Beer In Ads #5297: Frankfurter Bürgerbräu Bock

July 21, 2026 By Jay Brooks

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. With Spring approaching, there are so many great examples that I’m going to post two a day for a few months.

Tuesday’s poster was created for Frankfurter Bürgerbräu Bock, which was published mayybe around 1900, but that’s just a wild guess. This poster was made for the Frankfurter Bürgerbräu, of Frankfurt am Main, Germany, which was originally founded in 1860, and merged with the Binding Brewery in 1921, and today is part of he Radeberger Group. Unfortunately, I could not figure out who created the art or when it was actually published.

Historic Beer Birthday: Louis Bergdoll

July 21, 2026 By Jay Brooks

Today is the birthday of Louis Bergdoll Sr. (July 21, 1825-August 18, 1894). He was born in Sinsheim, Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. He trained there as a brewer, and emigrated to the U.S. when he was 21, in 1846, arriving in New York City. He settled in Philadelphia, and in 1849 founded the Bergdoll & Schema Brewery, with a partner, Peter Schema. That partnership apperas to have lasted two years, and then a new partner, Johann Carl “Charles” Psotta, came on board for the next twenty-five years. After 1876 it appears to be owned by Bergdoll alone, known as the Louis Bergdoll Brewery, and also trading under the name “City Brewery,” and possibly until it was closed by prohibition in 1920.

Here’s his biography from his Find-a-Grave page:

Louis Bergdoll Sr. was born on July 21, 1825, in Sinsheim near Heidelberg in Baden, Germany, the son of Johann Georg Bergdoll and Catharina Schneider. He learned the brewing trade in his native Germany during a period when Bavarian-style lager beer production was spreading throughout the German states and transforming the brewing industry. Seeking greater opportunity in America, he immigrated to the United States in 1846, arriving at Castle Garden in New York aboard the ship Doris on June 27 of that year before eventually settling in Philadelphia among the city’s rapidly growing German immigrant community.
Only a few years after his arrival, Bergdoll entered the Philadelphia brewing industry. In 1849 he established a brewery at 508 Vine Street in partnership with Peter Schemm under the name Bergdoll & Schemm. The venture proved successful, and after Schemm withdrew from the business, Bergdoll partnered with Charles Psotta, reorganizing the company as Bergdoll & Psotta. During the mid-nineteenth century Philadelphia emerged as one of the leading brewing centers in the United States, largely through the influence of German immigrants who introduced lager beer and German brewing methods to the city. Bergdoll became one of the important figures in that transformation.
In 1856 the firm relocated to a far larger site near Fairmount Park between North 28th and 29th Streets in what later became known as Brewerytown. The new complex became known as the City Park Brewery. The location was chosen for its proximity to excellent water sources and expanding transportation networks, both essential to large-scale lager beer production. Over the following decades the brewery expanded into one of Philadelphia’s major brewing operations, with extensive brew houses, malt houses, storage buildings, stables, and bottling facilities occupying a substantial portion of the neighborhood.
As Philadelphia’s taste increasingly turned toward lager beer during the nineteenth century, the Bergdoll brewery gained a strong regional reputation. The brewery became one of the industrial foundations of Brewerytown, the section of Philadelphia that grew into one of America’s great brewing districts. The success of the enterprise brought Bergdoll considerable wealth and established the Bergdoll family among Philadelphia’s prominent German-American business families.
In 1881 the business incorporated as the Louis Bergdoll Brewing Company, with Bergdoll serving as president while members of his family assumed important positions within the operation. By this period the brewery ranked among the city’s best-known lager beer producers. The Bergdoll name became closely associated with Philadelphia brewing for generations, and the family’s influence continued well into the twentieth century.
Outside the brewing industry, Bergdoll invested heavily in Philadelphia real estate, particularly in the Fairmount section of the city near his brewery operations. He developed numerous residential properties and became a substantial property owner. The prosperity generated through the brewing business allowed the family to construct several notable residences associated with the Bergdoll name, including the impressive Louis Bergdoll House and the later Bergdoll Mansion, both of which survive as important reminders of Philadelphia’s brewing era and German-American industrial wealth.
Bergdoll was also active in charitable and civic causes within Philadelphia’s German-American community. He supported the German Hospital, later known as Lankenau Hospital, the Little Sisters of the Poor, and Salem Reformed German Church. His philanthropy reflected both his prosperity and his continuing ties to the city’s German immigrant institutions.
He married Elizabeth Wolf, and together they raised a family whose descendants remained prominent in Philadelphia society and business circles. Several of his children and extended family members later became involved in the family brewing enterprise and associated business interests.
Louis Bergdoll Sr. died at his home in Philadelphia’s Fairmount section on August 10, 1894, at the age of sixty-nine. He was buried at West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. Portions of the former City Park Brewery complex still stand in Philadelphia today as enduring reminders of the city’s once vast brewing industry and of the German immigrant entrepreneurs who helped build it.

Here’s an obituary of Bergdoll from the Philadelphia Inquirer:

And this obituary is from the Philadelphia Times:

Historic Beer Birthday: Josef Sedlmayr

July 18, 2026 By Jay Brooks

Today is the birthday of Josef Sedlmayr (July 18, 1808-March 12, 1886). He was the son of Gabriel Sedlmayr, who owned Spaten brewery, and Josef owned the Franziskaner brewery, though the two breweries later merged.

Joseph Sedlmayr in 1861

Here’s a very short biography on Find a Grave:

Owner of the Franziskaner Brewery in Munich, which was established near the Franciscan Monastery in Munich in 1363. Up to and during Sedlmayr’s time it was known as the Franziskaner-Leistbrauerei.

According to Spaten’s website (which owns Franziskaner today)

At the same time, one of the sons of Gabriel Sedlmayr – Joseph, was the owner of the brewery Leist (Leistbrauerei), which dates back to the fifteenth century.
In 1858, he bought shares in the Franziskaner brewery, and from 1861 Joseph Sedlmayr becomes its sole owner.
In 1865, the entire production of the brewery Leist is transferred to the Franziskaner-Brauerei.
At Oktoberfest in 1872 becomes presented a new beer with an amber colour, which gave rise a new style known since then as Marzenbier.

Franziskaner-Keller-Labels-Jos-Sedlmayr-Leistbrau

And here’s a timeline from the Sheehan Family Companies website:

1363 – Franziskaner’s roots can be traced back to 1363. It was in this year that the brewer Seidel Vaterstetter is first mentioned as the owner of the ‘brewery next to the Franciscans’ in the Munich Residenzstrasse. The name ‘Franziskaner’ derives from the Franciscan monastery diagonally across the street.
1841 – The Franziskaner Brewery moves to Lilienberg in Munich’s eastern suburb of Au. In the same year Augustin Deiglmayr, a son-in-law of Spaten’s owner Gabriel Sedlmayr the Elder, buys the Residenzstrasse brewery.
1861 – Joseph Sedlmayr, owner of the Leist Brewery (probably founded in the 15th century) and son of Spaten’s Gabriel Sedlmayr the Elder, buys out August Deiglmayr, with whom he has been co-running the Residenzstrasse brewery since 1858.
1865 – The Leist Brewery in Sendlinger Strasse stops its brewing operations, which are now left entirely to the Franziskaner Brewery.
1872 – ‘Ur-Märzen’, the amber-colored Oktoberfest beer from Franziskaner-Leist, is served for the first time at the Schottenhamel Tent on the Oktoberfest fairgrounds. Brewed from a Viennese recipe, this golden-yellow beer is stronger than the summer beer.
1909 – Gabriel Sedlmayr III, the son of Joseph Sedlmayr, turns the Franziskaner-Leist Brewery into a family-owned joint stock company, the ‘Joseph Sedlmayr Zum Franziskanerkeller (Leistbräu) AG’.
1922 – The Franziskaner-Leist Brewery and the Spaten Brewery, likewise owned by the Sedlmayr family, unite to form a single joint stock company, the ‘Gabriel und Joseph Sedlmayr Spaten-Franziskaner-Leistbräu AG’, in order to combat the economic problems of the crisis-ridden postwar years and to capitalize on synergies.
1935 – The Munich artist Ludwig Hohlwein designs the company’s distinctive trademark, which is still used today. The Franciscan Friar continues to stand for the unsurpassed quality of Franziskaner’s premium weiss beer.

Curiously, the iconic Franziskaner image of the monk that’s used on their labels was only created in 1935

Beer In Ads #5294: Heute ff Bockbier!

July 14, 2026 By Jay Brooks

Tuesday’s artwork was created for a generic bock with the title “Heute ff Bockbier!” which translates from German as either “Today Very Fine Bock Beer!” or “Bock Beer on Tap Today.” I’m not sure who or what it was created for, or even when, so could be fairly modern. But I do quite like the art. It almost resembles a Christmas wreath.

Historic Beer Birthday: Joseph Schmid

July 14, 2026 By Jay Brooks

Today is the birthday of Joseph Schmid (July 14, 1814-December 18, 1881). He was born in Hausen, Hohenzollern, but grew up in Constantz, where he learned to brew. He started a brewery in Germany, but sold it and came to American when he was 42, in 1856.

He initially settled in Illinois where he started the Atlantic Brewery in Rock Island, but a decade later when he joined the Lion Brewery, which was also known as the Bernheimer & Schmid Brewery. There was also an August Schmid involved in that business, and it’s unclear the relationship between the two Schmids. The brewery survived prohibition but closed for good in 1941.

This short biography of Joseph Schmid is from the Western Brewer reprinting his obituary 25 years after the fact. The piece mentions the “Lim Brewery” but I’m convinced that’s a typo and should read “Lion Brewery.”

Lion-Extra-Lager-Beer--Labels-Lion-Brewery-Of-New-York-City

Another account appears to clear up some of the confusion regarding Joseph and August, from the Columbia University Libraries:

A locus for both business and pleasure in Morningside Heights, the Lion Brewery began operations in 1850 and continued until its demolition in 1944. During that time, especially in the late 19th-century, it rose to be a community focal point. It originated with a farm—stretching from Tenth Avenue to Central Park, and 106th Street to 110th Street—belonging to Joseph Schmid (sometimes spelled “Schmidt”) on which he built a brewery in the 1820s, operating as Schmidt & Speyer. Soon, a change of partners brought a change in name to Bernheimer & Schmidt, for Schmid’s new partner, former brewery worker Emanuel Bernheimer. The two renamed it the Lion Brewery in 1850; within thirty years it was generating profits estimated between $1,500,00 and $2,225,000. Real estate speculation doomed the partners, however, and by May 1879, the year after the newspapers’ estimate of their wealth, their combined net worth had fallen to $500,000. They dissolved their partnership and each man transferred his share of the business to his better-educated son: Joseph Schmid transferred his holdings to his son August, and Emanuel Bernheimer to his son Simon. August and Simon applied their education to the management of the business, and by 1888 the plant alone was valued at $1,5000,000.

Lion-Pilsener-Style-Beer-Labels-Lion-Brewery-of-New-York-City--pre-Prohibition

And this account of some litigation reported by the American Brewers’ Review shed further light on the ownership question of the Schmids.

Lion-Pilsener-Beer-Labels-Metropolis-Brewery-Inc

Beer In Ads #5292: Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock

July 12, 2026 By Jay Brooks

Sunday’s artwork was created for “Celebrator Doppelbock,” which was published around 1910. It was created for the Ayinger Privatbrauerei, or Ayinger Brewery, of Aying, Germany, which was founded in 1877. This label was created by Merchant Du Vin importer, and artist, Charles Finkel, in Seattle, Washington. Notably, this is the 600th bock work I’ve shared.

Historic Beer Birthday: Adolphus Busch

July 10, 2026 By Jay Brooks

a-b
Today is the birthday of Adolphus Busch (July 10, 1839-October 10, 1913). He was born in Kastel, Germany, and co-founded Anheuser-Busch, along with his father-in-law, Eberhard Anheuser. The twenty-first of twenty-two children, his family was in the wholesale business, specializing in winery and brewery supplies. Like all of his his brothers he was sent to college, and graduated from the Collegiate Institute of Belgium in Brussels.

He moved to St. Louis in 1857, when he was eighteen, and eventually got a sales job with Charles Ehlermann Hops and Malt Co. After a distinguished stint as a soldier during the Civil War, he returned to his brewery supply job and married Lily Anheuser, the daughter of Eberhard Anheuser. Together, they had thirteen children, including Adolphus Busch II and August A. Busch. After marrying Lily, he joined the family business, then known as E. Anheuser Co.’s Brewing Association, and eventually became a partner. When Lily’s father passed away in 1879, Adolphus took control of the business and changed the name to Anheuser-Busch.

portrait-of-Adolphus-Busch

In St. Louis, Adolphus Busch was busy transforming his father-in-law’s (Eberhard Anheuser’s) once-failing brewery into a grand empire. Adolphus, perhaps more than any other brewer, became known for his flamboyant, almost audacious persona. Tirelessly promoting his Budweiser Beer, he toured the country in a luxurious railroad car immodestly named “The Adolphus.” In place of the standard calling card, the young entrepreneur presented friends and business associates with his trademark gold-plated pocket knife featuring a peephole in which could be viewed a likeness of Adolphus himself. His workers bowed in deference as he passed. “See, just like der king!” he liked to say.

Adolphus as a young man, in 1869.

Here’s a biography of Adolphus Busch from the Immigrant Entrepreneur Hall of Fame:

“A truly American tale. Freedom. Opportunity. Progress. Words that seized the imagination of people all over the world and brought them to the Land of Liberty. It’s a uniquely American story, told in chapter after chapter of hardship, hard work and hard-won success. The Budweiser story is no exception.”
Photo of Adolphus BuschSo begins the tale of Adolphus Busch, the founder of Anheuser-Busch and creator of Budweiser beer, as stated on the Budweiser website. He was an immigrant who not only created personal wealth and success but also made a landmark contribution to American society.
Born the second youngest of 22 children in Germany, Busch was educated in Brussels and immigrated to the United States in 1857. Settling in St. Louis, he married Lilly Anheuser and had 13 children of his own.
After completing his enlistment in the Union Army during the Civil War, Adolphus joined his father-in-law in the operation of E. Anheuser & Co. Brewery. The company was later restructured with Anheuser as president and Busch as secretary. As full partner, Busch took on greater responsibility for the operation of the brewery. To recognize his efforts, in 1879 the company name was changed to the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Association.
Busch was a man of many firsts. Apart from founding America’s first national beer brand, Budweiser, in 1876, he is credited with revolutionizing the shipment of beer (in refrigerated railway cars), being one of the first to bottle beer and implementing a method to pasteurize beer to keep it fresh.
Today, Anheuser-Busch captures the largest market share in the U.S. with 47.6 percent share of U.S. beer sales to retailers. It brews the world’s top-selling beer brands, Budweiser and Bud Light, at 12 breweries across the United States.
After he died while on vacation in Germany, his body was brought back to St. Louis to be buried. It was a fitting resting place for the man who created one of America’s most iconic brands.

Busch married Elise “Lilly” Eberhard Anheuser, the third daughter of Eberhard Anheuser, on March 7, 1861 in St. Louis, Missouri. They had thirteen children; eight sons, including Adolphus Busch II, August Anheuser Busch I and Carl Busch, and five daughters. The Busches often traveled to Germany where they bought a castle. They named it the Villa Lilly for Mrs Busch. It was located in Lindschied near Langenschwalbach, in present-day Bad Schwalbach.

adolphus-and-lily-1865-to-75

And here’s his biography from the German-American Hall of Fame:

Busch, Adolphus
1839-1913
Inducted: 2007
Area of Achievement: Business & Industry
American businessman and philanthropist, b. Mainz, Germany. To U.S. (1857); joined St. Louis brewery of Eberhard Anheuser (1861); president of Anheuser-Busch Brewing Association (1879-1913); introduced Budweiser brand; pioneered in pasteurization of beer.
Adolphus Busch was born July 10, 1839 in Kastel (near Mainz, Hesse), Germany. He was second-to-youngest of twenty-two children of Ulrich Busch and Barbara Pfeiffer Busch.
In 1857, Adolphus Bush emigrated to the United States with no plans, no destination, and nothing but his own ambition and abilities. Three of his brothers had already headed for St. Louis, Missouri. His brother John had opened his own brewery in nearby Washington, Missouri.
Young Adolphus joined Ernst Wattenberg to sell equipment and supplies to breweries. This venture led him to forge several strategic partnerships. Most important, he met his future bride, Lily Anheuser. At the same time, his brother Ulrich became enamored with her older sister, Anna.
Their father, Eberhard Anheuser, a skilled St. Louis soap and candle-maker, had recently purchased the failing Bavarian Brewery in St. Louis. He reopened the brewery as E. Anheuser & Co.
On March 7, 1861, the Anheuser-Busch interests were formally joined, both professionally and matrimonially. Eberhard Anheuser escorted both daughters down the aisle in double nuptials to the two Busch brothers. At the time, Busch was working for Anheuser as a salesman. (The future malt mogul and his brother married his boss’ daughters.)
Eventually, Busch and Anheuser became partners and equals. It was the perfect match. Busch was the consummate marketer, and Anheuser was a skilled manufacturer. Working for his father-in-law, Busch developed pasteurization of beer and began marketing the Budweiser brand, which was named after Bmische Budweis, a town in his homeland of Germany. In 1876, Busch enlisted the help of his friend Carl Conrad (a liquor bottler) to develop this Bohemian-style pilsner beer.A fierce rivalry developed between Anheuser-Busch’s Budweiser beer and an old Czech brand from Budejovice. Since the 16th Century, the Czechs had called their product “The Beer of Kings,” so Busch began marketing his as “The King of Beers.”
By 1879, Busch was president of the Anheuuser-Busch Brewing Association. He held this position for more than 30 years.
His extravagant spending and elaborate lifestyle have become American folklore. Busch owned an expansive St. Louis manor, plus two palatial homes near Pasadena, California. He also had a country estate and a hops farm near Cooperstown, New York (not far from the Baseball Hall of Fame), two country villas in Germany, and his own private railroad car. His landscaping was famous for its fairy tale figurines, as Busch was a fan of the famed Grimm Brothers.
In 1911, when Adolphus and Lily marked their 50th wedding anniversary, he presented his queenly with a diamond tiara. U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, the emperor of Germany, and other world leaders sent lavish gifts as well.
He died October 10, 1913 near Langenschwalbach, Germany. His son August took the reins of the company until his death in 1934. The company has been headed by a family succession ever since.
Incidentally, the famous Anheuser-Busch Clydesdale horses did not join the clan until after his death. In 1933, at the end of Prohibition, a team of Clydesdales were hitched up to pull the first load of legal beer from the St. Louis brewery. Company President August Busch (Adolphus’ son) was so taken by the sight that the horses became a favorite company trademark.

Adolphus later in life, around 1905.

And there’s a few more thorough accounts of his life at Encyclopedia.com, the State Historical Society of Missouri’s Historic Missourians, and and a four part story “originally published in The American Mercury, October, 1929,” entitled The King of Beer by Gerald Holland.

Historic Beer Birthday: Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen

July 8, 2026 By Jay Brooks

Today is the birthday of Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen, who was born July 8, 1792. She’s perhaps most famous now for her wedding reception, which turned into Germany’s largest, and most famous, folk festival, Oktoberfest. Here’s how Munich’s official website tells the story:

Crown Prince Ludwig, later to become King Ludwig I, was married to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen on 12th October 1810. The citizens of Munich were invited to attend the festivities held on the fields in front of the city gates to celebrate the happy royal event. The fields have been named Theresienwiese (“Theresa’s fields”) in honor of the Crown Princess ever since, although the locals have since abbreviated the name simply to the “Wies’n”.

That’s all about the wedding, and Ludwig, so here’s one account of her history:

Therese Charlotte Luise von Sachsen-Hildburghausen was on the short list in 1809 to become the bride of Napoleon Bonaparte, but instead she was matched with Crown Prince Ludwig I. The festivities celebrating their marriage in Munich on October 12, 1810 was the first Oktoberfest.
She was the sixth daughter of Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen, and his wife, Charlotte, a cultured pair who hosted poets and artists and turned their little duchy into “a little Weimar”, despite a lack of financial resources.
She was educated in both Classical German and French. Raised as a Lutheran, she kept her Protestant faith in Catholic Bavaria throughout her life.
Ludwig was fearful that Napoleon would force him to marry a French princess and so moved swiftly to marry a German. He visited Hildburghausen December 21-24, 1809 and chose Therese over her younger sister, Luise, who was considered more beautiful.
Although Ludwig was frequently absent on his many journeys or involved in “friendships” when at home, she suffered his dalliances according to the norms for women of her time and class and bore him nine children.
Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen painted by German artist Joseph Karl Stieler around 1810.
Coronation diadem of Queen Therese of Bavaria 1810.

therese — Also by Joseph Karl Stieler. This portrait was painted in 1827.

The *Wittelsbachs’ court painter created this within a week of the first horse race’s completion.*

Queen Therese with her family around 1830.

Queen Therese, by Julie von Egloffstein, around 1836.

Historic Beer Birthday: Cord Hinrich Haake

July 4, 2026 By Jay Brooks

Today is the birthday of Cord Hinrich Haake (July 4, 1801-1845). He was born in Bremen, Germany. His father was Heinrich Wilhelm, who was a farmer from Möhlenhoff in the Freudenberg district near Bassum, who already had a beer bar there and his own “brewing rights.” In 1805, his father was accepted into the Brauer-Societät Bremen and won the “Gerechtsame” — permission to brew in-house. In 1826, Cord acquired the neighboring house of his future father-in-law, Hans Ehntholt, and in May of that year, he founded the C.H. Haake brewery. In 1832, Haake became the first to start producing bottom-fermented beer. In 1845, at age 44, Haake died, leaving the brewery to his widow.

In 1921, the Haake brewery merged with Kaiserbrauerei Beck & Co and the combined company name the two became Haake-Beck Brauerei AG. In 2002, it was bought by Interbrew, who today is Anheuser-Busch InBev.

Historic Beer Birthday: Jacob Paul Rettenmayer

June 29, 2026 By Jay Brooks

acme
Today is the birthday of Jacob Paul Rettenmayer (June 29, 1881-February 24, 1937). He was born in Ellwanger, Württenberg, Germany, and came to the U.S. when he was 20, in 1901. He settled on the West Coast, and bounced back and forth between California and Washington, working at various breweries. He eventually settled in San Francisco, helping to start Acme Brewery, becoming its first brewmaster and president. His little brother Franz, or Frank, Rettenmayer became brewmaster a few years later, and JP opened a second Acme brewery in Los Angeles. Just before, and during, prohibition he diversified into several other businesses.

This biography was written by Rettenmayer himself later in his life, as reprinted on Gary Flynn’s Brewery Gems:

“Served apprenticeship as Brewer and Maltster at the plants of Minneapolis Brewing Company, Minneapolis Minnesota, under Mr. Armin L. Neubert who was then Master Brewer and superintendent of that company. Upon the completion of my apprenticeship I worked in that plant for six months as a journeyman, and then went to Los Angeles where I found employment with the Los Angeles Brewing Company. I worked in various departments of that plant for six months and then secured employment at the plant of Maier and Zobelein. I was employed by that firm from 1903 to 1905 when I left to attend Wahl-Henius Institute in Chicago. The course I took was the first six months duration and the first course given in the new Institute building. I was the honor graduate with a record of 99 in thirteen studies. Upon the completion of my course I returned to Maier and Zobelein in Los Angeles, remaining there until July 1, 1906.
Upon obtaining my citizen papers in Los Angeles I went to Tacoma, Washington where I was employed by the Pacific Brewing & Malting Co. for a period of six weeks. Mr. Peter G. Schmidt, now President of the Olympia Brewing Company, invited me to go to Salem and I was affiliated with Salem Brewery Association for a period of four months. In the meantime the late Leopold M. Schmidt returned from Europe and he asked me to go to San Francisco to become associated with him in the Acme Brewing Company. Upon the organization of that company I became vice-president and a year later was elected to the presidency. I served in that capacity, as well as Master Brewer, from 1907 to 1917, when the Acme Brewing Company merged with five other breweries under the name California Brewing Association. I was elected President and General Manager of the consolidated enterprise and served until the advent of prohibition. Before the formation of California Brewing Association I was instrumental in organizing the Cereal Products Refining Corporation and planned and developed the syrup and compressed yeast business to the manufacture of which a part of the plant of California Brewing Association was converted.
In the latter part of 1924 I turned in my resignation as president and General Manager of California Brewing Association and its affiliated enterprises to engage in other activities. In the Fall of 1934 Mr. Armin K. Neubert prevailed upon me to become associated with Salinas Brewing & Ice Company and on the first of December, 1934 I assumed the position of General Manager of the enterprise. In October of 1935, in cooperation with Armin K. Neubert, Mr. Wm. Voss, and others associated with us, we acquired the interests of Mr. Armin L. Neubert. Upon the consummation of the deal Mr. Armin L. Neubert resigned as president of Salinas Brewing and I succeeded him in that capacity.”

Rettenmayer appears to have been quite active in the U.S. Brewers Association and digests are filled with his committee reports and other mentions.

J.P. is somewhere in the two halves of this photograph taken on September 30, 1915, at the German House in San Francisco during the 27th annual convention of the Master Brewers Association.

At Brewery Gems, Gary Flynn has a fuller account of the life of Jacob Paul Rettenmayer, and it’s worth reading in its entirety.

This is his obituary from the San Francisco Examiner February 25, 1937, detailing his rather unusual passing.

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