Historic Beer Birthday: John A. White

December 27, 2025 By Jay Brooks

berkshire-assn
Today is the birthday of John A. White (December 27, 1839-December 17, 1916). He was born and educated in Hesse-Cassell, Germany, but came to the United States in 1856, when he was sixteen. When the Civil War began, he joined up and served with distinction for four years, participating in the battles of Gettysburg, Chancellorsville and Bull Run. After the war, he returned to baking, but a year later relocated to Pittsfield, Massachusetts and bought the M. Benson Brewery, along with Jacob Gimlich, which they called Gimlich & White, and which later became known as the Berkshire Brewing Association. It was closed by Prohibition in 1918, and never reopened after repeal.

john-a-white-portrait

Here’s White’s obituary from the American Brewers’ Review:

john-a-white-wedding
White and his wife Rachel Gimlich on their wedding day. She was the sister of White’s brewery business partner, Jacob Gimlich.

This is a short history of the brewery from 100 Years of Brewing:

Here’s a story of the brewery from the website iBerkshires.com:

One can only wonder what John White and Jacob Gimlich would have thought as federal officers poured 15,000 gallons of locally crafted beer into the sewer on an early May morning in 1922.
Gimlich and his brother-in-law White had first purchased a small brewery on Columbus Street in 1868 from Michael Benson. First called simply “Jacob Gimlich & John White,” the business began at an output of just six barrels a day, but would grow to be a major manufacturer in the West Side Pittsfield neighborhood.
Both men had immigrated to the country from Germany in their youth, and both served tours in the Civil War. Gimlich worked briefly for the Taconic Woolen Mills before going into the beer business with his sister Rachel’s husband.
By 1880, operating as Gimlich, White & Co., the brewers erected a much larger facility in a five-story brick building measuring 40 by 80 feet. The expanded plant employed from 15 to 20 men and was shipping about 16,000 barrels a year.
Gimlich and White built houses directly across the road from their plant on John Street, and as their fortunes grew became increasingly prominent members of the community. Gimlich in particular became enmeshed in a variety of financial and civic affairs. From 1884-1885, he served as the city’s representative in the Legislature, and was one of the organizers and directors of City Savings Bank. Gimlich likewise served on the board of the Berkshire Loan and Trust Co. and of the Co-Operative Bank, was a past chancellor of the local lodge, Knights of Pythias, and member of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts and of the local Sons of Veterans.
“Pittsfield has been pleased with the success of Gimlich & White and they are counted among the town’s leading, liberal, and most public spirited citizens,” states one Pittsfield Sun editorial of the time.
By the early 1890s the torch was being passed to the next generation, with sons David Gimlich along with Fred and George White taking on more leadership of the company when it reincorporated as Berkshire Brewing Association in 1892. An additional four-story building was added, with the brewing complex now taking up the full block along Columbus Avenue between Onota and John Street to Gilbert Avenue.
Among Berkshire Brewing’s most popular products were Mannheimer Lager Beer, Berkshire Pure Malt Extract, Lenox Half Stock Ale, and Berkshire Pale Ale, considered to be one of the finest India pale ales then on the market. The plant also churned out bottled mineral waters, ginger ale and other soft drinks.
The elder Gimlich and White passed away in 1912 and 1916, respectively, but the enterprise they founded continued to see steady growth. The only brewery of the kind within 50 miles of Pittsfield, Berkshire Brewing Association had something of a monopoly in the region, along with a thriving distribution throughout the east coast as far south as the Carolinas. At its peak, it employed 150 workers and put out 75,000 to 100,000 barrels worth of beer annually. Records indicate between 1910 and 1920, Berkshire Brewing Association paid $1 million in federal taxes, in addition to state and local taxes and fees, including $1,200 a year for a brewer’s license and $800 for an annual bottling license.
The company was not without its occasional hiccups, such as a lengthy strike in the fall of 1911 by the Pittsfield Brewers Union, culminating in the reinstatement of a dismissed employee.
Real crisis came at the end of the decade, as increasing restrictions on alcohol grew into total national prohibition. They first ceased brewing beer temporarily in December 1918, after a directive from the National Food Administration following the passage of the the Wartime Prohibition Act. Even after the passage of the Volstead Act the following fall, BBA voted to remain in business, focusing on bottled soft drinks while hoping the ban to be a brief legislative phase.
They also continued to brew beer, as did several major brewers throughout the country at first, seeing the government’s lack of resources tasked to enforce the rule. Finally in spring 1922, federal officers arrived to turn off the taps, disposing of 15,000 gallons worth and estimated $15,000 to $20,000 at the time.
Ironically, the company waited it out until nearly the end of the failed domestic policy, the board of directors voting to close down in January 1929.
The brewery building was dismantled soon after; for a time, the Siegel Furniture Co. operated out of the former bottling building, which later became the Warehouse Furniture Co. In 1975, this, too, was cleared as the land passed to the Pittsfield Housing Authority, which developed the Christopher Arms housing project that occupies the former site of the brewery today.

berkshire-beer-truck A brewery delivery truck around 1905.

berkshire-brewing-sign

Historic Beer Birthday: Paul Kalmanovitz

December 27, 2025 By Jay Brooks

maier-102
Today is the birthday of Paul Kalmanovitz (December 27, 1905-January 17, 1987). Kalmanovitz was born in Łódź, Poland, but came to America with his family before World War I. He “was a millionaire brewing and real estate magnate best known for owning all or part of several national breweries and their products, including Falstaff Brewing Company and Pabst Brewing Company.”

Paul-Kalmanovitz-painting

Here’s a short biography from Find-a-Grave:

Businessman. He founded the S&P Corporation of California and was the man who built the General Brewing Company of San Francisco. He owned all or part of several national breweries and their products, including Falstaff and Pabst Blue Ribbon. At his death the $1.2 billion fortune of beer and real estate went to form a charitable foundation to fund universities and hospitals with the S&P Corporation being the holding company. The S&P Corporation is still in operational control of many breweries across the nation to this day.

Here’s a fuller biography, from Wikipedia:

Kalmanovitz was born in Łódź, Poland. His family emigrated to Egypt at the end of the World War I and he later worked for Sir Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby. Kalmanowitz arrived in the United States in the 1926 by jumping a merchant marine ship and jumped from job to job, working for several notable people such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, William Randolph Hearst, and Louis B. Mayer (MGM).
In 1950 Kalmanovitz acquired the Maier Brewing Company in Los Angeles, California and officially entered the brewing industry. Maier Brewing, makers of Brew 102, struggled for a number of years, and in 1958 faced a strong push to be bought out by the Falstaff Brewing Company. Kalmanovitz refused to be bought out, even after being threatened by Falstaff to either sell or Falstaff would bury the Maier Brewery. Within a few years Kalmanovitz turned the Maier Brewery around and began making a profit. Along with the brewery and numerous other investments, Kalmanovitz’s net worth began to swell. In 1970 Kalmanovitz purchased Lucky Lager and merged it with his Maier Brewing Company to form the General Brewing Company with S&P Corporation as its parent.
By 1974 Falstaff had fallen on hard times and was in need of cash. Falstaff’s purchase of the Ballantine brands in 1972 had proven to be a major mistake and stretched the company a little too thin. Falstaff sold Kalmanovitz its San Francisco brewery. The cash couldn’t save Falstaff, and in 1975 the company was once again in trouble. Kalmanovitz offered to inject $20 million into Falstaff for 100,000 shares of preferred stock. On 28 April 1975, Paul Kalmanovitz gained the controlling interest in the Falstaff Brewing Company. Kalmanovitz more than quadrupled his brewery interests and became a major force on the American beer market.
With the purchase of Falstaff, Kalmanovitz moved the Falstaff headquarters from St Louis, Missouri to San Francisco to combine it with General Brewing Company’s headquarters. By June, more than 175 of Falstaff’s corporate employees were laid off. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) opened an investigation of the Falstaff purchase, and found it provided shareholders with false and misleading information. Kalmanovitz was prohibited from committing further securities laws violations and Falstaff stock was barred from trading and removed from the New York Stock Exchange. Falstaff appealed all the way to the US Supreme Court and lost. Falstaff workers unhappy with the new direction of the company staged a company lockout, which Kalmanovitz and General Brewing called a strike.
Eventually things settled down with Falstaff and production resumed. Kalmanovitz’s plans to make a profit off Falstaff were not to turn the company around and reestablish its brand strength in the market, but rather to cut costs drastically throughout. The biggest change was the advertising budget where Kalmanovitz eliminated all types of marketing. Falstaff’s market share continued to slide, resulting in plants closing and employees out of work. Falstaff was profitable for the S&P Corporation, but at a cost to works and the communities around the breweries. Kalmanovitz acquired an ailing brewery, fired the corporate personnel, reduced budgets, sold off equipment, stopped plant maintenance, and eliminated product quality control. Kalmanovitz established a standard with Falstaff that was repeated as he purchased Stroh’s, National Bohemian, Olympia, Pearl, and Pabst.
Breweries were not Kalmanovitz’s only interests, he was also involved in helping Guide Dogs for the Blind and several other charitable organizations. Upon his death, Kalmanovitz’s net worth was said to be in excess of $250 million. A sizable portion of his wealth was donated to numerous California hospitals. In addition, his estate also donated the money for the Paul and Lydia Kalmanovitz Library at the University of California, San Francisco, Kalmanovitz Hall at the University of San Francisco, and the Paul and Lydia Kalmanovitz Appellate Courtroom at the University of California, Davis School of Law (King Hall).

Historic Beer Birthday: Rudolph Rheinboldt

December 27, 2025 By Jay Brooks

Today is the birthday of Rudolph Rheinboldt (December 27, 1827-October 30, 1916). He was born in Germany, came to Cincinnati, Ohio, and was involved with helping to found what would become the John Kaufman Brewing Co., though for a short time, from 1856-58, it was known as the John Kaufman Rudolph Rheinboldt Brewery. It’s possible he was related to Kaufman, though it’s unclear how, although Rheinboldt did marry Magdalena Kauffman in Cincinnati, Ohio, on August 13, 1859, when he was 31 years old.

Kauffman-brewery-letterhead Here’s the letterhead from the John Kauffman Brewing Co.

Since he appears to have been involved for only a short time, I was unable to find very much about him, no photos, and almost nothing after he left the brewing industry.

Here’s part of the John Kaufman Brewing Co. that involves Rheinboldt, from Cincinnati Brewing History:

In 1856 John Kauffman, George F. Eichenlaub, and Rudolf Rheinboldt purchased the Franklin Brewery on Lebanon Road near the Deer Creek from Kauffman’s aunt. Her husband, John Kauffman, estabished the brewery in 1844. He died in 1845. In 1859 under the name Kauffman and Company, they began to build a new brewery on Vine Street and soon left the Deer Creek location. The first structure on Vine was completed in 1860.
In 1871 the Kauffman Brewery was the city’s fourth largest with sales amounting to $30,930. It was located on both the west and east sides of Vine north of Liberty and south of Green Street.
In 1860 Kauffman also bought the Schneider grist mill on Walnut Street near Hamilton Road (McMicken Avenue), but leased it out before long to another company.
In its first year on Vine Street, the brewery produced only about 1000 barrels. By 1877 the number grew to 50,000 barrels of beer. Kauffman’s beer was sold in Nashville, Montgomery, Atlanta, Charleston, Savannah, and New Orleans.
In 1865 Eichenlaub retired from the business and he was followed by Rheinboldt in 1877. John Kauffman then took over the leadership by himself. After his oldest son Johnn studied brewing in Augsburg, Germany, he went to work at the family brewery. Emil Schmidt, Kauffman’s son-in-law, was superintendent by 1877.
In 1882 the brewery was incorporated as the John Kauffman Brewing Company with a paid-in capital stock of $700,000. In 1888 the brewery building at 1622 Vine was enlarged. Note it is occupied by the Schuerman Company today. The office and family residence was at 1625-27 Vine, which was razed and replaced about 75 years ago.

Historic Beer Birthday: Louis Pasteur

December 27, 2025 By Jay Brooks

Today is the birthday of Louis Pasteur (December 27, 1822–September 28, 1895). He “was a French chemist and microbiologist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurization. He is remembered for his remarkable breakthroughs in the causes and preventions of diseases, and his discoveries have saved countless lives ever since. He reduced mortality from puerperal fever, and created the first vaccines for rabies and anthrax. His medical discoveries provided direct support for the germ theory of disease and its application in clinical medicine. He is best known to the general public for his invention of the technique of treating milk and wine to stop bacterial contamination, a process now called pasteurization. He is regarded as one of the three main founders of bacteriology, together with Ferdinand Cohn and Robert Koch, and is popularly known as the ‘father of microbiology.'”

Portrait of Louis Pasteur

But, of course, for the brewing industry, he’s best remembered for his “Studies on Fermentation,” which he published in 1876.

In 1876, Louis Pasteur published his ground-breaking volume, Études sur la Bière, soon translated into English as Studies On Fermentation. The book changed the course of brewing during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, representing a huge leap forward in the scientific understanding of the processes involved in beermaking. Brewers around the globe put Pasteur’s findings to work in their breweries, and thus plunged the industry headlong into the modern era.
In tribute to Pasteur’s tremendous contributions to brewing science, BeerBooks.com has reprinted Studies On Fermentation exactly as it appeared when first released in English, complete with all of Pasteur’s illustrations. An original 1879 edition was digitally scanned, professionally enhanced and reproduced in a hard cover format.
In his preface, Pasteur modestly wrote, “I need not hazard any prediction concerning the advantages likely to accrue to the brewing industry from the adoption of such a process of brewing as my study of the subject has enabled me to devise, and from an application of the novel facts upon which this process is founded. Time is the best appraiser of scientific work, and I am not unaware that an industrial discovery rarely produces all its fruits in the hands of its first inventor.”
But, of course, the brewing industry recognized almost immediately the impact that Pasteur’s work would have on the art and science of beermaking. Frank Faulkner, the British brewing scholar who performed the English translation, wrote, “Seeing the vast importance of Pasteur’s work from a practical point of view, after writing a review of it for the Brewers’ Journal, I determined to procure, at any rate for the use of my own pupils, a literal translation, illustrated by photo-lithographic copies of the original plates…It was on the completion of this translation that my views and desires expanded. The more I studied the work, the more I was convinced of its immense value to the brewer as affording him an intelligent knowledge of the processes and materials with which he deals…I determined accordingly to publish the work if I could secure the consent of its distinguished author…The debt which we English brewers owe to M[r]. Pasteur can hardly be over-estimated.”

While I’m sure there are probably many more, he had patents I highlighted last year, Patent No. 135245A: Improvement in Brewing Beer and Ale from 1873, and Patent No. 141072A: Manufacture of Beer and Yeast, in the same year.

Albert_Edelfelt_-_Louis_Pasteur_-_1885
A portrait of Louis Pasteur painted by Swedish-speaking Finnish artist Albert Edelfelt, in 1886.

Fermentation and germ theory of diseases
Pasteur demonstrated that fermentation is caused by the growth of micro-organisms, and the emergent growth of bacteria in nutrient broths is due not to spontaneous generation, but rather to biogenesis (Omne vivum ex vivo “all life from life”). He was motivated to investigate the matter while working at Lille. In 1856 a local wine manufacturer, M. Bigot, the father of his student, sought for his advice on the problems of making beetroot alcohol and souring after long storage. In 1857 he developed his ideas stating that: “I intend to establish that, just as there is an alcoholic ferment, the yeast of beer, which is found everywhere that sugar is decomposed into alcohol and carbonic acid, so also there is a particular ferment, a lactic yeast, always present when sugar becomes lactic acid.” According to his son-in-law, Pasteur presented his experiment on sour milk titled “Latate Fermentation” in August 1857 before the Société des Sciences de Lille. (But according to a memoire subsequently published, it was dated November 30, 1857). It was published in full form in 1858. He demonstrated that yeast was responsible for fermentation to produce alcohol from sugar, and that air (oxygen) was not required. He also demonstrated that fermentation could also produce lactic acid (due to bacterial contamination), which makes wines sour. This is regarded as the foundation of Pasteur’s fermentation experiment and disprove of spontaneous generation of life.
Pasteur’s research also showed that the growth of micro-organisms was responsible for spoiling beverages, such as beer, wine and milk. With this established, he invented a process in which liquids such as milk were heated to a temperature between 60 and 100 °C. This killed most bacteria and moulds already present within them. Pasteur and Claude Bernard completed the first test on April 20, 1862. Pasteur patented the process, to fight the “diseases” of wine, in 1865. The method became known as pasteurization, and was soon applied to beer and milk.
Beverage contamination led Pasteur to the idea that micro-organisms infecting animals and humans cause disease. He proposed preventing the entry of micro-organisms into the human body, leading Joseph Lister to develop antiseptic methods in surgery. Lister’s work in turn inspired Joseph Lawrence to develop his own alcohol-based antiseptic, which he named in tribute Listerine.

This is an ad is for Whitbread, from 1937, showing an illustration of Louis Pasteur working on his fermentation studies in a laboratory at Whitbread Brewing in 1871, nine years after he completed his first test of pasteurization, which took place April 20, 1862.

On his Wikipedia page, under the heading “Controversies, there’s this paragraph about his research into fermentation:

When Pasteur published his theory and experiments on fermentation in 1858, it was not new to science, neither the idea nor the experiment. In 1840 a German chemist Justus von Liebig had noted that yeast could induce fermentation in water. However, he did not know that yeasts were organisms. In 1856 another German, Friedrich Wilhelm Lüdersdorff, reported that yeasts were microorganisms that convert sugar into alcohol. In 1855, Antoine Béchamp, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Montpellier, showed that sugar was converted to sucrose and fructose in a closed bottle containing water and when he added calcium or zinc chloride to it, no reaction occurred. He also noticed moulds developing in the solution, but could not fathom the significance of it. He concluded that water was the factor for fermentation. He changed his conclusion in 1858 that water was not the main factor, in fact, fermentation was directly related to the growth of moulds, and moulds required air for growth. He regarded himself as the first to show the role of microorganisms in fermentation. Pasteur started his experiments only in 1857 and published his findings in 1858 (April issue of Comptes Rendus Chimie, Béchamp’s paper appeared in January issue), which, as Béchamp noted, did not bring any novel idea or experiments that earlier works had not shown. On the other hand, Béchamp was probably aware of Pasteur’s 1857 preliminary works. With both scientists claiming priority on the discovery, a bitter and protracted dispute lasted throughout their lives. Their rivalry extended to ideas on microbiology, pathogenesis, and germ theory. Particularly on the spontaneous generation because Pasteur in his 1858 paper explicitly stated that the lactic acid bacteria (he named them “lactic yeasts”), which caused wine souring, “takes birth spontaneously, as easily as beer yeast every time that the conditions are favourable.” This statement directly implied that Pasteur did believe in spontaneous generation. He condemned the ideas of Pasteur as “‘the greatest scientific silliness of the age”. However, Béchamp was on the losing side, as the BMJ obituary remarked: His name was associated with bygone controversies as to priority which it would be unprofitable to recall. Pasteur and Béchamp believed that fermentation was exclusively cellular activity, that is, it was only due to living cells. But later extraction of enzymes such as invertase by Marcellin Berthelot in 1860 showed that it was simply an enzymatic reaction.

Pasteur’s ground-breaking “Studies on Fermentation” is in the public domain, of course, so you can read the entire work, or just browse through it, at the Internet Archive.

USBF-1951-qa9
In 1951, the United States Brewers Foundation featured Louis Pasteur in an ad, which was part of a series that used a Q&A format aimed at highlighting different positive aspects of beer and the brewing industry.

Historic Beer Birthday: Gerardus Johannes Mulder

December 27, 2025 By Jay Brooks

Today is the birthday of Gerardus Johannes Mulder (December 26, 1802–April 18, 1880). He “was a Dutch organic and analytical chemist,” who wrote several technical chemical publications analyzing various substances, including one entitled “The Chemistry of Beer,” in 1856 or 57 (sources vary).

“He became a professor of chemistry at Rotterdam and later at Utrecht. While at the Utrecht University, Mulder described the chemical composition of protein. He claimed that albuminous substances are made up of a common radical, protein, and that protein had the same empirical formula except for some variation in amounts of sulfur and phosphorus, long before the polymer nature of proteins was recognized after work by Staudinger and Carrothers.

He was the first to use this name, protein, coined by Jöns Jacob Berzelius in a publication, his 1838 paper ‘On the composition of some animal substances’ (originally in French but translated in 1839 to German). In the same publication he also proposed that animals draw most of their protein from plants.”

Gerardus_Johannes_Mulder

Here’s a biography of Mulder from Encyclopedia.com:

Mulder studied medicine at the University of Utrecht (1819–1825), from which he graduated with a dissertation on the action of alkaloids of opium, De opio ejusque principiis, actione inter se comparatis (1825). He practiced medicine in Amsterdam and then in Rotterdam, where he also lectured at the Bataafsch Genootschap der Proefondervindelijke Wijsbegeerte and taught botany to student apothecaries. At the foundation of a medical school at Rotterdam (1828), Mulder became lecturer in botany, chemistry, mathematics, and pharmacy. His attention was directed primarily to the practical training of his students. In 1840 Mulder succeeded N. C. de Fremery as professor of chemistry at the University of Utrecht. He applied for his retirement in 1868 and spent the rest of his life in Bennekom. Besides publishing on scientific subjects, Mulder took an active part in education, politics and public health. The works of Faraday and Berzelius exerted a great influence on him; his Leerboek voor Scheikundige werktuigkunde (1832–1835) was written in the spirit of Faraday’s Chemical Manipulation. Mulder edited a Dutch translation by three of his students of Berzelius’ textbook of chemistry as Leerboek der Scheikunde (6 vols., 1834–1845). His difficult character caused problems with some of his pupils and with other chemists.

From 1826 to 1865 Mulder edited five Dutch chemical journals (see bibliography), in which most of his work was published. He worked in physics and in both general and physical chemistry, the latter in combination with medicine, physiology, agriculture, and technology. Most of his work had a polemic character. His most important contributions are in the field of physiological chemistry and soil chemistry, in which he published two extensive works that attracted much attention in translation despite their many mistakes and erroneous speculations.

Studies on proteins led Mulder to his protein theory (1838): he supposed that all albuminous substances consist of a radical compound (protein) of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen, in combination with varying amounts of sulfur and phosphorus. The differences among proteins resulted from multiplication of the protein units in conjunction with the two other elements. Thus, casein was formulated as

10 protein units + S,
And serum albumin as
10 protein units + SP2.

In 1843 Mulder published the first volume of a treatise on physiological chemistry, which was translated into English as The Chemistry of Vegetable and Animal Physiology (1845–1849). At first both Liebig and Berzelius accepted Mulder’s analysis of proteins; but Liebig soon opposed the theory vigorously, and a deep conflict with Mulder ensued. In 1839–1840 Mulder investigated humic and ulmic acids and humus substances and determined the amounts of geic acid (acidum geïcum), apocrenic acid (acidum apocrenicum or Quellsatzsäure), crenic acid (acidum crenicum or Quellsäure), and humic acids in fertile soils (1844). The structure of these various brown or black substances is unknown. They are a group of aromatic acids of high molecular weight, which can be extracted from peat, turf, and decaying vegetable matter in the soil. The difference between these acids is the oxygen content. In the decay of vegetable matter ulmic acid is formed. According to Mulder, this has the formula C20H14O6(in modern equivalents). In contact with air and water more oxygen is absorbed, which results in the successive formation of humic acid (C20H12O6, geic acid (C20H12O7), apocrenic acid C24H12O12, and crenic acid (C12H12O8).

His studies on agricultural chemistry led to the treatise De scheikunde der bouwbare aarde (1860). Mulder confirmed Berzelius’ suggestion that theine and caffeine are identical (1838) and was the first to analyze phytol correctly in his researches on chlorophyll. Among his other works are technical chemical publications on indigo (1833), wine (1855), and beer (1856), detailed research on the assaying method for analyzing silver in relation to the volumetric silver determination of Gay-Lussac (1857), and a study on drying oils (1865).

Gerrit-Jan-Mulder-01

While I can’t find the book itself, Julius E. Thausing mentions it in his “Theory and Practice of the Preparation of Malt and the Fabrication of Beer,”published in 1882.

Beer In Ads #5151: Old Reading Bock Beer

December 25, 2025 By Jay Brooks

Last year 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.

Thursday’s holiday ad is for Old Reading Bock Beer, which was published on December 25, 1934. This ad was for the Reading Brewing Co. of Reading, Pennsylvania, which was originally founded in 1866, and closed when I was in high school. This ad ran in The Reading Times, which was my hometown newspaper growing up, also from Reading, Pennsylvania.

Historic Beer Birthday: Adam Eulberg

December 25, 2025 By Jay Brooks

Today is the birthday of Adam Eulberg (December 25, 1855-August 12, 1897). He was born on Christmas Day in Wisconsin, and was the son of Caspar Eulberg, who owned the Casper Eulberg & Sons Brewery in Galena, Illinois. Originally called Math. Meller Brewery when in opened in 1874, it appears Eulberg acquired it in 1885, changing the name to his own, at least until closed by prohibition in 1920. It tried to open after repeal, under the name Galena Brewing Co., but closed for good in 1936.

Here’s his short obituary from the Daily Portage, October 1897:

Caspar Eulberg & Sons Brewing around 1900.

This short history is from Northern Public Radio’s “This Week in Illinois History.“

On October 11, 1886, the Galena Daily Gazette reported that Casper Eulberg and his two sons had launched the Galena Brewery. Eulberg had purchased the long-operating brewery a year earlier, running it as C. Eulberg & Sons, but after only six months the entire operation burned to the ground. Eulberg rebuilt bigger and better, with modern machinery and a larger capacity. He changed the name to Galena Brewery. Within a few years, his flagship beer, Red Stripe, became one of the most popular beers in northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin and Iowa.
Red Stripe’s reign continued until Prohibition shut down the brewery in 1920. When Prohibition ended in 1933, the Galena Brewery reopened under new ownership and relaunched Red Stripe, based on the Eulberg family’s formula. In 1935, it trademarked the Red Stripe label but went out of business one year later.

Historic Beer Birthday: Stephan Moninger

December 25, 2025 By Jay Brooks

Today is the birthday of Stephan Moninger (December 25, 1827-1875). He was born in Württemberg, Germany, and on December 16, 1856, was granted a license to brew commercially and founded the Brauerei Moninger in Karlsruhe, Germany. It was the same brewery he had previously worked at as brewmaster, then known as the Brauerei Ludwig Kaufmann. When his boss died in 1852, he married his widow, Marie Kaufmann, and Moniger assumed control of the brewery then but had to wait until two years later to be inspected and permitted to join the local brewers’ and coopers’ guilds, even though he’d become a citizen of Baden and had acquired the “master’s rights.”

Here’s the Google translation from the German Stadtwiki Karlsruhe:

As Stephan Moninger from Upper Unterschneidheim at Ellwangen in 1854 to Karlsruhe came, wanted the local brewers guild not accept his master’s certificate. No wonder he had bought himself in Stuttgart. When then 27 breweries and 25,000 residents, there was a great competition. Moninger then worked initially as managing director of Ludwig Kaufmann brewery in Waldhornstraße 23 died as a merchant, married Moninger 1856 his widow Marie born Hermann . However, before that same year the brewery under the name brewery S. Moninger could lead, he had to take a new master inspection before Bierbrauer- and coopers’ guild.
After Moninger 1866 in the former brewery of his brother Josef Hack in the Long Road 142 (later Emperor Street ) moved, the company began to flourish soon. 1875 , the company was by his widow Marie and from 1881 by the sons Karl and Stefan Moninger continued as a general partnership.
From Josef Hack Moninger also had a beer cellar in summer bar (at the Kriegsstraße acquired). On the local terrain in the Kriegsstraße 128-130 (. Later No. 210-216) established the brothers Moninger – after 1884 a brewery fire the malt kiln in the Kaiserstraße had destroyed – after a new brewery.
With the commissioning of the new brewery investments in 1888 , the change occurred to one of the first industrial companies in this hitherto craft-oriented industry. At the same time, the conversion into a corporation under the name carried Brewery Company vorm. S. Moninger AG (since 1938 only Brauerei Moninger AG). 1898 a beer output of 100,000 hectoliters was reached. Thus she could in the subsequent period as now largest brewery establish bathing. 1905 was a bottling plant in operation.
The First World War the supernatant Moninger AG better than most other Karlsruher breweries . Through the buying of brewery Kammerer ( 1920 ), the Eglau brewery ( 1921 ) and the Union Brewery ( 1922 ) she held the top position among the Karlsruher Breweries (beer production in 1928 : 200,000 hl.). From 1923 , the production of soft drinks and mineral was added.

The Moninger brewery in 1906.And here’s another translation of their history, this one from Karlsruhe Culture & Tourism:

In December 1856 originating from Württemberg took Stefan Moninger the brewery of the late Ludwig Kaufmann in Waldhornstraße 23, in which he worked as a brewmaster since. 1854 After Kaufmann’s death in June of the year, he had acquired Baden citizenship and the master’s rights, and married the widow Marie Kaufmann. Since Waldhornstraße the flourishing brewery Stefan Moninger offered little space, acquired Moninger 1866 for sale Brauerei his brother Josef Hack in Long Street (today Kaiserstraße ) 142 to the four acres of farmland including a beer cellar in summer line included. When Moninger passed away in 1875, his wife first handed over the management of the brewery to her oldest son, Ludwig Kaufmann junior. 1881 then took over the two elder sons from his second marriage, Charles Moninger (Kaufmann) and Stefan Moninger (brewer), the company for sale of her mother and made her a general partnership (OHG). In 1887, the youngest son Theodor Moninger joined the company as a third party, which developed into a major industrial company in the 1880s.
From 1886-1888 originated in the Kriegsstraße 128-130 (today Kriegsstraße 210-216), the site of the former summer line, according to plans by Hermann Walder modern brewery plant, which has been continuously expanded to 1900’s. On June 12, 1889, the family business was transformed into the company Bremerige Gesellschaftsgesellschaft S. Moninger. With a beer output of more than 100,000 hectoliters in the business year 1897/98 the enterprise rose to the largest Karlsruher brewery. 1898 the brothers from the town acquired a 12,800 square meter area at Westbahnhof as a storage and distribution center for growing freight traffic on rails. 1901 she opened in the Imperial Road 144, next to the former brewery, the also designed by Walder main places to Moninger . From 1906-1908 was on the brewery premises in Kriegstrasse modern Flaschenabfüllerei and on the adjacent corner plot war and border road (today Moningerstraße ) built a fountain.
The outbreak of the First World War led to a production Depression. 1920 took over the brewery, the brewery Karl Kammerer in Kriegstrasse 113 and the brewery Eglau Aktiengesellschaft (AG) in Durlach and 1922, the Union Brewery Aktiengesellschaft AG in Sophienstraße 101. In 1923 she expanded the production by making lemonade and mineral water. After ups and downs in the 1920s and 1930s led World War II in turn to a drop in production of in 1938 operating under the name and brewery Moninger AG company. The two houses in the Imperial Road were in airstrikes hit the brewery plant in Kriegstrasse spared.

Today the brewery is part of a merger, and is known as the Hatz-Moninger Brauhaus.

On May 1, 2010, the merger of Moninger AG brewery was with the court brewery Hatz AG from my Betriebspacht- and purchase agreement Rastatt sealed, which was there for the 1863rd Since then the brewery has been transferred to Hatz-Moninger Brauhaus GmbH. The Hatzfeld brewhouse was dismantled and installed the Brew vessels in a new brewhouse. This cost 3.4 million euros and was built within eight months at the Zentralgesitz Grünwinkel.

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Brauerei Moninger circa 1935.

Beer In Ads #5150: Santa’s Gem Bock Beer

December 24, 2025 By Jay Brooks

Wednesday’s ad is for Gem Bock Beer, which was published on December 24, 1950. This ad was for the Walter Bros. Brewing Co. of Menasha, Wisconsin, which was originally founded as the Island City Brewery in 1860. It became known as Walter Bros. in 1933 after prohibition, although the brothers had been involved in the brewery since 1888. This ad ran in The Green Bay Press Gazette, from Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Historic Beer Birthday: Howard Hughes

December 24, 2025 By Jay Brooks

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Today is the birthday of Howard Hughes (December 24, 1905–April 5, 1976). He was, of course, “an American entrepreneur, known during his lifetime as one of the most financially successful individuals in the world. He first made a name for himself as a film producer, and then became an influential figure in the aviation industry. Later in life, he became known for his eccentric behavior and reclusive lifestyle, oddities that were caused in part by a worsening obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) and chronic pain from a plane crash.”

As a maverick film tycoon, Hughes gained prominence in Hollywood beginning in the late 1920s, when he made big-budget and often controversial films like The Racket (1928), Hell’s Angels (1930), Scarface (1932), and The Outlaw (1943).
Hughes formed the Hughes Aircraft Company in 1932, hiring numerous engineers and designers. He spent the rest of the 1930s setting multiple world air speed records and building the Hughes H-1 Racer and H-4 Hercules (the “Spruce Goose”). He acquired and expanded Trans World Airlines and later acquired Air West, renaming it Hughes Airwest. Hughes was included in Flying Magazine’s list of the 51 Heroes of Aviation, ranked at No. 25. Today, his legacy is maintained through the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

While not even mentioned in most accounts of his many accomplishments, Hughes also founded the Gulf Brewing Co. on his property used for the Hughes Toll Co. in Houston, Texas, just after prohibition ended. He hired one of the area’s most famous brewers, Belgian-born Frank Brogniez to create their beers, and his Grand Prize ended up becoming the best-selling beer in the state. Here’s some more about the Gulf Brewing Co. that Howard Hughes founded, from the Houston Past:

Howard Hughes’ connection with the Houston-based Hughes Tool Company is fairly well-known. It is less well-known that Hughes started a brewery in Houston, on the grounds of the Hughes Tool Company, called Gulf Brewing Company. Hughes opened the brewery at the end of Prohibition, and its profits helped the tool company survive the Depression.
Gulf Brewing Company produced Grand Prize beer, which for a time was the best-selling beer in Texas. It has been reported that a beer called Grand Prize beer was also produced prior to Prohibition, by the Houston Ice and Brewing Company. While that may be accurate, any confusion is likely connected to the fact that Hughes’ Grand Prize brewery was operated by the man who served as brewmaster at Houston Ice and Brewing before Prohibition. In 1913, while he was brewmaster at the Houston Ice and Brewing Company, Belgian-Houstonian Frantz Brogniez was awarded Grand Prize at the last International Conference of Breweries for his Southern Select beer – beating out 4,096 competing brewers. Brogniez left Houston during Prohibition, but Hughes convinced him to return to serve as brewmaster for the Gulf Brewing Company. Brogniez’ son operated the brewery after his father’s death.

Grand-Prize-Light-Dry-Beer-Labels-Gulf-Brewing-Company

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