Beer In Ads #5025: Löwenbräu Pale Bock Beer

July 15, 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.

Tuesday’s ad is for Löwenbräu Pale Bock Beer, which was published on July 15, 1964. This one was for the Löwenbräu Brewery of Munich, Germany, which was originally founded in 1383. This ad ran in The Evening Standard, of London, England. The text is pretty hilarious, and that final tagline: “Löwenbräu the world’s most exclusive and expensive beer.”

Historic Beer Birthday: William Everard

July 13, 2025 By Jay Brooks

Today is the birthday of William Everard (July 13, 1821-December 28, 1892). Everard co-founded what would become known as the Everards Brewery, which is still a going concern today, and is still run by an Everard, who is fifth generation from William.

Here is William Everard’s short biography from the brewery website:

William Everard was born on 13th July 1821 in a country where the Industrial Revolution was still in its infancy, and farming remained the largest single occupation. William married Mary Ann Bilson on27th March 1847, they had three children- one of which was Thomas William who would eventually continue his fathers work at the brewery.
On the fifth October 1849, William entered into partnership with Thomas Hull, a local maltster. They leased the existing brewery of Messrs Wilmot and Co. on Southgate Street, Leicester. The brewery became well established during William’s forty two years in charge.
As a successful and responsible Victorian citizen, William took public service seriously and devoted a larage amount of time to several public bodies. He joined the Leicester Highways Board on its constituition, and served for twenty years as its chairman. He was an energetic supporter of the Conservative Party, arranging meetings and political gatherings at his house, eventually becoming chairman of the Harborough Division.
Continuing to operate his farm as well as run his business, William also became prominent in local agricultural affairs as a member of the Chamber of Agriculture and Leicestershire Agricultural Society, founded in 1833.

New_Everards_brewery_Southgate_St_Leicester_showing_steam_traction_engines_1875 (1) — The brewery, around 1875.

And here’s the basic brewery history from Wikipedia:

The company began as Hull and Everard in 1849 when William Everard, a farmer from Narborough Wood House and brewer Thomas Hull leased the Southgate Street Brewery of Wilmot and Co from the retiring proprietors. Although Hull continued as a maltster, Everard was the driving force behind the business which he managed until his death in 1892.

The business expanded as the company progressively acquired outlets, with over 100 pubs by the late 1880s. In 1875 the company moved to a new state of the art tower brewery designed by William’s nephew architect John Breedon Everard. The brewery, on the corner of Southgate St and Castle St extracted very pure water from wells 300 feet deep beneath the premises and steam engines played a significant part in the mechanisation.

After the death of William, control passed to his son Thomas. The historic centre of the UK brewing industry remained some 40 miles away at Burton-upon-Trent, which by the 1890s produced one tenth of Britain’s beer. Everard’s leased the Bridge Brewery on Umplett Green island in 1895 but its 10,000 barrels per year capacity proved insufficient. It was replaced with the newer Trent brewery in Dale St which became available after going into liquidation in 1898. The Southgate brewery remained the distribution centre to the Leicestershire pubs with beer arriving by rail from Burton. The Trent brewery was purchased outright in 1901. It was renamed the Tiger Brewery around 1970.

At some point their Tiger Best Bitter became their flagship beer, and I remember really enjoying during my first CAMRA festival in the early 1990s. It was a regional festival in Peterborough, which happened to be going on in later summer at the end of my wife’s summer semester at the University of Durham. So we took the train up to Peterborough from London to attend the festival, and it was great fun. I had many fine beer that night, but for whatever reason I clearly recall liking this one.

Historic Beer Birthday: Francis Showering

July 10, 2025 By Jay Brooks

Today is the birthday of Francis Showering (July 10, 1912-September 5, 1995). Showering was an English brewer. His family company, Showerings, invented Babycham, a light, sparkling perry, launched in 1953 and originally marketed as “genuine champagne perry”.

Here’s Showering’s obituary from The Independent in 1995:

Francis Showering was a remarkable man who achieved extraordinary success in the drinks industry over many years. He was still in harness as chairman of the drinks company Brothers Drinks at the time of his death, aged 83.
Born at Shepton Mallet, in Somerset, in 1912, Francis Showering was one of four brothers whose first employment at an early age was with their parents, who were innkeepers in Shepton Mallet, brewing beer and cider to their own requirements and for sale to other licensed houses in the district. Business was highly competitive. As a small concern they were overshadowed by the regional and national brewers and were also unable to sell their ciders against the national brands. During the Second World War they kept the business going in spite of shortage of raw materials and somehow built up a delivery fleet of mainly elderly vehicles which were sustained by an innovative transport department.
After the war they again suffered the frustration of lacking outlets for their products, and Francis Showering, by then managing director, turned to Perry as a potential for breaking into the brewer-dominated licensed trade. Sparkling Champagne Perry in baby bottles became the brand Babycham, and in due course became the drinks industry’s marketing success of the century.
First, however, it had to be established as a quality product and Showering excelled in the meticulous supervision of the production process to give an attractive sparkling drink well packaged and with a long shelf-life. Marketing and customer service received his equally uncompromising attention, with the result that, after extensive testing in local markets, Babycham was launched nationally in the early 1950s and became a cult drink for women in pubs and clubs. With the sprightly little Bambi deer symbol, Babycham glasses and cocktail cherry, this was exactly the drink that millions of women were waiting for. The simple slogan “I’d love a Babycham” said it all, and they loved it enough to consume over 4 billion bottles in the next 30 years.
The Showerings offered shares to the public in 1959. The issue was over- subscribed. Not only did it increase the wealth of the family but the creation of a public company gave Francis Showering and his brothers the means of acquiring other companies in the drinks industry. William Gaymer, Vine Products, Whiteways, and Britvic fruit juices were among those acquisitions, and the largest came in 1966 with the takeover, after a considerable battle, of Harvey’s of Bristol which brought with it world-wide interests in wines and spirits.
In 1968 Allied Breweries, already much involved in the drinks industry apart from brewing, made an agreed bid for Showerings Vine Products and Whiteways Ltd of pounds 108m. Thus the original shareholders in the Showerings company were rewarded yet again, and Francis Showering could take all credit for that.
Initially, the marriage was not an easy one. The different cultures of the two groups had to be reconciled and that took several years, but in no way inhibited the continued growth of the combined company. Showering’s nephew Keith Showering (later Sir Keith) became chairman in 1975. After seven years in office he died suddenly in 1982, when Francis became vice- chairman and continued to support the company in every possible way.
Francis Showering was a man of great determination and strength of character. The success of Babycham entitled him to have uncompromising views on the production and marketing of drinks generally, and the activities of the group in particular, and he could be relied upon to make those views known. Yet he was also a good listener, and when convinced of the loyalty of his colleagues gave it back in full measure.
He was also generous to the extreme. His loyalty and generosity to Shepton Mallet are evident in the modern development of the town centre, at his own expense. One of his great pleasures was entertaining at his house on the Beaulieu River, and aboard his motor cruiser Silver Cavalier, which gave him further opportunities to pursue perfection in maintenance and navigation.
Showering was appointed CBE in 1982; it was a reflection of his work for the community in West Country agriculture and at Shepton Mallet as well as his success in building a whole business structure on that little bottle of Babycham.
Sir Keith Showering had two daughters and four sons. In his closing years, through the formation with these four great-nephews of a new drinks company, Brothers Drinks, which he chaired, Francis Showering saw and encouraged, the possibility of an experience for them such as he and his brothers had had, and so much enjoyed.

From left; Ralph and Keith Showering, R. N. Coate, Herbert, Francis and Arthur Showering, at the time of the ‘merger’ of the two cider makers.

This is a short history of Babycham from his Wikipedia page:

In the 1940s, the company developed a process to produce perry — a form of cider made from fermented pear juice – and created a low-alcohol sparking drink that was christened Babycham. The new drink was marketed mainly at young women, and sold in small bottles to be served in a champagne saucer – “the genuine champagne perry sparkling in its own glamorous glass”. After disputes with French champagne produces, including a court case in 1978, H P Bulmer Ltd v J Bollinger SA which held that marketing of a similar sparkling cider was not confusing, the reference to champagne was eventually prohibited by EU rules on protected designation of origin.
The drink became very popular, with its advertising slogan “I’d love a Babycham” and logo of a small deer. To serve the burgeoning demand, the company bought pear orchards across the West Midlands, and planted new pear orchards in Somerset. Output in Shepton Mallet reached 108,000 bottles an hour in 1966, and new plants were opened in Ireland and Belgium.

Historic Beer Birthday: Michael Thomas Bass Jr.

July 6, 2025 By Jay Brooks

bass
Today is the birthday of Michael Thomas Bass (July 6, 1799-April 29, 1884). He was the grandson of Bass Brewery founder William Bass. Michael Thomas Bass Jr. took over control of the company in 1827, and “under his leadership, the Bass Brewery became the largest brewery in the world and the best known brand of beer in England.” Bass was also a member of parliament, representing Derby “in the House of Commons as a member of the Liberal Party between 1848 and 1883 where he was an effective advocate for the brewing industry.”

Here’s a biography, from the Local History of Burton upon Trent:

Bass was born in Burton upon Trent in 1799, the son of Michael Thomas Bass (senior) who had expanded the Bass brewery founded by his father William Bass in 1777 and made it a major exporter to Russia. His mother, Sarah Hoskins, was the daughter of Abraham Hoskins, a prominent lawyer of Burton.
Bass attended the grammar school in Burton upon Trent and finished his schooling in Nottingham. At the age of 18, he joined the family business as an apprentice when business was not going well because the Napoleonic Wars had disrupted trade with Russia. However, the sales of India Pale Ale in India and southeast Asia were taking off by the 1820s.
Bass took over control of the company in 1827 and continued the export focus on Asia. By 1832-33, the company was exporting 5,000 barrels of beer representing 40% of its output in that year
The coming of the railway to Burton upon Trent in 1839 helped the growth of the business by reducing transport costs. The company had four agents in the 1830s in London, Liverpool, Stoke-on-Trent and Birmingham. By the 1880s, this had grown to 21 in the United Kingdom and another in Paris. The export trade was supplied by the agencies in London and Liverpool.
Under Bass’s leadership, company production and sales had grown enormously. Production of ale had grown to 340,000 barrels in 1860 and to almost a million barrels in the late 1870s. By 1881, the company had three breweries and 26 malthouses covering 145 acres (0.59 km2) in Burton upon Trent. The company was Britain’s biggest brewery and was one of its best known companies.
Bass was first elected as the member for Derby in 1848 and served until 1883. His obituary in the Brewers Journal stated that he was known more “in the House of Commons for his regular attendance than for any feats of oratory.” He focussed on being a national advocate for the brewing industry against efforts by nonconformists within the Liberal Party to legislate against alcohol.
Bass was an orthodox Liberal supporting free trade, low taxes and improving living standards for the working class. He promoted legislation to abolish imprisonment for small debtors. His legislation against organ grinders on the grounds that they were street nuisances was less successful.
He was known as a philanthropist both in Burton upon Trent and Derby. His obituarists claimed that his contributions totalled £80,000 and that he had given Derby a new library, School of Art, recreation ground, and swimming baths.
Bass represented Derby until the final years of his life. William Ewart Gladstone offered Bass a peerage which he declined preferring to stay in the House of Commons.

And here’s his entry from Debrett’s House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, published in 1882:

M-T-Bass-hoc-bio

And here’s another biography, this one from the Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900.

BASS, MICHAEL THOMAS (1799–1884), brewer, was born on 6 July 1799. He was the son of M. T. Bass and grandson of William Bass, both of whom carried on extensive brewing establishments at Burton-on-Trent.
Bass was educated first at the grammar school, Burton-on-Trent, and afterwards at Nottingham. On leaving school he joined his father in business and acted as a traveller. The opening up of the Trent and Mersey Canal gave the first great impetus to the trade of the Burton breweries, and the firm of Messrs. Bass did not fail to utilise this and other developments of modern enterprise.
Bass’s first official connection with the county of Derby was as an officer in the old Derbyshire yeomanry cavalry, in which capacity he assisted in quelling the local riots which occurred before the passing of the Reform Bill of 1832. He speedily acquired an important position in the county, partly from the extensive ramifications of his business, and partly from the interest he took in public affairs, and in 1848 he was requested to come forward as a candidate for Derby in the liberal interest. The sitting members had been unseated for bribery, and in the election which followed Bass was returned at the head of the poll. For the borough of Derby he continued to sit uninterruptedly until his retirement in 1883. Bass was a liberal. He was assiduous in the attention he gave to his parliamentary duties, but was not a frequent speaker.
His personal character gained him the esteem of opponents and friends. He exhibited a lively concern in all questions bearing upon the welfare of the working classes, and in 1866 he requested Professor Leone Levi to institute a wide and methodical inquiry into the earnings of the working classes throughout the kingdom. Bass brought in a bill by which householders might require street musicians to quit the neighbourhood of their houses. A letter of thanks was j addressed to him by a number of the most distinguished authors and artists in London, including Carlyle, Tennyson, Charles Dickens, J. E. Millais, Francis Grant (president of the Royal Academy), and others. Bass also took an active part in abolishing imprisonment for debt, but his popularity at Derby suffered a temporary check by reason of his opposition to the Ground Game Act. The constituency, however, never swerved from its allegiance, although between the time when he was first elected and the last occasion when he was returned to parliament the number of electors had increased tenfold.
An interesting statement, compiled under authority, shows that the foundation of the business of the Burton breweries was laid in 1777 by one William Bass. Fifty years later Bass & Co. still confined their trade in bitter beer to India. In 1827 they began to open up a trade in this country, but no great strides were made until the year (1851) of the Great Exhibition. From this date their reputation began to spread over the metropolis and throughout England. In 1880 the firm did as much business in three days as it was accustomed to do in twelve months fifty years before. It appears that in the year 1878 they paid for carriage alone to the railway and canal companies and other carriers the sum of 180,102l. Messrs. Bass’s ale stores near St. Pancras Station cover three floors, each two acres in extent, and each containing 30,000 barrels of 36 gallons of ale. The firm possess other extensive stores, as well as the breweries at Burton, which are of enormous extent and employ a staff of three thousand persons. In 1882 the average annual amount of the business was assessed at 2,400,000l., and the yearly amount paid in malt-tax and license duty was 286,000l. A calculation made in 1871 demonstrated that the yearly revenue derived from beer and British and foreign wines and spirits amounted to about twenty-eight millions sterling, being more than a third of the whole revenue, and towards this amount Messrs. Bass contributed upwards of 780l. per day.’ A further compilation showed that ‘the stock of casks necessary to carry on the business consisted of 46,901 butts, 159,608 hogsheads, 139,753 barrels, and 197,597 kilderkins, or in all 543,859 casks. The yearly issue of Bass’s labels amounts to more than one hundred millions.’
When the agitation arose amongst railway servants in 1870 for a reduction in their oppressive hours of labour, Bass was their most powerful friend. By his instrumentality an agent was despatched throughout the country to gather information and organise plans for relieving the condition of railway servants and removing the grounds of their complaints. The facts made known led to the establishment of the Railway Servants’ Orphanage at Derby.
The new church of St. Paul’s, at Burton, was built and endowed by Bass. He also raised a smaller church near his residence, Rangemore, a chapel-of-ease, Sunday schools, and an institute and reading-rooms for the use of the working classes of Burton. The entire cost of his benefactions to St. Paul’s parish in that town has been placed at not less than 100,000l. In addition to this, and to private charities almost innumerable, he presented the town of Derby with a large recreation ground and public swimming baths, at a cost of 12,000l., as well as a free library involving an outlay of 25,000l., and an art gallery upon which many thousands of pounds were expended.
Bass died at Rangemore Hall on 29 April 1884. He was extremely simple in his tastes and habits. He refused all offers of social distinction, declining a baronetcy and a peerage which were offered him by successive governments. As a mark of the general esteem, however, in which he was held, a baronetcy was conferred (during his own lifetime) upon his eldest son, Sir Michael Arthur Bass, M.P. for East Staffordshire.

Historic Beer Birthday: John Courage Jr.

June 26, 2025 By Jay Brooks

Today is the birthday of John Courage Jr. (June 26, 1788-March 1854). He was the son of John Courage, who founded the Courage Brewery in London in 1787, when he bought a brew house in Horselydown, Bermondsey, London. Junior was born in Southwark, in the London Borough of Southwark, although at least one account states he was born in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, in Scotland. Unfortunately, I was unable to find any images of the man himself. When his father died, he was only ten, so the brewery’s manager, John Donaldson, ran the brewery in exchange for a share of the profits. Junior started working at the brewery when he was 16, and seven years later, in 1811, he became a partner in the firm.

This short account of Junior is from Courage & Co.:

The Founder’s son, the second John, entered the Brewery in 1804 aged 16, becoming a partner in 1811. He married Susan Hawes, the daughter of a Norfolk brewer Sidney Hawes in 1823. A copy of an article about Susan’s mother, Elizabeth Hawes (neé Porson) survives in family records. The article states “that Elizabeth was born in 1756, was a servant and a woman of strong natural sense and moral qualities and at night used to sit up in bed reading from the light of a candle volumes of the Universal Magazine. She took in dressmaking and always said she would rise in the world”.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 50406862212_69e518872b_b.jpg — The Anchor Brewhouse, the location of the original Courage Brewery.

And this is from Geni, a genealogy website:

John Courage (1788-1854) was the only son and eldest child of John Courage (1761-1797), founder of the Courage Brewery, and his wife Harriet.
John Courage senior died in 1797 when his son was only nine or ten years old. Harriet died a year later. On her death, the managing clerk, John Donaldson, took over the running of the Brewery and for a short while the firm was renamed Courage and Donadson.
John Courage junior entered the Brewery in 1804 aged 16, becoming a partner in 1811. In 1851 the business reverted back to solely Courage ownership.
In 1852, a partnership was formed within the Courage family between John (junior – the 2nd) and two of his sons, John (the 3rd) and Robert. On John the 2nd’s death in 1854, John the 3rd took into partnership his brother Edward in 1856 and Henry in 1866.
The Courage Brewery became a limited liability company in 1888.

Historic Beer Birthday: William Lassell

June 18, 2025 By Jay Brooks

Today is the birthday of William Lassell (June 18, 1799–October 5, 1880). He made great contributions to astronomy throughout his life, but that “hobby” was funded by the fortune he made at his Liverpool brewery. He was initially trained as a merchant, and in 1825 started an apparently successful brewery, and one account states that he “married a widow of a wealthy Liverpool brewer gaining at the same time financial independence.” That may have given him the idea. Perhaps because his life was overshadowed by his astronomical pursuits, there’s very little about his brewery I could find, although I believe it was known as Lassell & Sharman Ltd.

Here’s his basic biography from his Wikipedia page:

William Lassell was born in Bolton, Lancashire, a town west of Manchester. He was educated first in Bolton then at Rochdale Academy. After the death of his father, he was apprenticed from 1814 to 1821 to a merchant in Liverpool. He then made his fortune as a beer brewer, which enabled him to indulge his interest in astronomy. He built an observatory at his house “Starfield” in West Derby, a suburb of Liverpool. There he had a 24-inch (610 mm) reflector telescope, for which he pioneered the use of an equatorial mount for easy tracking of objects as the Earth rotates. He ground and polished the mirror himself, using equipment he constructed. The observatory was later (1854) moved further out of Liverpool, to Bradstone.
In 1846 Lassell discovered Triton, the largest moon of Neptune, just 17 days after the discovery of Neptune itself by German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle. In 1848 he independently co-discovered Hyperion, a moon of Saturn. In 1851 he discovered Ariel and Umbriel, two moons of Uranus.
When Queen Victoria visited Liverpool in 1851, Lassell was the only local she specifically requested to meet.
In 1855, he built a 48-inch (1,200 mm) telescope, which he installed in Malta because of the observing conditions that were better than in often-overcast England. On his return to the UK after several years in Malta he moved to Maidenhead and operated his 24-inch (610 mm) telescope in an observatory there. The 48-inch telescope was dismantled and was eventually scrapped.
Lassell was a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (FRAS) from 1839, won the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1849, and served as its president for two years starting in 1870. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1849 and won their Royal Medal in 1858. Lassel was also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL). He was furthermore elected an honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (HonFRSE) and of the Society of Sciences of Upsala, and received an honorary LL.D. degree from the University of Cambridge in 1874.
Lassell died in Maidenhead in 1880. Upon his death, he left a fortune of £80,000 (roughly equivalent to £7,200,000 in 2015). His telescope was presented to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich.
The crater Lassell on the Moon, a crater on Mars, the asteroid 2636 Lassell and a ring of Neptune are named in his honour.

This account of Lassell is from A Popular History of Astronomy During the Nineteen Century, by Agnes M. Clerke, published in 1885:

Within seventeen days of its identification with the Berlin achromatic, Neptune was found to be attended by a satellite. This discovery was the first notable performance of the celebrated two-foot reflector[224] erected by Mr. Lassell at his suggestively named residence of Starfield, near Liverpool. William Lassell was a brewer by profession, but by inclination an astronomer. Born at Bolton in Lancashire, June 18, 1799, he closed a life of eminent usefulness to science, October 5, 1818, thus spanning with his well-spent years four-fifths of the momentous period which we have undertaken to traverse. At the age of twenty-one, being without the means to purchase, he undertook to construct telescopes, and naturally turned his attention to the reflecting sort, as favouring amateur efforts by the comparative simplicity of its structure. His native ingenuity was remarkable, and was developed by the hourly exigencies of his successive enterprises. Their uniform success encouraged him to enlarge his aims, and in 1844 he visited Birr Castle for the purpose of inspecting the machine used in polishing the giant speculum of Parsonstown. In the construction of his new instrument, however, he eventually discarded the model there obtained, and worked on a method of his own, assisted by the supreme mechanical skill of James Nasmyth. The result was a Newtonian of exquisite definition, with an aperture of two, and a focal length of twenty feet, provided by a novel artifice with the equatoreal mounting, previously regarded as available only for refractors.
This beautiful instrument afforded to its maker, October 10, 1846, a cursory view of a Neptunian attendant. But the planet was then approaching the sun, and it was not until the following July that the observation could be verified, which it was completely, first by Lassell himself, and somewhat later by Otto Stuve and Bond of Cambridge (U.S.). When it is considered that this remote object shines by reflecting sunlight reduced by distance to 1/900th of the intensity with which it illuminates our moon, the fact of its visibility, even in the most perfect telescopes, is a somewhat surprising one. It can only, indeed, be accounted for by attributing to it dimensions very considerable for a body of the secondary order. It shares with the moons of Uranus the peculiarity of retrograde motion; that is to say, its revolutions, running counter to the grand current of movement in the solar system, are performed from east to west, in a plane inclined at an angle of 35 deg. to that of the ecliptic. Their swiftness serves to measure the mass of the globe round which they are performed. For while our moon takes twenty-seven days and nearly eight hours to complete its circuit of the earth, the satellite of Neptune, at a distance not greatly inferior, sweeps round its primary in five days and twenty-one hours, showing (according to a very simple principle of computation) that it is urged by a force seventeen times greater than the terrestrial pull upon the lunar orb. Combining this result with those of Professor Barnard’s and Dr. See’s recent measurements of the small telescopic disc of this farthest known planet, it is found that while in “mass” Neptune equals seventeen, in “bulk” it is equivalent to forty-nine earths. This is as much as to say that it is composed of relatively very light materials, or more probably of materials distended by internal heat, as yet unwasted by radiation into space, to about five times the volume they would occupy in the interior of our globe. The fact, at any rate, is fairly well ascertained, that the average density of Neptune is about twice that of water.

Historical Beer Birthday: John Lofting

June 15, 2025 By Jay Brooks

Today is as good a day as any to celebrate the birthday of John Lofting (1659–June 15, 1742). Like many people born centuries ago who weren’t royal or otherwise well-born, we don’t know the exact day he was born, but we do know that he died today. Lofting was a Dutchman who lived in London as an adult, and patented several devices, the most famous of which was the fire engine, but he may also have been responsible for the beer engine.

Here’s his Wikipedia entry:

Originally Jan Loftingh, John Lofting was an engineer and entrepreneur from the Netherlands. His parents were Herman and Johanna. He moved to London, England, before 1686. He patented two inventions being the “sucking worm engine” (a fire engine) and a horse-powered thimble knurling machine. His mill was set up in Islington, where Lofting Road is named after him. However, in or about 1700, he moved his main operation to Great Marlow in Buckinghamshire to take advantage of the River Thames’ ability to turn a water wheel which improved productivity, enabling the production of over 2 million thimbles per year.

The Sucking Worm Engine, from the British Museum.

And while Joseph Bramah patented the first practical beer engine, Lofting’s design made it possible for Bramah to build on and create his. Although there’s little I could find specific about Lofting’s invention, it is mentioned in the Wikipedia entry for the beer engine:

A beer engine is a device for pumping beer from a cask in a pub’s cellar.
The beer engine was invented by John Lofting, a Dutch inventor, merchant and manufacturer who moved from Amsterdam to London in about 1688 and patented a number of inventions including a fire hose and engine for extinguishing fires and a thimble knurling machine as well as a device for pumping beer. The London Gazette of 17 March 1691 stated “the patentee hath also projected a very useful engine for starting of beers and other liquors which will deliver from 20 to 30 barrels an hour which are completely fixed with brass joints and screws at reasonable rates.”
The locksmith and hydraulic engineer Joseph Bramah developed beer pumping further in 1797.
The beer engine is normally manually operated, although electrically powered and gas powered pumps are occasionally used; when manually powered, the term handpump is often used to refer to both the pump and the associated handle.
The beer engine is normally located below the bar with the visible handle being used to draw the beer through a flexible tube to the spout, below which the glass is placed. Modern hand pumps may clamp onto the edge of the bar or be mounted on the top of the bar.
A pump clip is usually attached to the handle by a spring clip giving the name and sometimes the brewery, beer type and alcoholic strength of the beer being served through that handpump.
The handle of a handpump is often used as a symbol of cask ale. Keg beer dispensers usually feature illuminated countertop fittings behind which a handle opens a valve that allows the gas pressure in the keg to force beer to the attached spout.

A modern beer engine.

Beer Birthday: Charlie Bamforth

June 13, 2025 By Jay Brooks

Today is the 73rd birthday of Charlie Bamforth, who was the Anheuser-Busch Endowed Professor of Brewing Science at U.C. Davis (and was my teacher when I took the brewing short course there). His three most recent books should be on your must read list: In Praise of Beer, Beer Is Proof That God Loves Us and Grape vs. Grain. He’s a terrific advocate for beer and a great person. He was also kind enough to speak to beer appreciation class that I taught at Sonoma State University and our Beer Writers Guild symposium a few years ago in Philadelphia. Join me in wishing Charlie a very happy birthday.

Coming back from some beer judging in London a few summers ago, I randomly ended up on the same flight back to San Francisco with Charlie, in fact I sat behind him on the plane.

Charlie with John Dannerbeck from Anchor Brewing, at a reception held there for the launch of Charlie’s new book.

Charlie with fellow speakers at the Herbst Museum Symposium a few years ago, from left: Bruce Paton, Christine Hastorf, Fritz Maytag and Charlie.

Charlie speaking at the first North American Guild of Beer Writers Symposium in Philadelphia in May of 2016.

Charlie being courted by both wine and beer on his publisher’s blog, Cambridge University Press.

Charlie and me after he gave a talk in 2018.

Historic Beer Birthday: Thomas Carling

June 1, 2025 By Jay Brooks

carling
Today is the birthday of Thomas Carling (June 1, 1797-February 17, 1880). He was born in Yorkshire, England but emigrated to Canada, settling in London, Ontario, in 1818, where he founded what would become the Carling Brewery in 1840.

This biography is from Find-a-Grave:

Son of William and Margaret Carling of Etton. Wishing to find his fortune in a young country he sailed from Hull on May 17, 1818 for Canada. (Since there was not much opportunity for tenant farmers in England, many of the young farmer sons left to be successful elsewhere.)
The interesting journey was recorded by his son, Sir John Carling, and is included in the hard-bound book by George P. DeKay, available in the London Room at the London Public Library.
Thomas arrived at his new farm in London township in 1819 and began the long job of clearing the land of trees and building a log cabin. The location was lot 14, concession 8 however in 1824 he moved to a farm further south at lot 26, con. 6, nearer to his in-laws.
About 1839 he moved from the farm into the town of London (Pall Mall and Colborne streets location). It is said that he felt his three surviving sons would receive a better education there.
The origin of CARLING BREWERY is Thomas Carling and London, Ontario. Since he had move time after moving to a town setting, Thomas began brewing beer likely similar to the recipes of home-brewed English beer. The beer was a popular refreshment for the British soldiers who were stationed nearby at the British garrison. It was not long before sons William and John persuaded their father to turn the business over to their management and control. The company was named “W. & J. Carling Ltd.” In 1882 the “Carling Brewing and Malting Co. of London Ltd.” was formed with John as its president. Later the business expanded throughout Canada, the United States, Europe and beyond. The business remained in the family for about 100 years.
Thomas married Margaret Routledge on Oct. 6, 1820. The two had to be married by a Justice of the Peace because in 1820 there was no Church of England minister in the area. This marriage was the first in the newly formed township for a non-native couple. In order to legalize a marriage, it was necessary to post, in three locations, a document signed by the JP in question, the three places being a mill door, a distillery door and on a large tree at a public crossroads.

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And this short history of the Carling Brewery is from their Wikipedia page:

The history of Carling dates back to 1818, when Thomas Carling, a farmer from the English county of Yorkshire, and his family settled in Upper Canada, at what is now the city of London, Ontario. He brewed an ale which became popular, and eventually took up brewing full-time. The first Carling brewery had two kettles, a horse to turn the grinding mill and six men to work on the mash tubs, and Carling sold his beer on the streets of London, Ontario from a wheelbarrow.
In 1840 Carling began a small brewing operation in London, selling beer to soldiers at the local camp. In 1878 his sons, John and William, built a six-story brewery in London, which was destroyed by fire a year after opening. Thomas Carling, shortly after helping to fight the fire, died of pneumonia.[citation needed]
William and John took over the company, naming it the W & J Carling Brewing Co. John Carling died in 1911 and the company changed hands numerous times since. It was acquired by Canadian Breweries Limited, which was eventually renamed Carling O’Keefe, which merged with Molson, which then merged with Coors to form Molson Coors Brewing Company.

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This plaque for Carling is in Yorkshire, England, dedicated in 2000:

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This short brewery history is from the Carling website:

Carling’s British roots trace all the way back to the Yorkshire village of Etton, little known, but forever in the hearts of Carling as the birthplace of our namesakes, William Carling and his son Thomas. Inheriting his father’s passion and skill for brewing, a 21-year-old Thomas emigrated to Canada taking his father’s Yorkshire beer recipe, which on arrival in Canada he used to brew privately for admiring family and friends. The township Thomas settled in soon became an Imperial Army post where the thirsty soldiers became fans of the Carling family’s Yorkshire brew. In 1843 he built his first commercial brewery, only for his sons William and John to take up the baton soon after, and begin producing lager for the first time in 1869, sewing the first seeds of Carling’s refreshingly perfect pint.

And this is a portion of a history written by Cecil Munsey in 2003, entitled “Carling Black Label Beer in the White Bottle:”

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Beer Birthday: David Walker

May 20, 2025 By Jay Brooks

Today is the 61st birthday of David Walker, co-founder of Firestone Walker Brewing Co. Originally from Great Britain, David married co-founder Adam Firestone’s sister, and moved to California. The two brothers-in-law began homebrewing on the family’s winery property and decided to start a brewery business together in 1996. I first met David over ten years ago and I carried his beer at BevMo from the beginning. But I’ve gotten to know him better in the last few years and he’s become one of my favorite people in the industry. Join me in wishing David a very happy birthday.

Rich Norgrove and Brian Hunt with David at my 60th birthday party a few years ago.

Vinnie Cilurzo, David,, Matt Brynildson, and his wife, David’s wife, and Natalie Cilurzo at the 2018 Firestone Walker Invitational.

Travis Smith and Mike Sardina, both from Societe Brewing of San Diego, with David at the Firestone Walker Invitational in 2016.

In 2014, I was in Belgium to judge the Brussels Beer Challenge and walking the streets of Brussels late at night randomly ran into David and his wife taking some Firestone Walker employees on a trip to Belgium.

In 2017 on a family vacation to Santa Barbara we made a quick detour to visit Firestone Walker’s Barrelworks and happily discovered that David was there and was able to show us around.

Matt Brynildson, Jamie Smith, and David at A Night Of Ales Beer Dinner at the Toronado in 2009.

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