Monday’s ad is for Alloa Aluminum, from 1934. The thirty-nine “Colssi” in the headline refer to three-story tall aluminum fermenters being installed at the Hoffman Beverage Co. of Newark, New Jersey, which brewed from 1934 until it was bought by Pabst in 1946, who kept it going until 1985. But when this ad ran, it was a brand new brewery going into production the year after prohibition ended. And apparently, they were expecting to be pretty successful from the get go, because 39 fermenters is quite a lot to start out.
Pabst did buy Hoffman in 1946, but the brewery itself didn’t close until 1985.
The next year, Paul Kalmanovitz (head of S&P – the new parent company of Pabst) bragged in Milwaukee newspaper ads about shipping that brewery (along with the old General brewery in Vancouver) to China.
Whoops, misread that one. That’s what I get for trying to post after an evening of tasting 40 holiday beers. Thanks, J
Wait, aluminum fermenters? I thought that was a no no & would lead to bad things during ferment?
I guess alpha acids in hops don’t react the same poisonous way w/aluminum that citric acid does – Alcoa stated explicity in the ad that those fermenters had no linings. But then again, there weren’t any Cascade or Citra hops 80 yrs ago. Go figure.