Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Beer In Ads #5185: It’s Bock Time

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Two years ago I decided to concentrate on Bock ads for awhile. Bock, of course, may have originated in Germany, in the town of Einbeck. Because many 19th century American breweries were founded by German immigrants, they offered a bock at certain times of the year, be it Spring, Easter, Lent, Christmas, or what have you. In a sense they were some of the first seasonal beers. “The style was later adopted in Bavaria by Munich brewers in the 17th century. Due to their Bavarian accent, citizens of Munich pronounced ‘Einbeck’ as ‘ein Bock’ (a billy goat), and thus the beer became known as ‘Bock.’ A goat often appears on bottle labels.” And presumably because they were special releases, many breweries went all out promoting them with beautiful artwork on posters and other advertising.

Wednesday’s ad is for Walter’s Bock Beer, which was published on January 28, 1966. This ad was for the Walter Brewing Co. of Pueblo, Colorado, which was originally founded in 1889 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin by Johannes Walter, while his brother Martin Walter opened a location in Colorado in 1898. This ad ran in The Daily Sentinel, of Grand Junction, Colorado.

Beer Birthday: Shane McNamara

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Today is the 37th birthday of Shane McNamara, who is a Master Cicerone and the Global Director, Innovation Quality & Beyond Beer for Anheuser-Busch InBev. He’s been with ABI for seven years, and before that he was with the Chartered Institute of Brewers and Distillers (CIBD) and before that brewed at CRATE Brewery in London. He’s originally from Australia, but lives in New York. I believe I first met Shane when Emily Sauter introduced us in Minneapolis during CBC, but we’ve run into each other multiple time since then. Join me in wishing Shane a very happy birthday.

Me and Shane at the BA warehouse for GABG judging.
Me, Emily Sauter, Shane and Max Finnance at CBC in 2023.

Historic Beer Birthday: John Goetz

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Today is the birthday of John Goetz, Jr. (January 28, 1855-January 23, 1898), who was married to Christian Moerlein’s daughter Lizzie and worked in his father-in-law’s brewery. He also organized the Brewers Exchange, and was its first president, a trustee in the U.S. Brewers Association, and helped organize the Ohio Brewers Guild.

Here’s his obituary from the American Brewers’ Review, which provides a summary of his life:

After Goetz married Lizzie Moerlein, he went to work for his father-in-law at one of Cincinnati’s biggest breweries, Christian Moerlein Brewing Co. In fact, before prohibition, it was one of the nation’s ten largest. But like many breweries, it was closed by prohibition, and wasn’t re-introduced until 1981. In 2004, the brand was purchased by Greg Hardman, a local resident of the Greater Cincinnati area, who also bought several other local beer brands in addition to Moerlein.

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And here’s an additional biography.

Beer Birthday: Jean-Marie Rock

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Today is the 78th birthday of Jean-Marie Rock, former brewmaster of Orval. While I’d visited the brewery a couple of times, I had the pleasure of judging Belgian beers with Jean-Marie at the World Beer Cup when it was in Nashville, which was an amazing experience. He first brewed for Palm and later for Lamot in Mechelen, brewing lagers, before joining Orval in 1972. He retired about sieven years ago, and is doing some consulting, plus working on another brewery in Belgium, Monsieur Rock. Join me in wishing Jean-Marie a very happy birthday.

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Carl Kins and Jean-Marie in Nashville.
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Jean-Marie and me at the World Beer Cup.
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A satisfied-looking Jean-Marie.

Beer In Ads #5184: The “B”s Are Here, Bruton Bock Beer

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Two years ago I decided to concentrate on Bock ads for awhile. Bock, of course, may have originated in Germany, in the town of Einbeck. Because many 19th century American breweries were founded by German immigrants, they offered a bock at certain times of the year, be it Spring, Easter, Lent, Christmas, or what have you. In a sense they were some of the first seasonal beers. “The style was later adopted in Bavaria by Munich brewers in the 17th century. Due to their Bavarian accent, citizens of Munich pronounced ‘Einbeck’ as ‘ein Bock’ (a billy goat), and thus the beer became known as ‘Bock.’ A goat often appears on bottle labels.” And presumably because they were special releases, many breweries went all out promoting them with beautiful artwork on posters and other advertising.

Tuesday’s ad is for Bruton Bock Beer, which was published on January 27, 1939. This ad was for the Bruton Brewing Co. of Baltimore, Maryland, which was originally founded in 1855 by George Neisendorfer. Over the years it had several owners and a variety of names, and for it’s last five years in business, from 1935-1940, it was known as the Bruton Brewing Co. This ad ran in The Evening Sun, also of Baltimore, Maryland.

Beer Birthday: Logan Plant

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Today is the 47th birthday of Logan Plant, founder and brewmaster of Beavertown Brewery, which he started in 2011. I met Logan first at the Firestone-Walker Invitational Beer Festival a few years ago and have run into a couple of times since both there and at the RateBeer Best Festival. He’s a very friendly and talented person and his beer is great, and it’s always been a pleasure to hang out with him. Please join me in wishing Logan a very happy birthday.

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At the Firestone-Walker Invitational in 2017.
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With Jeremy Marshall, from Lagunitas, and me at the RateBeer Best Awards show in January 2017.
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With Matt Brynildson at the Firestone-Walker Invitational in 2017.
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With me, Matt Brynildson and another F-W brewer at the Firestone-Walker Invitational in 2016.

Historic Beer Birthday: William Tunis Ryerson

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Today is the birthday of William Tunis Ryerson (January 27, 1829-December 28, 1891). He was born in New York, and his father was a senior partner in the Ryerson and Brown Transfer Co. The Ryersons came to America in 1646, so I suspect he didn’t struggle financially too much. When he was 44 year old, in 1873, he joined the New York City brewery Yuengling & Co. on 213 Front & 4th Avenue as an investor and controlling partner. But he left just four years later to help form the New York Cab Company, which consolidated the existing taxi service in the city. Meanwhile, Yuengling closed the New York brewery in 1882. Ryerson passed away in late 1891, age 62.

Historic Beer Birthday: Charles Hebrank

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Today is the birthday of Charles ‘Carl’ Hebrank (January 27, 1809 or 1811-March 18, 1887). He was born in Hohen Neuendorf, Germany, where he trained as a brewery. After marrying Catherine and having three children, around 1853 he moved his family to the United States, settling in Parkersburg, West Virginia.

He soon after partnered with Marcus Rapp (who was also a recent immigrant from Germany) to open a brewery in 1850 they called the Rapp & Hebrank Lager Beer Brewery, but in 1874 shortened to the Hebrank & Rapp. His two eldest sons, Lewis (or Louis, accounts differ) and John, were also trained in brewing and later opoened their own breweries in Kansas and West Virginia. Shortly after Hebrank died in 1887, the brewery was reorganized as the Parkersburg Brewing Co. but closed for good in 1914, thanks to West Virginia passing Anti-Saloon laws that took effect that year, even before the nationwide prohibition.

The Hebrank and Rapp Brewery around 1880.

Beer In Ads #5183: Like From The Fountain Of Youth Is A Glass Of Leidiger Bock Beer

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Two years ago I decided to concentrate on Bock ads for awhile. Bock, of course, may have originated in Germany, in the town of Einbeck. Because many 19th century American breweries were founded by German immigrants, they offered a bock at certain times of the year, be it Spring, Easter, Lent, Christmas, or what have you. In a sense they were some of the first seasonal beers. “The style was later adopted in Bavaria by Munich brewers in the 17th century. Due to their Bavarian accent, citizens of Munich pronounced ‘Einbeck’ as ‘ein Bock’ (a billy goat), and thus the beer became known as ‘Bock.’ A goat often appears on bottle labels.” And presumably because they were special releases, many breweries went all out promoting them with beautiful artwork on posters and other advertising.

Monday’s ad is for Leidiger Bock Beer, which was published on January 26, 1910. This ad was for the Leidiger Brewing Co. of Merrill, Wisconsin, which was originally founded in 1884 by George Ruder, and the Leidiger family appears to have bought the brewery around 1895. This ad ran in The Merrill Star Advocate, also of Merrill, Wisconsin.

Historic Beer Birthday: Carl Dinkelacker

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Today is the birthday of Carl Dinkelacker (January 26, 1863-September 5, 1934). He was born in Böblingen, Landkreis Böblingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. In 1888, he founded the Dinkelacker Brewery in Stuttgart, Germany, and by the end of the 19th century, it was the largest brewery in town. In 1996, it merged with Schwaben Bräu, which is also located in Stuttgart to create Dinkelacker-Schwaben Bräu, but in 2004 was acquired by InBev. More recently, it again became an independent family-owned company in 2007, called Dinkelacker-Schwaben Bräu GmbH & Co. KG. Unfortunately, there’s not much biographical information I could find about Carl.

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Here’s a short history of the brewery from Hobby db:

The brewery Dinkelacker is a Swabian brewery. It was founded in 1888 by Carl Dinkelacker in Tübinger Strasse in Stuttgart, where even today a brewery of the company is located. The founding was a challenge as there were already many established breweries in the area at that time. However, the brewery withstood the competitive pressure, so that it was one of the largest breweries in Stuttgart at the end of the 19th century. The annual production in 2013 was approximately 600,000 hectoliters.

In 1994, the actually competing breweries Dinkelacker and Schwaben Bräu opened a joint logistics center under the name Dinkelacker-Schwaben Bräu Logistik (DSL) . In 1996, Dinkelacker and Schwaben Bräu merged to form Dinkelacker-Schwaben Bräu AG in order to be able to survive in the increasingly difficult market. In 2003 InBevexpanded to the German market. The company took over the beer division of the Spaten-Franziskaner-BräuGmbH, which was also the majority shareholder of Dinkelacker-Schwaben Bräu AG. Thus, Dinkelacker operated from October 1, 2004 to December 31, 2006 under the umbrella of InBev. Since 2 January 2007 Dinkelacker together with Schwaben Bräu under the name Dinkelacker-Schwaben Bräu GmbH & Co. KG is again an independent family-owned company.

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The brand has been available in the U.S. off and on over the years, including being served at the New York World’s Fair in 1964. While I attended that World’s Fair, I did not sample the being, being only five years old at the time.

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Brewery wagon in the early 20th century.

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The brewery today.

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