Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

Socialize

Beer In Ads #4864: Geo. Baurenschmidt’s Bock

By

Last year I decided to concentrate on Bock ads. Bock, of course, 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 for “Bock” depicts a goat driving a beer wagon drawn by four goats. The wagon is filled with wooden kegs, but they appear to have young kids breaking out of them, as if they were chicks hatching from eggs. Maybe that’s how Bock beer is made? The poster was for the Geo. Bauerschmidt Brewing Co. of Baltimore, Maryland, which at this time was also known as the Greenwood Park Brewery. The lithograph was created in 1870. The lithographer was A. Hoen & Co., of 75 Second St., in Baltimore, Maryland. “A. Hoen & Co. was a Baltimore, Maryland-based lithography firm founded by Edward Weber in the 1840s as E. Weber & Company. When August Hoen took it over following Weber’s death, he changed the name and built the company into one of the most prominent in the industry at the time.”

Beer Birthday: Henry “Zadie” Benesch

By

union-craft

Today would have been the 105th birthday of Henry “Zadie” Benesch. Unfortunately, he passed away a few days shy of his 101st birthday on January 11, 2021. Until then, the centenarian was believed to be the oldest living person working for a brewery, where he helped out at his grandson’s brewery in Baltimore, Maryland, Union Craft Brewery. Thanks to Gregg Wiggins and Tom Cizauskas for alerting me to this story. You can read more about Zadie in an interview of him from a few years before when he turned 99 from the Washington City Paper. Here is what Yours For Good Fermentables had to say:

Happy 100th birthday to America’s (and the world’s?) oldest brewery worker: Henry ‘Zadie’ Benesch. A World War II veteran, Mr. Benesch works at Union Craft Brewing in Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

On Jan. 19, 2020, Henry will celebrate his 100th birthday. He isn’t sure what’s kept him alive for a full century. ‘I can’t answer that, but I say I drank from the fountain of youth when I was 17 and I smoked cigars when I was 22 and I’m still smoking cigars and drinking bourbon.’ “

“His badass-ness just rubs off on all of us,” said Union Craft Brewing co-founder Kevin Blodger. His fellow co-founder, Adam Benesch, is one of Henry’s 16 grandchildren.

Sounds like a fascinating person with a lot of stories to tell. The brewery has declared January 19th as “Zay Day” and thrown a big birthday bash at the brewery. Join me in drinking a toast to Zadie with a beer, a cigar, or bourbon.

Zadie

In his obituary on Baltimore Jewish Living they reprinted Zadie’s 11 Life Lessons, and I think they bear repeating and taking to heart.

  1. You can never have too many hats.
  2. Vegetables are always optional.
  3. Exercise will kill you.
  4. Travel often and see the world.
  5. Coffee, bourbon, Blackwing Lager and cigars are the four basic life necessities.
  6. Show up and work hard.
  7. Treat everyone you meet with kindness and compassion.
  8. Don’t take life so seriously.
  9. Stay humble.
  10. Keep it simple.
  11. Appreciate what you have.
Zadie-Orioles

Beer In Ads #4845: Wooden Door Bock

By

Last year I decided to concentrate on Bock ads. Bock, of course, 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 for “Bock” shows a goat drinking a mug of beer through a wooden door, possibly a barn door, or maybe the door to a bar. The lithograph was created in 1880. The lithographer was A. Hoen & Co. of 75 Second St., in Baltimore, Maryland. “A. Hoen & Co. was a Baltimore, Maryland-based lithography firm founded by Edward Weber in the 1840s as E. Weber & Company. When August Hoen took it over following Weber’s death, he changed the name and built the company into one of the most prominent in the industry at the time.”

Beer In Ads #4844: Bowled Over Bock

By

Last year I decided to concentrate on Bock ads. Bock, of course, 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 for “Bock” shows a woman server holding a tray of dark beer mugs. For some unknown reason she’s also holding up her left arm as if she’s waving. Next to her, a sterotypically racist depiction of an African-American server is being knocked over by a charging goat. His tray appears to have had cocktails and other non-beer drinks on it, so I’m going to conclude that’s why the Bock goat targeted him. The lithograph was created in 1889. The lithographer was R. H. Eichner & Co. of Baltimore, Maryland.

Historic Beer Birthday: John Frederick Wiessner Sr. 

By

Today is the birthday of John Frederick Wiessner (December 14, 1831-January 1, 1871). He was born in Bavaria, but emigrated to the U.S. and settled in Baltimore, Maryland. He founded the John F. Wiessner Brewery in 1863, renaming it the John F. Wiessner & Sons Brewing Co. after his sons joined he business in 1888. It remained that name until closed by prohibition in 1920. It reopened after repeal in 1933 as the American Brewery, and went through a variety of name changes until closing for good in 1973.

Here’s a newspaper story about his will after he passed away.

Baltimore History Bits has a short history of the brewery, and cartoonist from California, Chendi Xu, created a short comic about the history of Wiessner’s brewery, although she claims he went to Bavaria to learn brewing and came back from there rather than New York. There’s also a pdf online with a history of the brewery from a breweriana perspective by David Hagberg.

The brewery building is still standing, though it’s been through a lot, according to Wikipedia:

The American Brewery, located in the Broadway East, Baltimore community, is an historic former brewery located at 1701 North Gay Street in northeast Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Formerly abandoned and left to decay for four decades, it has been recently repaired, renovated / restored and beautified. It is currently the headquarters of Humanim Inc., a regional social services agency.

Beer In Ads #4821: The King & Queen Of Bock

By

This year I decided to concentrate on Bock ads. Bock, of course, 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 depicts a king, possibly a queen, and, naturally, a Goat, created in 1891. The lithographer was R.H. Eichner & Co., a lithography and publishing company in Baltimore, Maryland.

Beer In Ads #4813: 1876 Bock

By

This year I decided to concentrate on Bock ads. Bock, of course, 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.

Thursday’s ad is for Bock Beer, and was created in 1876 for the F. Klemm Brewery of Baltimore, Maryland. The lithographer was A. Hoen & Co., who was also located in Baltimore.

Historic Beer Birthday: Elias Daniel Barnitz

By

globe-md

Today is the birthday of Elias Daniel Barnitz (October 23, 1715-February 6, 1780). He was the son of John Barnitz, who founded the first brewery in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1748, along with his son Elias. When his father died a year later, Elias continued running the brewery, but changed the name from the John Leonard Barnitz & Elias Daniel Barnitz Brewery to the Elias Daniel Barnitz Brewery. In 1780, he appears to have sold it and the brewery proceeded to go through no less than twenty name changes, and multiple ownership changes, and by 1888 was known as the Globe Brewery, the name that it continued under until 1963, when it closed for good.

Globe-1905

This biography of John Barnitz is from “The Barnitz Family,” by Robert M. Torrence, published in 1961, and also mention his son Elias:

John Leonard Barnitz is assumed to have been born in Falkenstein, Germany, November 24, 1677 (tombstone), because his son, John George Charles (Carl) Barnitz, stated in his own will that he was born there in 1722, so his father must have been there too. He died in York, Pa., November 19, 1749 and was buried in the Christ Lutheran Churchyard on South George Street. His remains must have been moved twice to make room for two new churches, during which his stone was broken and his J.L. letters were lost. Someone, attempting to make it right, just cut on it N.N .—no name. [The first Lutheran Church in York was built of logs in 1744 and was small. In 1760-61, this was replaced by a new church, forty feet by sixty-five, which lasted until 1812. The present Christ Lutheran Church was finished in 1814. They were all on the same location.] The date of his arrival is not of record in the Pennsylvania Archives or in any other standard publication consulted by the compiler. Evidently, he was well provided with ample funds and a knowledge of brewing, a business in which he was conspicuously successful, and he was correspondingly generous in sharing it with the Lutheran churches wherever he went. His first brewery was in York, the second in Hanover, Pa., and the third in Baltimore, Md., where he and his son, Elias Daniel Barnitz, bought Lot No. 27 from Charles Carroll of Annapolis, Md. Since his first wife
was not mentioned in his will, it is assumed that she died in Germany. His second wife was the widow of Frederick Gelwick (sic), who had a son by her first marriage, John Frederick Gelwick, born in 1733; married Maria Dorothea Uler; became York County Treasurer in 1756, succeeding Colonel Robert McPherson.
He was the first individual to be baptized in the Evangelical Lutheran Church on-the-Conowago “when Lenhart Barnitz and Frederick Gel wicks (sic) were the first Elders.”

wehr-hobelman-gottlieb-globe
This view of the brewry is from the 1880s, when it was known as the Wehr-Hobelmann-Gottlieb Brewing & Malting Co.

And this account is from “Zion Church and Baltimore’s First Brewer,” by Dr. Eric W. Gritsch:

Zion Church can claim the first brewer of Baltimore Town, Elias Daniel Barnitz, as a founding member our congregation. Along with his father John, they established their brewery in 1748. John was born in Falkenstein in the Palatinate of Germany on November 24, 1677, arriving in America in 1732 at the age of 55. In Germany he had been an apprentice brewer. Elias Daniel was also born in Falkenstein, on October 24, 1715. After residing in York County, Pennsylvania, John arrived in Baltimore Town in 1748 at the age of 71. He and his son found the Baltimore settlement surrounded by a stockade fence, erected in 1746. Lost to history is the purpose of the stockade, but it was said to provide protection from hostile Native Americans west of the town. A more plausible reason for the fence was to keep wandering hogs and other livestock from wandering into the town. The fence was eventually dismantled and used for kindling after several cold winters.
The Barnitz brewery was gratefully welcomed by Baltimore’s early inhabitants, about 30 families in all. The brewery was viewed as both a source of liquid refreshment and impetus to attract other businesses to the nascent settlement, then just 22 years old. The original brewery was located at the southwest corner of Baltimore and Hanover Streets, today the entrance to Hopkins Plaza and cater-corner to the Lord Baltimore Hotel. This was one of the original lots of Baltimore Town, purchased from Charles Carroll, Sr. He was father of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

To place this brewery in historical context, George II was King of England and Sovereign Lord of the Province of Maryland. Samuel Ogle was Governor of Maryland, and George Washington was just a lad of sixteen. Tobacco was used as currency.

Unfortunately, the elder Barnitz died on November 19, 1749, surviving his brewery but for one year. The brewery was then passed on to Elias Daniel. Although no description of Baltimore Town’s first brewery exists, it was assumed to be diminutive in size and small in output, one or two stories in construction and employing no more than three workers. Equipment was likely crude, consisting of copper cookers, fermenting tubs and racking for casks and kegs. The entire brewing process was done by manual labor. The water supply was drawn from a well. The “ageing” period was likely a short one as there was no cooling cellar to lager the beer. Records indicate beer was produced at this location until about 1815, with the building itself lasting over 100 years, until 1853.

globe-brewery-poster-1890s

This video is from when the Barnitz’s were Baltimore Beer Legend Inductees in 2017.

Historic Beer Birthday: John Friedrich Wiessner Jr.

By

Today is the birthday of John Friedrich Wiessner Jr. (April 5, 1859-September 21, 1906). He was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and learned the brewing trade there, before moving to New York to work at the George Ringler Brewery for a time. In the 1880s, he returned to Baltimore to work at his father’s brewery, first known as the John F. Wiessner Brewery, and after junior and his brother joined him in the business in 1888, it was renamed the John F. Wiessner & Sons Brewing Co., which it remained until closed by prohibition in 1920. It reopened after repeal in 1933 as the American Brewery until closing for good in 1973.

And this obituary is from the American Brewers Journal:

Baltimore History Bits has a short history of the brewery, and cartoonist from California, Chendi Xu, created a short comic about the history of Wiessner’s brewery, although she claims he went to Bavaria to learn brewing and came back from there rather than New York. There’s also a pdf online with a history of the brewery from a breweriana perspective by David Hagberg.

Beer Birthday: Hugh Sisson

By

Today is the 70th birthday — The Big 7-O — of Hugh Sisson (March 11, 1954- ). He founded Heavy Seas Brewing in Baltimore, Maryland in January of 1995, though officially its name is the Clipper City Brewing Co. But he’d been dabbling in beer long before that, starting with running Maryland’s only craft beer bar in 1982 with his father. In 1986, he helped get his state’s laws changed to allow brewpubs, and opened Sisson’s Brewpub. Wanting to focus more on the beer, het left the brewpub behind and started Clipper City, rebranding it in 2010 as Heavy Seas, since those were his most popular beers. I’ve only run into Hugh a few times over the years, but first visited Clipper City in 1998, when GABF On the Road was in town. Join me in wishing High a very happy birthday.

Dressed up for their 20th anniversary.