Historic Beer Birthday: Walter Jerome Green

October 10, 2025 By Jay Brooks

Today is the birthday of Walter Jerome Green (October 10, 1842-January 27, 1885). He was the son of Charles Green, who founded an upstate New York hop merchant around 1840. After his son joined the business, it became known as Charles Green & Son. According to the Brewers’ Journal, he was “one of the earliest and most widely known hop merchants of Central New York.”

Here’s a portion of his obituary that mentions the hop business from Oneida County, NY Biographies:

Walter Jerome Green, who passed away in Utica on the 27th of January, 1885, was one of the city’s most prominent business men and respected residents. He was a leading factor in financial circles as a member of the banking house of Charles Green & Son, of Utica, and was also the president and owner of the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Halifax River Railroad of Florida. He is survived by his widow and one son. His birth occurred in Hubbardsville, Madison county, New York, on the 10th of October, 1842, his father being Charles Green, who was born at Sangerfield, Oneida county, on the 28th of May, 1811. The latter was prominently identified with financial interests in Utica for a number of years, being one of the oldest and best known bankers and business men of this part of the state. David Green, the paternal grandfather of our subject, was born at South East, Putnam county, New York, his ancestors, John Alden and Priscilla Nolines, coming to America in the Mayflower. He was related to General Nathaniel Green of Revolutionary fame. His mother, who in her maidenhood bore the name of Deliverance Hatch, was a native of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Her mother was a Sears, to which family David Green was likewise related.
The mother of Walter Jerome Green bore the maiden name of Mary Jane Hubbard and was a resident of Hubbardsville. Madison county, New York. She was a descendant of Lieutenant Joseph Kellogg, of Hadley, Massachusetts. Her parents, Oliver Kellogg and Mary (Meachem) Hubbard, were both natives of Connecticut, the former of Windsor and the latter of Simsbury, that state.
Walter Jerome Green received a liberal education in his youth, attending Cazenovia Seminary and Madison University. Desiring to become a member of the legal fraternity, he qualified for practice by an extensive course of study and was graduated from Albany University in 1864. At the end of two years, however, he abandoned a promising career as an attorney because the increasing importance of his father’s business made it desirable for him to come to his assistance. Soon afterward he was admitted to a partnership in the bank and the name of the firm became Charles Green & Son. Young though he was, his enterprising spirit soon made itself felt in the affairs of his father’s business, which gradually broadened its field, of operations and took a leading place among similar enterprises in the central part of the state. An important department in the business of the house was the trade in hops, which became so extensive as to place the firm among the largest dealers in this country. To meet the demand for reliable intelligence bearing on the hop trade, the firm published a journal known as Charles Green & Son’s Hop Paper, a large, handsomely printed, four page folio of twenty eight columns, of which an edition of about five thousand was issued, gratuitously, each quarter.

And here’s another account from Michael Brown Rare Books:

Charles Green’s son, Walter Jerome Green became one of Utica, New York
‘s most prominent business men and respected residents. He was a leading factor in financial circles as a member of his family’s banking house of Charles Green & Son, of Utica, and was also the president and owner of the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Halifax River Railroad of Florida. Walter’s birth occurred in Hubbardsville, Madison County, New York, on the 10th of October, 1842. He received a liberal education in his youth, attending Cazenovia Seminary and Madison University. Desiring to become a lawyer, he qualified for practice by an extensive course of study and was graduated from Albany University in 1864. At the end of two years, however, he abandoned a promising career as an attorney because the increasing importance of his father’s business made it desirable for him to come to his assistance. Soon afterward he was admitted to a partnership in the bank and the name of the firm became Charles Green & Son.
Young though he was, his enterprising spirit soon made itself felt in the affairs of his father’s business, which gradually broadened its field, of operations and took a leading place among similar enterprises in the central part of the state. An important department in the business of the house was the trade in hops, which became so extensive as to place the firm among the largest dealers in this country. To meet the demand for reliable intelligence bearing on the hop trade, the firm published a journal known as Charles Green & Son’s Hop Paper, a large, handsomely printed, four page folio of twenty eight columns, of which an edition of about five thousand was issued, gratuitously, each quarter.
On the 26th of June, 1867, Mr. Green was united in marriage to Miss Sarah L. Swartwout, a daughter of Henry Swartwout, of Troy, New York. They had one son Walter Jerome Green, Jr.
Seeking a new field for investment of his capital Green became interested in a railroad project in Florida. His attention was drawn to the lack of modern transportation facilities in the fruit growing section of that state. He put both energy and money into the scheme. The outcome of his effort was the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Halifax River Railroad, of which he was president and the entire owner. This road began at Jacksonville on the St. John’s River, in the northeastern corner of the state, extended southwardly and eastwardly to St. Augustine on the Atlantic coast and was thirty seven miles in length. The road connected with the Atlantic Coast Steamship Company, running outside to New Smyrna on the Halifax coast. Mr. Green’s intentions were to extend the road a distance of one hundred and six miles to New Smyrna. This would have afforded quick and cheap transportation between Jacksonville and the Halifax and Indian River country. The rail through a fertile and rapidly developing region had shortened the time of transport between the orange country of the east coast of Florida and New York by some eight days, a most important consideration under any circumstances, but more especially so in view of the perishable nature of the delicate fruit transported. While the possibilities of this section of Florida as a fruit growing country and health resort had long been known and to some extent developed, progress had been slow and uncertain owing to the lack of railroad facilities. Among the most notable results was the laying out of new towns between St. Augustine and Jacksonville.
Returning from active labors in Florida in the winter of 1884-5, he was passing some time at his home in Utica, when he was stricken with apoplexy and died on the 27th of January, 1885. He was survived by his widow and one son. On the death of Green the property was left to trustees for his son. In 1886 it was sold to H. M. Flagler of New York, who has carried out the plans and ideas of its previous owner.

The Michael Brown Rare Books site also had for sale a letter to and from Walter Jerome’s father, Charles Green, and his company which details some of the history of the company.

In 1838 Charles Green entered the store of Gideon Manchester, assignee of Hart & Hunt, Hubbardsville. He bought the stock and continued the business three years. Afterwards he got into the hop business eventually bringing into business his sons, Walter J. and Charles Germaine Green. Green first started in the hop business in 1850. In 1865 a partnership was formed with his son Walter Jerome Green, under the firm name of Charles Green & Son, with headquarters at Hubbardsville. The company later appears as Charles Green & Sons when Charles Germaine Green joined the firm.

NY-New-York-HUBBARDSVILLE-1940s — This postcard of Hubbardsville is from the 1940s.

Beer Birthday: Alfred Haunold

October 7, 2025 By Jay Brooks

Today is the birthday of Alfred Haunold (October 7, 1929- ). He was born in Hollabrunn, Austria and emigrated to the U.S. in the mid-1950s, eventually settling in Oregon. He worked as hop breeder for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and was in charge of a hop-breeding program in Corvallis, Oregon that was a partnership between Oregon State University and the USDA for over thirty years before he retired. He was responsible for Cascade, Willamette, Sterling, Liberty, and Mt. Hood, among at least eighteen additional hop varieties, not to mention his many other contributions to hop sciences.

Gary Gilman has the best summary of Dr. Haunold’s life and work with hops in an article on his Beer et seq. blog entitled Dr. Al Haunold — Craft Beer Pioneer.

He arrived from the East Coast to work on the problem of downy mildew in the Cluster hop, then a workhorse of U.S. brewing, as was the Oregon Fuggle, both primarily used for bittering beer. Aroma in beer, at the time, was the preserve of fine imported varieties, at least for premium beers. Hops such as the German Hallertau and Tettnang, Czech Saaz, and various English hops.
Haunold was an Austrian immigrant who had grown up on a farm about 60 miles from Vienna. He joined the USDA after doctoral studies in Nebraska, adding to his extensive Austrian qualifications.

Oregon State also recorded some interviews with him as a part of their Oral History Online program. Check out Al Haunold Oral History Interview #1, from November 18, 2014 and Al Haunold Oral History Interview #2, from August 1, 2017. He also sat down for two audio recordings in 1982, which you can find at the Oregon Hops & Brewing Archives. These resources are great if you want to hear firsthand accounts of the history of craft beer and the hops that made so many modern beers possible. ANd here’s a list of some of his research.

During his career, he was a Member American Society Brewing Chemists (member editorial board 1987-1995, chairman publication committee 1989-1993, board directors 1989-1993), Crop Science Society of America, and the Hop Research Council.

Historic Beer Birthday: John Gorrie

October 3, 2025 By Jay Brooks

Today is the birthday of John Gorrie (October 3, 1803-June 29, 1855). He “was a physician, scientist, inventor, and humanitarian,” and most importantly, is credited with creating one of the very first refrigerators, an important development for the brewing industry.

Here’s one brief account, from a history of refrigeration on The Sun:

The man credited with developing the first actual “fridge” was an American doctor, John Gorrie, who built an ice-maker in 1844 based on Evans’ work of decades earlier. He also pioneered air conditioning at the same time, since his idea was to blow air across the ice-making machine to cool hospital patients suffering from malaria in Florida.
Gorrie did not make the fortune he deserved. His business partner died and his leaky machines were mocked by the Press and the ice-producing firms to whom he could have been a threat. He died sick and broke aged 51.

Here’s his story from his Wikipedia page:

Since it was necessary to transport ice by boat from the northern lakes, Gorrie experimented with making artificial ice.
After 1845, he gave up his medical practice to pursue refrigeration products. On May 6, 1851, Gorrie was granted Patent No. 8080 for a machine to make ice. The original model of this machine and the scientific articles he wrote are at the Smithsonian Institution. In 1835, patents for “Apparatus and means for producing ice and in cooling fluids” had been granted in England and Scotland to American-born inventor Jacob Perkins, who became known as “the father of the refrigerator.” Impoverished, Gorrie sought to raise money to manufacture his machine, but the venture failed when his partner died. Humiliated by criticism, financially ruined, and his health broken, Gorrie died in seclusion on June 29, 1855. He is buried in Magnolia Cemetery.
Another version of Gorrie’s “cooling system” was used when President James A. Garfield was dying in 1881. Naval engineers built a box filled with cloths that had been soaked in melted ice water. Then by allowing hot air to blow on the cloths it decreased the room temperature by 20 degrees Fahrenheit. The problem with this method was essentially the same problem Gorrie had. It required an enormous amount of ice to keep the room cooled continuously. Yet it was an important event in the history of air conditioning. It proved that Dr. Gorrie had the right idea, but was unable to capitalize on it. The first practical refrigeration system in 1854, patented in 1855, was built by James Harrison in Geelong, Australia.

And this account, entitled “Dr. John Gorrie, Refrigeration Pioneer,” is by George L. Chapel of the Apalachicola Area Historical Society in Apalachicola, Florida, which is the location of the John Gorrie State Museum:

Dr. John Gorrie (1803 – 1855), an early pioneer in the invention of the artificial manufacture of ice, refrigeration, and air conditioning, was granted the first U.S. Patent for mechanical refrigeration in 1851. Dr. Gorrie’s basic principle is the one most often used in refrigeration today; namely, cooling caused by the rapid expansion of gases. Using two double acting force pumps he first condensed and then rarified air. His apparatus, initially designed to treat yellow fever patients, reduced the temperature of compressed air by interjecting a small amount of water into it. The compressed air was submerged in coils surrounded by a circulating bath of cooling water. He then allowed the interjected water to condense out in a holding tank, and released or rarified, the compressed air into a tank of lower pressure containing brine; This lowered the temperature of the brine to 26 degrees F. or below, and immersing drip-fed, brick-sized, oil coated metal containers of non-saline water, or rain water, into the brine, manufactured ice bricks. The cold air was released in an open system into the atmosphere.
The first known artificial refrigeration was scientifically demonstrated by William Cullen in a laboratory performance at the University of Glasgow in 1748, when he let ethyl ether boil into a vacuum. In 1805, Oliver Evans in the United States designed but never attempted to build, a refrigeration machine that used vapor instead of liquid. Using Evans’ refrigeration concept, Jacob Perkins of the U.S. and England, developed an experimental volatile liquid, closed-cycle compressor in 1834.
Commercial refrigeration is believed to have been initiated by an American businessman, Alexander C. Twinning using sulphuric ether in 1856. Shortly afterward, an Australian, James Harrison, examined the refrigerators used by Gorrie and Twinning, and introduced vapor (ether) compression refrigeration to the brewing and meat packing industries.
The granting of a U.S. Patent in 1860 to Ferdinand P.E. Carre of France, for his development of a closed, ammonia-absorption system, laid the foundation for widespread modern refrigeration. Unlike vapor-compression machines which used air, Carre used rapidly expanding ammonia which liquifies at a much lower temperature than water, and is thus able to absorb more heat. Carre’s refrigeration became, and still is, the most widely used method of cooling. The development of a number of synthetic refrigerants in the 1920’s, removed the need to be concerned about the toxic danger and odor of ammonia leaks.
The remaining problem for the development of modern air conditioning would not be that of lowering temperature by mechanical means, but that of controlling humidity. Although David Reid brought air into contact with a cold water spray in his modification of the heating and ventilating system of the British Parliament in 1836, and Charles Smyth experimented with air cycle cooling (1846 – 56), the problem was resolved by Willis Haviland Carrier’s U.S. Patent in 1906, in which he passed hot soggy air through a fine spray of water, condensing moisture on the droplets, leaving drier air behind. These inventions have had global implications.
Dr. Gorrie was honored by Florida, when his statue was placed in Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol. In 1899, a monument to Dr. Gorrie was erected by the Southern Ice Exchange in the small coastal town of Apalachicola, where he had served as mayor in 1837, and had developed his machine.
Reportedly born October 3, 1803 in Charleston, South Carolina, of Scots – Irish descent, he was raised in Columbia, S.C. He attended the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the Western District of New York, in Fairfield, New York, from 1825 to 1827. Although the school lasted only a few decades, it had a profound influence, second only to the Philadelphia Medical School, upon the scientific and medical community of the United States in the 19th century. Young Asa Gray, from Oneida County, New York, who by 1848 would be ranked as the leading botanist in the United States, and who in time would become a close friend of Dr. Alvin Wentworth Chapman of Apalachicola, the leading botanist in the South, served as an assistant in the school’s chemical department. In later years, Dr. Gray had distinct recollections of Gorrie as a “promising student.”
Dr. Gorrie initially practiced in Abbeville, South Carolina, in 1828, coming to the burgeoning cotton port of Apalachicola in 1833. He supplemented his income by becoming Assistant (1834), then Postmaster in Apalachicola. He became a Notary Public in 1835. The Apalachicola Land Company obtained clear title to the area by a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1835, and in 1836 laid out the city’s grid-iron plat along the lines of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Gorrie, who served as Vice-Intendant in 1836, and Intendant (Mayor), in 1837, would be an effective advocate for the rest of his life for draining the swamps, clearing the weeds and maintaining clean food markets in the city. He first served as Secretary of the Masonic Lodge in 1835, was a partner in the Mansion House Hotel (1836), President of the Apalachicola Branch Bank of Pensacola (1836), a charter member of the Marine Insurance Bank of Apalachicola (1837), a physician for the Marine Hospital Service of the U.S. Treasury Department (1837 – 1844), and a charter incorporator and founding vestryman of Trinity Episcopal Church, Apalachicola (1837).
Dr. Gorrie married Caroline Frances Myrick Beman, of a Columbia, South Carolina family, the widowed proprietress of the Florida Hotel in Apalachicola, on May 8, 1838. Shortly thereafter, he resigned his various positions in Apalachicola, and the family left the city not to return until 1840. He was named Justice of the Peace in 1841, the same year that yellow fever struck the area.
Mal-aria, Italian, “bad air”, and yellow fever, prevailed in the hot, low-lying, tropical and sub-tropical areas where there was high humidity and rapid decomposition of vegetation. Noxious effluvium, or poisonous marsh gas was thought to be the cause. The “putrid” winds from marshy lowlands were regarded as deadly, especially at night. The specific causes were unknown, and although one had quinine for malaria, the gin and tonic of India, there was no cure nor preventive vaccine, for yellow fever. The legendary Flying Dutchman was founded on the story of a ship with yellow fever onboard.
Malaria would start with shaking and violent chills, followed by high fever, and a drenching sweat. Insidious, it could recur in the victim as well as kill. Yellow fever did not recur; one either died or survived. It came in mysterious, vicious waves, killing anywhere from 12 to 70 percent of its victims. It started with shivering, high fever, insatiable thirst, savage headaches, and severe back and leg pains. In a day or so, the restless patient would become jaundiced and turn yellow. In the terminal stages, the patient would spit up mouthfuls of dark blood, the terrifying “black vomit” (vomito negro), the body temperature would drop, the pulse fade, and the comatose patient, cold to the touch, would die in about 8 to 10 hours. So great was the terror, that the victims would be buried as quickly as possible. Areas would be quarantined, and yellow flags flown. Gauze would be hung over beds to filter air; handkerchiefs would be soaked in vinegar; garlic would be worn in shoes. Bed linens and compresses would be soaked in camphor; sulfur would be burned in outdoor smudge pots. Gunpowder would be burned, and cannons would be fired. And, later, when it was over, the cleaning and fumigating would occur.
It would not be until 1901 in Havana, Cuba, that Drs. Walter Reed, Carlos Finlay and William Crawford Gorgas, with others, would demonstrate conclusively that the Aedes Aegypti, or Stegomyia Fasciata mosquito was the carrier of the yellow fever virus. It would be about the same time that the English physician, Sir Ronald Ross in India, would correctly identify the Anopheles mosquito as the carrier of the malaria protozoa. As early as 1848, in Mobile, Alabama, however, Dr. Josiah Nott first suggested that mosquitos might be involved. The yellow fever epidemic of 1841, and the hurricane and tidal wave, known locally as the “Great Tide” of 1842, destroyed Apalachicola’s rival cotton port of St. Joseph some thirty miles to the west on the deep water sound of St. Joseph’s Bay. Using Florida’s first railway (1837) to transport cotton from the Apalachicola River, St. Joseph had hosted Florida’s Constitutional Convention in 1838.
Dr. Gorrie became convinced that cold was the healer. He noted that “Nature would terminate the fevers by changing the seasons.” Ice, cut in the winter in northern lakes, stored in underground ice houses, and shipped, packed in sawdust, around the Florida Keys by sailing vessel, in mid-summer could be purchased dockside on the Gulf Coast. In 1844, he began to write a series of articles in Apalachicola’s “Commercial Advertiser” newspaper, entitled, “On the prevention of Malarial Diseases”.
He used the Nom De Plume, “Jenner”, a tribute to Edward Jenner, (1749 – 1823), the discoverer of smallpox vaccine. According to these articles, he had constructed an imperfect refrigeration machine by May, 1844, carrying out a proposal he had advanced in 1842. All of Gorrie’s personal records were accidentally destroyed sometime around 1860.
“If the air were highly compressed, it would heat up by the energy of compression. If this compressed air were run through metal pipes cooled with water, and if this air cooled to the water temperature was expanded down to atmospheric pressure again, very low temperatures could be obtained, even low enough to freeze water in pans in a refrigerator box.” The compressor could be powered by horse, water, wind driven sails, or steampower.
Dr. Gorrie submitted his patent petition on February 27, 1848, three years after Florida became a state. In April of 1848, he was having one of his ice machines built in Cincinnati, Ohio, at the Cincinnati Iron Works, and in Octobcr, he demonstrated its operation. It was described in the Scientific American in September of 1849. On August 22, 1850, he received London Patent #13,124, and on May 6, 1851, U. S. Patent #8080. Although the mechanism produced ice in quantities, leakage and irregular performance sometimes impaired its operation. Gorrie went to New Orleans in search of venture capital to market the device, but either problems in product demand and operation, or the opposition of the ice lobby, discouraged backers. He never realized any return from his invention. Upon his death on June 29, 1855, he was survived by his wife Caroline (1805 – 1864), his son John Myrick (1838 – 1866), and his daughter, Sarah (1844 – 1908). Dr. Gorrie is buried in Gorrie Square in Apalachicola, his wife and son are buried-St. Luke’s-Episcopal Cemetery, Marianna, Florida, and his daughter, in Milton, Florida.

Historic Beer Birthday: Ludwig Narziß, a.k.a. Beer Pope

September 30, 2025 By Jay Brooks

Today is the birthday of Ludwig Narziß (or Narziss), who was also known as the “Beer Pope” (September 30, 1925-November 29, 2022). He was born in Munich, and was “one of the world’s most renowned brewing scientists and educators of the 20th century. For almost thirty years, “was a leading authority in his field at the Weihenstephan Center of Life and Food Science in Freising, outside Munich. Often called the Harvard of beer, the school, part of the Technical University of Munich, is closely tied to the Bavarian state-owned brewery with which it shares its name. Following an apprenticeship at the Tucher Brewery in Nuremberg, Narziss arrived at Weihenstephan as a student in 1948. There, he received degrees in brewing science and engineering and later completed a doctorate, writing a thesis on the influence of different yeast strains on beer quality. In 1958, he became the brewmaster at Munich’s Löwenbräu Brewery. But Weihenstephan didn’t let Narziss stray for long. Only 6 years later he joined the faculty at Weihenstephan, taking over the chair of Brewing Technology I. While instructing students in the science of beer making and conducting research on methods in Weihenstephan’s test brewery, Professor Narziss at times also served as the school’s dean, once from 1968 to 1970 and again in 1990. He also made time available to be a council member of the European Brewery Convention, as well as the organization’s president from 1979 to 1983. Narziss has authored and co-authored literally hundreds of papers as well as three seminal text books, Abriss der Bierbrauerei (An Outline of Beer Brewing) in 1972, Die Technologie der Malzbereitung (Technology of Malt Preparation) in 1976, and Die Technologie der Würzebereitung (Technology of Wort Preparation) in 1985. These books have gone through many revisions and editions and are still used as standard student textbooks today. Professor Narziss retired from Weihenstephan in 1992. He still lives in Freising and serves as Professor Emeritus at his venerable alma mater.”

This was his obituary, from Brauwelt, written by Lydia Junkersfeld:

Prof. Ludwig Narziß was born in Munich on September 30, 1925 and grew up in Nuremberg. As a young adult he personally experienced the Second World War. His father was an authorized signatory at the Lederer Brewery and had planned a commercial apprenticeship at the Tucher Brewery for his son, who had returned home from captivity. Of his own accord, Ludwig Narziß soon switched to an apprenticeship as a brewer, which appealed to him more – the right decision, as it turned out. Despite the difficult conditions in the brewery after the war, he successfully completed his apprenticeship after two years in October 1947 and in 1948 switched to the Faculty of Brewing in Weihenstephan to study, where a long career began.
From 1951 he initially worked for two years as a research assistant and management consultant in the field service of the research institute for brewing at the Bavarian State Trade Institute in Nuremberg, where he also met his wife Dorle. In 1953, Prof. Weinfurtner recruited him to the State Brewery Testing and Research Institute (today the Weihenstephan Research Centre for Brewing and Food Quality) in Weihenstephan and offered him the opportunity to study for a doctorate (topic: “The influence of the yeast variety on beer quality“) which he completed in 1956.
After completing his doctorate, Prof. Narziß first went back into business: he worked at the Löwenbrauerei in Munich as first brewmaster and authorized signatory until 1964, before he returned to Weihenstephan. Between 1964 and 1992 he held the Chair for Technology at Brewery 1 of the Technical University of Munich in Weihenstephan, where he trained and shaped generations of students. Many ground-breaking innovations in brewery technology and technology occurred during this time, which Prof. Narziß initiated and managed. There was hardly an area in the brewery that could not be further developed through research from his chair: raw material issues, developments in malting, in the brewhouse, in fermentation and storage or in filtration. It was a basic need of Prof. Narziß to solve practical problems through scientific research; whilst often about optimizing production, it was of course also about improving the quality of the product. One of the most important research topics from his time was the avoidance of spoilage from oxygen in beer.
Hundreds of graduate students and over 50 doctoral students have worked on various topics under his expert guidance. He was a “doctor father” to them, with whom some of the former doctoral students have remained in close contact to this day. What distinguished Prof. Ludwig Narziß was his closeness to people. Despite the great international recognition, he maintained his humble and lovable manner towards everyone. He challenged his employees – he was strict in this matter – but he also promoted them to the best of his ability.

Hundreds of Publications

Many books, including classics of brewery technology, and hundreds of publications and lectures have emerged from his scientific work. All of this has made him a world-renowned brewing scientist whose expertise was valued by authorities, associations and breweries around the world. Prof. Narziß has not only significantly shaped the faculty for brewing in Weihenstephan, but also the reputation of German brewing science in general at home and abroad. It was always important to him to ensure dialogue between the brewing industry and brewing science, between research and brewing practice. It is only logical that a research prize, the Ludwig Narziß Award for Brewing Science from BrewingScience, bears his name.

Charlie Bamfort, Graham Stewart and Ludwig.

International Recognition

Prof. Ludwig Narziß joined the Institute of Brewing in 1965, after being nominated by the late Norman Curtis. He was elected President of the EBC Council in 1981, with the 19th EBC Congress being held in 1983 on the South Bank in London where, in collaboration with his EBC/IOB colleagues, he played a major role in the organisation of this event and 1600 delegates attended it. During the course of this Congress he had the opportunity to co-author a poster presentation (they were still very much in their infancy at that time) entitled “Composition of Worts and Beers of High Temperature Wort Boiling Systems“.
Prof. Narziß also participated in one of the Institute‘s London Section Cambridge meetings, also with Norman Curtis who was the London Section‘s Chairman at the time. In addition, he was a participant in the Master Brewer Association of the Americas Ontario District One-Day Conferences that were held in Toronto each January and he also was a participant in a number of the Association‘s National Conferences.
Prof. Narziß was awarded the IBD’s Horace Brown Medal in 1990 and the accompanying lecture, 125 Years Research At Weihenstephan, was delivered at the Royal Society in London and published in the Journal of the Institute of Brewing in 1992.

Many Awards and Honours

Commitment to voluntary work at home and abroad was also a matter of course for him, for example his 1979 election as President of the European Brewery Convention (EBC) in Brussels. To this day he is the only honorary president of the EBC. Prof. Narziß was the bearer of the Cross of Merit of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany as well as receiving many other honours and awards.
In 1992, Prof. Narziß handed over the management of the chair to Prof. Werner Back, but retained his research spirit, which kept him very active to the end. At the age of over 90, he was still traveling the world to attend brewing industry events and give lectures.
In spring 2021 he moved from Freising and Weihenstephan, the centre of his life for many years, to his family, who live near Reutlingen. Even if things got a little quieter around him, he still worked on his books every day, kept himself up to date with telephone calls.
The contribution given by Prof. Ludwig Narziß to the brewing industry internationally has been unique and we have lost a truly remarkable icon!

And this obituary is from Weinheistephaner:

Prof. Ludwig Narziß was a true “Weihenstephaner“: he passed his degree here after his brewery apprenticeship and also completed his doctorate in 1956. After his time as brewmaster at Löwenbräu, he was appointed to the Chair of Brewery Technology I and took over management of the teaching and research brewery. Until 1992, Prof. Narziß was the man at the helm, researching the further development of brewing – teaching the craft of brewing to thousands and thousands of students. Even today, many young people benefit from his works, which are held as standard works in brewing and beverage technology.
His professional expertise was more than appreciated by the Bavarian State Brewery Weihenstephan. Not only was great value placed here on his opinion on new beers – he was also a very welcome conversation partner at the table in the Bräustüberl. In every exchange, Prof. Narziß provided a different perspective, a further idea, a new approach: the fire for brewing was still burning in him until the very last moment. A characteristic that everyone appreciates to this day and that proved infectious to all his students.
Alongside all his professional expertise, it must never go unmentioned that with Prof. Narziß we lost a fine person. Never at a loss for a joke, always a smile on his lips – and above all he always had an open ear for every generation. Regardless of whether you were a young student or an experienced brewer: no question was left unanswered, Prof. Narziß always made time for you. He usually finished his meals in the Bräustüberl with a sip from his favorite beer, the Pils – and in the next days, people will be raising a toast to his memory and legacy everywhere in the brewing world.
Prof. Dr. Josef Schrädler, Director of the Bavarian State Brewery Weihenstephan explained on Wednesday: ”For me, Prof. Narziß was always an important dialog partner and advisor in strategic questions.“ But not only that: “I looked forward to every beer tasting with him – he was just an extremely likeable person.“
And Tobias Zollo, Technical Director and First Brewmaster can only confirm this: “Prof. Narziß treated everyone with respect, he was a true brewer.“ For Zollo and the brewmaster team, the many discussions they had with him on the last product developments about three years ago were especially valuable. Passing on knowledge – that was Prof. Narziß‘ mission in life. And he fulfilled this mission brilliantly.

Historic Beer Birthday: John Ewald Siebel

September 17, 2025 By Jay Brooks

Today is the birthday of John Ewald Siebel (September 17, 1868-December 20, 1919). Siebel was born in Germany, but relocated to Chicago, Illinois as a young man. Trained as a chemist, in 1868 he founded the Zymotechnic Institute, which was later renamed the Siebel Institute of Technology.

Here’s his obituary from the Foreign Language Press Survey:

Professor John Ewald Siebel has died after an active life devoted to science. Besides his relatives, thousands of his admirers, including many men of science, mourn at the bier of the friendly old man. He died in his home at 960 Montana Avenue.
Professor Siebel was born September 18, 1845, in Hofkamp, administrative district of Dusseldorf [Germany], as the son of Peter and Lisette Siebel; he attended high school [Real-Gymnasium] at Hagen and studied chemistry at the Berlin University. He came to the United States in 1865 and shortly afterwards obtained employment as a chemist with the Belcher Sugar Refining Company in Chicago. Already in 1868, he established a laboratory of his own, and from 1869 until 1873 he was employed as official chemist for the city and county. In 1871 he also taught chemistry and physics at the German High School. From 1873 until 1880 he was official gas inspector and city chemist. During the following six years he edited the American Chemical Review, and from 1890 until 1900 he published the Original Communications of Zymotechnic Institute. He was also in charge of the Zymotechnic Institute, which he had founded in 1901. Until two years ago he belonged to its board of directors.
Among the many scientific works published by the deceased, which frequently won international reputation, and are highly valued by the entire world of chemical science are: Newton’s Axiom Developed; Preparation of Dialized Iron; New Methods of Manufacture of Soda; New Methods of Manufacture of Phosphates; Compendium of Mechanical Refrigeration; Thermo-and Electro-Dynamics of Energy Conversion; etc. The distilling industry considered him an expert of foremost achievement.
The deceased was a member of the Lincoln Club; the old Germania Club; the local Academy of Science; the Brauer and Braumeisterverein [Brewer and Brewmaster Association]; the American Institute for Brewing; and the American Society of Brewing Technology. Professor Siebel was also well known in German circles outside the city and state.
His wife Regina, whom he married in 1870….died before him. Five sons mourn his death: Gustav, Friedrich, Ewald, Emil and Dr. John Ewald Siebel, Jr. Funeral services will be held tomorrow afternoon at Graceland Cemetery.
Professor Siebel was truly a martyr of science. He overworked himself, until a year ago he suffered a nervous breakdown. About four months ago conditions became worse. His was an easy and gentle death.

postcard-chicago-zymotechnic-institute-and-siebes-brewing-academy-c1910

The Siebel Institute’s webpage tells their early history:

Dr. John Ewald Siebel founded the Zymotechnic Institute in 1868. He was born on September 17, 1845, near Wermelskirchen in the district of Dusseldorf, Germany. He studied physics and chemistry and earned his doctorate at the University of Berlin before moving to Chicago 1866. In 1868 he opened John E. Siebel’s Chemical Laboratory which soon developed into a research station and school for the brewing sciences.
In 1872, as the company moved into new facilities on Belden Avenue on the north side of Chicago, the name was changed to the Siebel Institute of Technology. During the next two decades, Dr. Siebel conducted extensive brewing research and wrote most of his over 200 books and scientific articles. He was also the editor of a number of technical publications including the scientific section of The Western Brewer, 100 Years of Brewing and Ice and Refrigeration.
In 1882 he started a scientific school for brewers with another progressive brewer but the partnership was short lived. Dr. Siebel did, however, continue brewing instruction at his laboratory. The business expanded in the 1890’s when two of Dr. Siebel’s sons joined the company.
The company was incorporated in 1901 and conducted brewing courses in both English and German. By 1907 there were five regular courses: a six-month Brewers’ Course, a two-month Post Graduate Course, a three-month Engineers’ Course, a two-month Maltsters’ Course and a two-month Bottlers’ Course. In 1910, the school’s name, Siebel Institute of Technology, was formally adopted. With the approach of prohibition, the Institute diversified and added courses in baking, refrigeration, engineering, milling, carbonated beverages and other related topics. On December 20, 1919, just twenty-seven days before prohibition became effective, Dr. J. E. Siebel passed away.
With the repeal of prohibition in 1933 the focus of the Institute returned to brewing under the leadership of F. P. Siebel Sr., the eldest son of Dr. J. E. Siebel. His sons, Fred and Ray, soon joined the business and worked to expand its scope. The Diploma Course in Brewing Technology was offered and all other non-brewing courses were soon eliminated. Then in October 1952, the Institute moved to its brand new, custom built facilities on Peterson Avenue where we have remained for almost 50 years.

Siebel-1902-04 — Siebel Brewers Academy c. 1902-04.

Here’s another short account from the journal Brewery History, in an article entitled “A History of Brewing Science in the United States of America,” by Charles W. Bamforth:

Dr John Ewald Siebel (1845-1919) was born on September 17th 1845 at Hofcamp, near Düsseldorf. Upon visiting an uncle in US after the completion of his doctorate in chemistry and physics he became chief chemist at Belcher’s sugar refinery in Chicago, aged 21, but that company soon folded. Siebel stayed in Chicago to start an analytical laboratory in 1868, which metamorphosed into the Zymotechnic Institute.
With Chicago brewer Michael Brand, Siebel started in 1882 the first Scientific School for practical brewers as a division of the Zymotechnic Institute. True life was not breathed into the initiative until 1901 with Siebel’s son (one of five) Fred P. Siebel as manager. This evolved to become the Siebel Institute of Technology, which was incorporated in 1901 and conducted brewing courses in both English and German. Within 6 years five regular courses had been developed: a six-month course for brewers, a twomonth post graduate course, a threemonth course for engineers, a two-month malting course and a two-month bottling course.
Amongst Siebel’s principal contributions were work on a counter pressure racker and artificial refrigeration systems. Altogether he published more than 200 articles on brewing, notably in the Western Brewer and original Communications of the Zymotechnic Institute. Brewing wasn’t his sole focus, for instance he did significant work on blood chemistry.
Son EA Siebel founded Siebel and Co and the Bureau of Bio-technology in 1917, the year that prohibition arrived. Emil Siebel focused then on a ‘temperance beer’ that he had been working on for nine years. Courses in baking, refrigeration, engineering, milling and nonalcoholic carbonated beverages were offered.

And here’s the entry for the Siebel Institute from the Oxford Companion to Beer, written by Randy Mosher:

Beer In Ads #5069: Hunting Season Opens Today

September 1, 2025 By Jay Brooks

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.

Monday’s ad is for not for a specific Bock Beer, but instead a half-page panel celebrating the opening of hunting season in Montana in 1907. It was published on September 1, 1907. With the headline: “To Lakes, Rivers and Hills They Go in Bunches in Quest of Game, Now That the Season is Open,” there are below that several hunting-themed cartoons, including one featuring “Teddy Roosevelt in Disguise” standing with his boot on the back of a bock beer goat. The goat is exclaiming, “Here’s Where Bock Beer Gets the Worst Of It.” This ad ran in The Anaconda Standard , of Anaconda, Montana.

NFL Football: Pick The Winners At Brookston Fantasy Games 2025

August 18, 2025 By Jay Brooks

This is, I believe, the sixteenth year for the Brookston Fantasy Football Games, though I took a few years off after the 2020 pandemic season. We’ve had a lot of fun over the years, so if you love football and beer, consider joining us this year, whether you’ve played in past seasons or are a newcomer. The NFL season begins Thursday, September 4, so in just under three short weeks. Why not join us?

As I’ve done in previous years, I’ve set up two free Yahoo fantasy football games, one a simple pick ’em game and the other a survival pool. Up to 50 people can play each game (that’s Yahoo’s limit, not mine), so if you’re a regular Bulletin reader feel free to sign up for one or even both. It’s free to play, all you need is a Yahoo ID, which is also free. Below is a description of each game and the details on how to join each league and play.

Pro Football Pick’em

In this Pick’em game, just pick the winner for every game each week, with no spread, and let’s see who gets the most correct throughout the season. All that’s at stake is bragging rights, but it’s still great fun.

Also, like the last few years, we’ll be able to keep picking all through the playoffs, so the game will continue through to the Super Bowl, which is pretty cool.

In order to join the group, just go to Pro Football Pick’em, and on the right-hand side under the heading “Join Private Group,” enter the following information…
Group ID#: 19754 (Brookston Football Picks)
Password: BROOKSTON2025

Survival Football

If picking all sixteen football games every week seems like too much, then Survival Football is for you. In Survival Football, you only have to pick one game each week. The only catch is you can’t pick the same team to win more than once all season. And you better be sure about each game you pick because if you’re wrong, you’re out for the season. Actually a few years ago they added a new feature and I changed the game so to be kicked out you have to be wrong twice. In that way more people stand a better chance of lasting longer into the season. So get one wrong, and you’re still okay, get a second wrong, now you’re gone for the season. Last man standing wins.

Again, like the last few years, we can keep picking all through the playoffs, assuming our luck holds. So the game could even continue through to the Super Bowl.

This year it’s even easier to join, with a new streamlined sign-up process. Just click on this direct link and follow the instructions from there. [Note: if for some reason it doesn’t work, send me not through messenger and we’ll get you sorted, though I’m pretty sure you already have to have a Yahoo ID to start signing up.]

With 50 players allowed in each game, there’s plenty of room, so don’t be shy. Sign up for one or both games. This season, I’ll most likely post the standings week by week on my Facebook page so we can taunt and tease one another. Anyway, why not join us? Go head to head again me and my team, the Brookston Brew Jays.

Beer In Ads #5039: Bockbierfest

July 30, 2025 By Jay Brooks

Wednesday’s ad is not for an actual beer, but instead is something Bock related. As we move increasingly past the typical bock beer season, the number of unique ads are becoming harder to find, and today only this odd little gem stood out. This ad is for films being shown in Cleveland, Ohio, and presumably the various theaters have a single owner since the one ad has listings for eight different theaters in different locations. The ad was published on July 30, 1931 in The Plain Dealer, of Cleveland, Ohio. The one that stood out was the Alhambra Theatre, which was located at 10403 Euclid Ave. This ad ran on a Thursday and was promoting a new film imported from Germany entitled “Bockbierfest,” released the previous year in Europe. Bockbierfest was about to debut in three days, on Saturday. The ad refers to the novie as a “Rollicking, Hilarious Comedy of the annual Bock Beer Festival.”

Here’s a close up of the listing from the Alhambra:

Bockbierfest was not a film I’d ever heard of before, so I did a little googling to see what I could find. Several websites give the following synopsis:

Underwear manufacturer Livius Heintze is a vehement anti-alcoholic and thus is very much against the marriage of his daughter Hedwig to the brewery owner Raumert. Heintze’s second, illegitimate daughter Emmi also wants to give her father a heart attack by marrying the hops merchant Seidl.

From what I can gather it was only shown in German and the only copy I could find for sale online had no subtitles or dubbing available. It starred Carl Boese, Ludwig Stössel, Margarete Kupfer and Margot Landa, none of whom I was familar with.

The website SIMKL also gives some information about the film:

Bock Beer Fest (1930) – A German Comedy Classic
Released in 1930, Bock Beer Fest is a German comedy film directed by Carl Boese. This early talkie is a light-hearted, entertaining movie that showcases the director’s skill in blending humor and wit.
The film follows the story of a group of friends who try to outdo each other in a series of comedic misadventures. With its witty dialogue and physical comedy, Bock Beer Fest is a hilarious portrayal of friendships and the chaos that ensues when they get together.
What makes this film stand out is its historical significance. As one of the earliest German talkies, Bock Beer Fest showcases the early days of sound in cinema. The film’s direction and cinematography are noteworthy, highlighting Boese’s expertise in capturing the essence of the era.
Interesting Facts:
Bock Beer Fest was one of the first German films to use synchronized sound, making it a milestone in the country’s cinematic history.
The film’s title, “Bockbierfest,” refers to a traditional German beer festival, which is a central theme throughout the movie.

Trude Brionne played “Emmi – ihre Tochter”

And Margot Landa starred as “Hedwig – beider Tochter”

You can also watch it in German, in two parts, on YouTube. Here are links for Part 1 and Part 2.

The Cheerupping-Cup

March 19, 2025 By Jay Brooks

Today, like every day, I surveyed a list of writers born this day and try to find an appropriate quote involving beer or drinking for the day. I’ve been doing this for years and have amassed a fairly sizable quantity of quotations. But today I stumbled upon yet another great word that has been lost to time, or in this case never quite seems to have caught on at all, which is a pity.

Tobias Smollett was born today in 1721 in “Dalquhurn, now part of Renton in present-day West Dunbartonshire, Scotland.” According to his Wikipedia page, he “was a Scottish writer and surgeon. He was best known for writing picaresque novels such as The Adventures of Roderick Random (1748), The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle (1751) and The Expedition of Humphry Clinker (1771), which influenced later generations of British novelists, including Charles Dickens.”

While searching through his work today, I happened upon a great word in his 1771 novel The Expedition of Humphry Clinker, which is described as “the last of the picaresque novels of Tobias Smollett, published in London on 17 June 1771 (three months before Smollett’s death), and is considered by many to be his best and funniest work. It is an epistolary novel, presented in the form of letters written by six characters: Matthew Bramble, a Welsh Squire; his sister Tabitha; their niece Lydia and nephew Jeremy Melford; Tabitha’s maid Winifred Jenkins; and Lydia’s suitor Wilson.”

In the 59th letter of the novel, of a total of 85, which was written by J. Melford Argylshire and addressed “To Sir Watkin Phillips, Bart. of Jesus college, Oxon” and beginning “Dear Knight,” Smollett invented the word “chearupping-cup” to describe … well, a cup of cheer, with, naturally, alcohol in it. Here’s the paragraph that includes it:

When the Lowlanders want to drink a chearupping-cup, they go to the public house, called the Change-house, and call for a chopine of two-penny, which is a thin, yeasty beverage, made of malt; not quite so strong as the table-beer of England,—This is brought in a pewter stoop, shaped like a skittle, from whence it is emptied into a quaff; that is, a curious cup made of different pieces of wood, such as box and ebony, cut into little staves, joined alternately, and secured with delicate hoops, having two cars or handles—It holds about a gill, is sometimes tipt round the mouth with silver, and has a plate of the same metal at bottom, with the landlord’s cypher engraved.—The Highlanders, on the contrary, despise this liquor, and regale themselves with whisky; a malt spirit, as strong as geneva, which they swallow in great quantities, without any signs of inebriation. They are used to it from the cradle, and find it an excellent preservative against the winter cold, which must be extreme on these mountains—I am told that it is given with great success to infants, as a cordial in the confluent smallpox, when the eruption seems to flag, and the symptoms grow unfavourable—The Highlanders are used to eat much more animal food than falls to the share of their neighbours in the Low-country—They delight in hunting; have plenty of deer and other game, with a great number of sheep, goats, and black-cattle running wild, which they scruple not to kill as vension, without being much at pains to ascertain the property.

I confirmed with the O.E.D. that this is the sole instance of the word being used (at least that they recorded) and which thy defined as “Of an alcoholic drink: reviving; comforting….” “Chear,” being an archaic form of “cheer,” that never quite caught on as well as cheer, it feels better with the double-ee’s. And indeed later editions spelled it “cheerupping-cup” as listed in “A Supplemental English Glossary,” by T. Lewis O. Davis, and published in 1881, under an entry for “Twopenny.”

From “A Supplemental English Glossary,” by T. Lewis O. Davis.

And in another instance from a news report in the Stamford Mercury, Friday, July 4, 1823, there’s a story using the word.

The language of love, so much talked of by the poets, prevailed against every remonstrance of friends and even the rage and fury of relations. The happy swain had conquest in his cheeks and will love, cherish, honour and obey. Hand in hand the couple blithely proceeded to the adjoining village of Rippingale where the festive board groaned with the weight of the feast and it also being the annual feast day of the parish, the tabor struck up and the village was gay. Rural sports were the order of the day and the merry dance and sparkling glass went round till night was at odds with morning and the groom, having taken sufficient of the cheer-upping cup, the happy couple retired and after throwing the stocking, the jolly swain was left wrapt in the arms of Morpheus to enjoy (what he most needed), nature’s sweet restorer, balmy sleep. [My emphasis.]

But doing some more rabbit-hole digging, I discovered it was used earlier with the more common ‘cheer’ spelling, though still not often and certainly not enough to suggest its use became widespread by any means. The O.E.D. lists as an adjective “cheer-upping” with the same definition, “[o]f an alcoholic drink: reviving; comforting…” with a range of use from 1720-1832. They also list a quotation that predates Smollett, from 1733, so it’s likely he wasn’t the first after all. “They … retired to comfort themselves with a cheer-upping Cup,” which is from “English Malady: or, A Treatise of Nervous Diseases of All Kinds,” by George Cheyne, though he remains one of the few to use it in fiction.

But whoever came up with, I still don’t understand why it fell out of use, because it just rolls pleasantly off the tongue: “cheerupping-cup.” Who wouldn’t want, or often need, a cheerupping-cup? I think I need one now. Who’s with me? Fancy a cheerupping-cup?

« Previous Page