored two books about homebrewing with his wife Laurie, including An Analysis of Brewing Techniques in 1998.

For his achievements and role as an educator in the field of home brewing, Fix was honoured with the AHA Recognition Award in 1991, the Distinguished Service Recognition Award by the Association of Brewers in 1991, and the Ninkasi Award by the AHA in 1997.

He wrote three books that I know of on beer, An Analysis of Brewing Techniques (1998), Principles of Brewing Science: A Study of Serious Brewing Issues (1999), and Vienna, Märzen, Oktoberfest, number 4 in the Classic Beer Style Series (1998).

Here’s his biography from the Brewers Publications.

The late George Fix will be remembered as a pioneer in finite element methods, phase field methods and for numerous other contributions to numerical analysis and applied mathematics. He also distinguished himself as the chairman of three mathematics departments.

George had a second concurrent and distinguished career as a practitioner and scientist in the brewing of beer. He was named Homebrewer of the Year in 1981 by the American Homebrewers Association. He wrote two books with his wife, Laurie, An Analysis of Brewing Techniques and Vienna, Märzen, and Oktoberfest.

In addition, he authored a scientific treatise titled Principles of Brewing Science, which has gone through two editions. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Recognition Award by the Association of Brewers in 1991 and the Ninkasi award by the AHA in 1997, the highest honors bestowed by these organizations at the time.

Fix at an event at Anchor Brewery.

Historic Beer Birthday: Edward F. Sweeney

By

seattle-brewing-malting
Today is the birthday of Edward F. Sweeney (May 10, 1860-1923). Although born in San Francisco, Sweeney was involved with founding the Seattle Brewing & Malting Company, the makers of Rainier Beer, along with several other brewery and other businesses in the Seattle area.

 

edward-f-seeney

 

Here’s a biography of Sweeney from “An Illustrated History of the State of Washington,” by Rev. H.K. Hines, published in 1893, as it appears on the Brewery Gems page for Sweeney, by Gary Flynn.

Edward F. Sweeney, Secretary of the Seattle Brewing & Malting Company, is a native son of the Golden West, born in San Francisco, California, May 10, 1860.

His father, Morgan Sweeney, was a California pioneer of 1850, who made mining the occupation of his life. He (Morgan) was married in California to Miss Mary Nunan¹, whose father was also a pioneer of the State.

Edward F. Sweeney was educated at St. Mary’s College in San Francisco. His business career began at the age of seventeen, in the French Savings Bank, but shortly after be entered the office of the brewery² of M. Nunan and remained two years. He then went to the Fredericksburg Brewery at San Jose and entered practically into the study of the brewery business. After becoming thoroughly conversant with all details of manufacture and with methods of conducting such an enterprise, he returned to San Francisco as superintendent of Mr. Nunan’s plant, which turned out about 30,000 barrels of beer per year.

In 1882-84 (depending on the account), he came to Seattle, and, forming a co-partnership with W. J. Rule, built a small brewery south of town for the manufacture of steam beer. The firm of Rule & Sweeney continued about eighteen months (sic), when Mr. Rule retired and Mr. Sweeney continued operations alone, gradually increasing the extent of his plant as the conditions of the trade demanded.

In 1888 he organized a stock company known as the Claussen-Sweeney Brewing Company, with a capital of $80,000. The brewery was then rebuilt, and with improved machinery they entered exclusively into the manufacture of lager beer, with an annual output of 36,000 barrels, which was sold throughout the Northwest. In May, 1891, Mr. Claussen³ sold his interest to Mr. George F. Gund⁴, and the business was continued up to the spring of 1893, when the company consolidated with the Bay View Brewing Company and the Albert Braun Brewing Company, incorporating as the Seattle Brewing & Malting Company; capital stock, $1,000,000. Mr. Sweeney was elected secretary of the new organization, whose plant has a capacity for an annual output of 150,000 barrels.

Mr. Sweeney is also a stockholder of the King County Bank; a director of the National Bank of Commerce; owns valuable real-estate interests in Seattle, and mining interests in the Cascade Mountains. Socially, he affiliates with the K. of P., B.P.O.E., the Seattle Athletic Club and the Seattle Yacht Club. He is also a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and is a member of the manufacturing committee of that institution.

Gary Flynn, Brewery Gems, points out that there are several discrepancies with that account and he tries to correct them and adds later details of Sweeney’s life.

 

And here’s another from “An Illustrated History of the State of Washington.”

 

Sweeney-bio-1
Sweeney-bio-2

 

 

And here’s an account of how the brewery came to be known as the Seattle Brewing & Malting Company from the “History of Seattle from the Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, Volume 2,” by Clarence Bagley

seattle-malting-history

 

The brewery in 1915.

Historic Beer Birthday: George F. Wiessner

By

Today is the birthday of George F. Wiessner (May 10, 1860-July 6, 1925). He was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and was the son of John Frederick Wiessner, who founded the John F. Wiessner Brewery of Baltimore, Maryland in 1863, renaming it the John F. Wiessner & Sons Brewing Co. after George and his brother John Friedrich Wiessner Jr. joined he business in 1888, which it remained until closed by prohibition in 1920. It did reopen afterwards, but George Wiessner passed away at age 65 in 1925. George was Secretary and Treasurer of the business until his brother died in 1906, and after that he became president for the rest of his time in the family business.

The Brewery after 1906.

Here’s his obituary from the Baltimore Sun in 1925:

And here’s another obituary from the Evening Sun:

And below are some ads and labels from the brewery:

From the Baltimore Sun, 1908.
Wiessner’s Bock Beer
From Christmastime, 1909.

Beer Birthday: Marty Nachel

By

ale-conner
Today is the 67th birthday of beer writer Marty Nachel, author of Beer For Dummies and Homebrewing For Dummies. I’ve gotten to know Marty better over the last few years, judging the finals of the Longshot Homebrew competition and the World Beer Awards, and he’s a great person to share a pint with. This week, we also judging together in South Africa. And more recently he’s founded the American Craft Beer Hall of Fame, and they’ve recently announced the first class of members. Join me in wishing Marty a very happy birthday.

In South Africa a couple of years ago.
Last beers before we would begin judging the next day in Toronto for the first Canadian Beer Cup.
win-bassett-1
Marty, me and a few others judging the finals of the Longshot Homebrew Competition at Samuel Adams HQ in Boson in 2013.
Marty-Nachel-and-Drew
Marty and Drew Nachel enjoying a beer in Northern Italy.
Marty-Nachel-and-Diane
Marty with his older sister Diane in, maybe, the late 1970s. [Note: Last two photos purloined from Facebook.]

Historic Beer Birthday: Fred Eckhardt

By

Esteemed Portland beer writer Fred Eckhardt would have turned 99 today. Portland’s Fred Eckhardt was a living legend, especially in his home city, having pioneered writing about and defining beer styles with his early book on the subject, The Essentials of Beer Style, published in 1989. FredFest, a Portland beer festival honoring Fred has been held around his birthday since he turned 80 and was still being held without Fred in attendance for several years. Join me in raising a toast to Fred’s memory, and wishing Fred a very happy birthday.

Fred Eckhardt and me at the Great American Beer Festival in 2005.
Fred with fellow Portland beer writer Lisa Morrison.
cbn18-23
At the Celebrator’s 18th anniversary party in February. From left: Shaun O’Sullivan, from 21st Amendment, Fred Eckhardt, the woman who wanted this picture of all her beer writing “heroes” in the first place, me, Tom Dalldorf, Celebrator publisher, and Randy Griggs, with DBi and the BN.
Alan Sprints, of Hair of the Dog Brewery, with Fred Eckhardt, at Hair of the Dog’s open house in 2008 during OBF.
Fred at one of Beer Chef’s beer dinners.

Beer In Ads #4964: Coors Bock Beer

By

Last year I decided to concentrate on Bock ads. 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.

Friday’s ad is for Coors Bock Beer and was published May 9, 1935. The brewery was the Coors Brewing Co. of Golden, Colorado, which was originally founded in 1873. This ad ran in The San Angelo Evening Standard, of San Angelo, Texas.

Beer Birthday: Chris Cramer

By

Today is the 64th birthday of Chris Cramer, who co-founded the Karl Strauss Brewing Co. along with his cousin, Karl Strauss, and Matt Rattner. They opened the first brewpub in San Diego, known as the Karl Strauss Old Columbia Brewery and Grille, and today they have nine locations, including a large brewing facility. Chris has also been very active with the CCBA over the years and has been a great advocate for both San Diego and California craft beer. Plus, he’s fun to share a beer with. Join me in wishing Chris a very happy birthday.

Chris and me at GABF last year.
Me with Chris and John Martin, from Drake’s and Triple Rock, at Trumer in Berkeley during SF Beer Week.