Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Beer In Ads #1811: Gouveneur Morris — “Father of the Penny”

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Thursday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1915, No. 4 in a series they did in 1914-15 called “Framers of the Constitution of the U.S.A.” The fourth one features Gouveneur Morris (though it’s usually spelled Gouverneur Morris), and tells the story of Morris being a part of creating the Constitution, referring to him as both the “father of the American decimal system” and the “originator of the copper cent.” In reality, he was “widely credited as the author of the document’s preamble, and has been called the ‘Penman of the Constitution.'” But I guess that doesn’t sound quite as good as the “Father of the Penny.” Although there’s also this to add to his legacy. “He loved society, and his hospitality was famous. All his life he drank the creative brews of malt and hops.”

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Patent No. 3425839A: Continuous Beer Making Process Wherein The Wort And Yeast Are Separated By A Porous Partition

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Today in 1969, US Patent 3425839 A was issued, an invention of Michael Alan Pinnegar, assigned to Brewing Patents Ltd., for his “Continuous Beer Making Process Wherein the Wort and Yeast Are Separated by a Porous Partition.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

A potable beer is produced by circulating a body of yeast-containing liquor on one side of a partition and maintaining a moving body of wort on the opposite side of the partition. The partition is porous and has a pore size small enough to effectively bar the passage of yeast cells, but allows the passage of the soluble constituents of the wort and the soluble products resulting from the fermentation of the wort by the yeast.

The present invention relates to the production of potable beer by the fermentation of brewers wort by yeast in a continuous fermentation process. The term continuous fermentation process is used herein to refer to a fermentation process, in which brewers Wort is introduced in a stream into a fermentation zone. The stream of wort can be introduced at either constant or varying rates and may be continuous or discontinuous in the sense of being interrupted at constant or varying intervals. However in the generally preferred procedure brewers wort is introduced into the fermentation zone at a substantially constant rate over a substantial period of time e.g. not less than five days.

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Alice Cooper And Chicken And Beer, Oh My!

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Today is the birthday of American rock singer and songwriter Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier; February 4, 1948- ). Apparently early in Alice Cooper’s career, there was an incident at a 1969 show in Toronto that helped to create his bad boy persona and get him noticed in the world of rock and roll. That became known as the Chicken Incident, and there are different versions of it that have been told, with this one coming from Wikipedia.

Alice Cooper’s “shock rock” reputation apparently developed almost by accident at first. An unrehearsed stage routine involving Cooper, a feather pillow, and a live chicken garnered attention from the press; the band decided to capitalize on the tabloid sensationalism, creating in the process a new subgenre, shock rock. Cooper claims that the infamous “Chicken Incident” at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival concert in September 1969 was an accident. A chicken somehow made its way onto the stage into the feathers of a feather pillow they would open during Cooper’s performance, and not having any experience around farm animals, Cooper presumed that, because the chicken had wings, it would be able to fly. He picked it up and threw it out over the crowd, expecting it to fly away. The chicken instead plummeted into the first few rows occupied by wheelchair users, who reportedly proceeded to tear the bird to pieces. The next day the incident made the front page of national newspapers, and Zappa phoned Cooper and asked if the story, which reported that he had bitten off the chicken’s head and drunk its blood on stage, was true. Cooper denied the rumor, whereupon Zappa told him, “Well, whatever you do, don’t tell anyone you didn’t do it.”

Blueiskewl also has another account, with some additional context. Stemming from the infamous chicken incident, at some time in the 1970s, Cooper managed to be in the same room as Colonel Sanders — Harland David Sanders — the founder and face of Kentucky Fried Chicken, a connection not lost on Cooper.

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A perplexed Colonel Sanders posing with Alice Cooper, who’s holding a beer, sometime in the 1970s.

During an interview which was taped for a showing of the film Super Duper Alice Cooper in 2014, Cooper answered a question about his meeting Colonel Sanders in the 1970s.

“Here comes this nice old man in a white suit,” said Cooper. “Suddenly I realize that this is the Hannibal Lecter of chickens. I have the death of exactly one chicken on my hands, and this guy has a score of 10 billion. Yet everyone loves this guy, and hates me for being a chicken killer! The irony of the two of us being in the same room at the same time was not lost on either me or the Colonel.”

And in yet another one by Interviewly, he talks about tying the two together.

What can you tell us about meeting Col. Sanders? Did he bring chicken?

There was an INCREDIBLE thing that happened in the early 70’s! Somebody threw a chicken onstage, I threw the chicken in the audience, the audience tore it to pieces, and then in the newspaper the next day the headline read “Alice Cooper tears chicken to pieces.” It’s the most notorious story about Alice Cooper that’s been going on forever. And I thought “it just one chicken and I didn’t even kill it, the audience killed it, so I thought why not take a picture with the mass murderer of chickens Colonel Sanders?” so to me it had a sense of humor to it. I mean, one chicken for me, seven BILLION chickens for Colonel Sanders. And yet I’m the villain. I would say if you interviewed the chickens they would be more terrified of him than me.

Unfortunately, I can find no specifics about exactly when or where this meeting took place. It looks like it was in someone’s house, or maybe a hotel, but no one seems to know for sure. Perhaps it’s better to leave it mysterious and enigmatic. If it weren’t for the photos, we may not believe it every actually happened.

Anyone want to hazard a guess as to what beer it was? 19702 and with a foil neck and probably label. It’s not Michelob and it doesn’t strike me as a Lowenbrau. It might be something more local or regional, but given that we don’t know the location that’s not much help. It doesn’t look like the Colonel joined Cooper for a beer.

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Patent No. 2230905A: Beverage Cooling Apparatus

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Today in 1941, US Patent 2230905 A was issued, an invention of Louis L. Popky, for his “Beverage Cooling Apparatus.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

The present invention relates to new and useful improvements in apparatus for cooling and dispensing beer and similar beverages, and has for its primary object to provide a dispensing cabinet of a portable nature in which the dispensing faucet is mounted, the faucet being connected to the keg positioned in a room remotely disposed with respect to the cabinet and providing a mechanical cooling unit for circulating air over a set of cooling coils through the cabinet as well as through the room in which the keg is positioned.

A further important object is to provide air ducts leading from the storage room for the beer keg into the cabinet where the same is subjected to the cooling influence of the refrigerant coil and also providing an air duct leading from the cabinet to the storage room for delivering the cooled air to the latter and mounting a beer pipe from ‘the keg in the storage room to the faucet in said cold air duct to further lower the temperature of the beer before the same reaches the faucet.

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Patent No. 878136A: Brew-House Equipment

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Today in 1908, US Patent 878136 A was issued, an invention of Max Henius, for his “Brew-House Equipment.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

The gist of my invention lies in centering about a single point on the brew-house floor, on which the entire apparatus employed in producing the wort is located, all the controlling means for governing and inspecting the operation of the different parts, whereby all such means are rendered conveniently accessible to the manipulation and view of a single operator whose position of duty is at such centering point.

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Beer In Ads #1810: Alexander Hamilton — “Father Of American Credit”

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Wednesday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1915, No. 3 in a series they did in 1914-15 called “Framers of the Constitution of the U.S.A.” The third one features Alexander Hamilton, and tells the story of Hamilton creating the Constitution, and his contributions to creating credit. And apparently he was also a fan of beer. “During Hamilton’s lifetime he used his great influence to encourage and protect the brewing industry. Among all the Fathers of the Republic none knew better than he that honestly-brewed barley-malt beers make for true temperance.”

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Beer In Ads #1809: James Madison — “Father of the Constitution”

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Tuesday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1915, No. 2 in a series they did in 1914-15 called “Framers of the Constitution of the U.S.A.” The second one features James Madison, and tells the story of Madison creating the Constitution, and being a moderate beer drinker. “Many a foaming glass of good barley-malt beer he drank with his bosom friend Thomas Jefferson.”

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Patent No. 3559869A: Beverage Cooler

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Today in 1971, US Patent 3559869 A was issued, an invention of John J. Reynolds, for his “Beverage Cooler.” Here’s the Abstract:

The application discloses a seamless, corrugated paper container having a top opening larger than its base and therefore capable of being nested with like containers. There is disposed therein a keg, bottle or the like of beverage desirably maintained in a cool state. The container may be coated with a moisture proof plastic and a coolant, such as ice, is disposed between the keg and the inner wall structure of the container. The latter is provided with a breakable aperture portion to receive a spigot assembly which communicates with the interior of the keg. The container also has a weakened area to receive, if desired, a drain hose, such area being below the expected water level of the container when the ice is substantially melted. Alternatively, the container is usable as an ice bucket in which case the weakened portions are not broken through.

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Patent No. 911405A: Beer Cooler

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Today in 1909, US Patent 911405 A was issued, an invention of John D. Hendrix, for his “Beer Cooler.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

This invention relates to beer coolers, the object of the invention being to provide a simple and effective beer cooling device which may be sold at a reasonable figure, easily installed, and one which is adapted to be taken apart in order that the several parts thereof may be easily and thoroughly cleansed.

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Beer In Ads #1808: George Washington — “Father Of His Country”

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Monday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1915, No. 1 in a series they did in 1914-15 called “Framers of the Constitution of the U.S.A.” The first one features George Washington, and tells the story of Washington presiding over the Constitutional Convention and draws some clumsy parallels between him and Anheuser-Busch. I especially love this one. “Like all of the great men of his time, he was a moderate user of good old barley brews.”

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