Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Beer Birthday: Hugh Sisson

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

Dressed up for their 20th anniversary.

Beer Birthday: Henry “Zadie” Benesch

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Today would have been the 104th birthday of Henry “Zadie” Benesch. Unfortunately, he passed away a few days shy of his 101st birthday on January 11, 2021. Until then, the centenarian was believed to be the oldest living person working for a brewery, where he helped out at his grandson’s brewery in Baltimore, Maryland, Union Craft Brewery. Thanks to Gregg Wiggins and Tom Cizauskas for alerting me to this story. You can read more about Zadie in an interview of him from a few years before when he turned 99 from the Washington City Paper. Here is what Yours For Good Fermentables had to say:

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

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

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

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

Zadie

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

  1. You can never have too many hats.
  2. Vegetables are always optional.
  3. Exercise will kill you.
  4. Travel often and see the world.
  5. Coffee, bourbon, Blackwing Lager and cigars are the four basic life necessities.
  6. Show up and work hard.
  7. Treat everyone you meet with kindness and compassion.
  8. Don’t take life so seriously.
  9. Stay humble.
  10. Keep it simple.
  11. Appreciate what you have.
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Beer In Ads #4000: Miss American Beer

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Sunday’s ad is my 4,000th shared ad, which is mind-boggling to me. So I thought I’d take a break from this year’s Miss Rheingold theme to share this colorful ad for “American Pilsener Style Beer” from the American Brewery, Inc. of Baltimore, Maryland. It’s apparently from the first half of the 20th century, but I don’t know more than that. Maybe this was from a 4th of July ad or maybe they were this patriotic all year long. Either way, it seems very celebratory for my 4,000th beer ad post.

Beer Birthday: Brad Klipner

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Today is the 38th birthday of Brad Klipner, who writes the beer blog Beer in Baltimore. Brad also does marketing for Baltimore Beer Week and recently took a job as sales manager for DuClaw Brewing. Brad and I have corresponded numerous times but have not yet had an opportunity to drink a beer in person yet. Join me in wishing him a very happy birthday.

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Thumbs up for beer.

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With a bevy of beery beauties.

Beer In Ads #1806: F. Klemm’s Bock

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Saturday’s ad is for F. Klemm’s Bock Beer, from around 1880. F. Klemm was located in Baltimore, Maryland. But the scene if pretty amazing, if a little surreal. I bock parade from the brewery includes a float with a giant goat and a large barrel of what I can only presume is F. Klemm’s Bock Beer, with Gambrinus leading from the flaot, which is being pulled by six goats. The throngs of people watching the parade look very happy, which I suspect is because they’re drinking some of F. Klemm’s bock.

Klemms-bock

Beer In Ads #1690: From Chesapeake Bay …

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Saturday’s ad is for National Bohemian Light Beer, from 1959. The syntax in the ad copy just seems odd. “From Chesapeake Bay … land of pleasant living we bring you this quality beer.” Seems like a “ta-da” moment with no payoff, just a picture of a boat, an illustrated beer bottle, and the silhouette of a beer glass containing the ad copy.

NationalBohemianAd_1959

Maryland Beer

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Today in 1788, Maryland became the 7th state.

Maryland
State_Maryland

Maryland Breweries

Maryland Brewery Guides

Guild: Brewers Association of Maryland

State Agency: Maryland Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Bureau

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  • Capital: Annapolis
  • Largest Cities:Baltimore, Frederick, Gaithersburg, Bowie, Rockville
  • Population: 5,296,486; 19th
  • Area: 12407 sq.mi., 42nd
  • Nickname: Old Line State
  • Statehood: 7th, April 28, 1788

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  • Alcohol Legalized: December 5, 1933
  • Number of Breweries: 23
  • Rank: 22nd
  • Beer Production: 3,343,296
  • Production Rank: 25th
  • Beer Per Capita: 18.4 Gallons

maryland

Package Mix:

  • Bottles: 45.3%
  • Cans: 44.2%
  • Kegs: 4.9%

Beer Taxes:

  • Per Gallon: $0.09
  • Per Case: $0.20
  • Tax Per Barrel (24/12 Case): $2.79
  • Draught Tax Per Barrel (in Kegs): $2.79

Economic Impact (2010):

  • From Brewing: $41,776,563
  • Direct Impact: $940,459,495
  • Supplier Impact: $453,776,947
  • Induced Economic Impact: $948,842,606
  • Total Impact: $2,343,079,048

Legal Restrictions:

  • Control State: Variable by locality
  • Sale Hours: Variable by locality
  • Grocery Store Sales: Variable by locality
  • Notes: Baltimore County prohibits the sale on Sunday in some areas.
    Montgomery County, Somerset County, Wicomico County, and Worcester County are alcoholic beverage control counties.
    Garrett County prohibits the sale on Sunday except in some areas.
    The sale of alcohol at grocery and convenience stores varies by county.
    There are no dry counties, but some individual voting districts within counties restrict or prohibit alcohol on a local-option basis.

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Data complied, in part, from the Beer Institute’s Brewer’s Almanac 2010, Beer Serves America, the Brewers Association, Wikipedia and my World Factbook. If you see I’m missing a brewery link, please be so kind as to drop me a note or simply comment on this post. Thanks.

For the remaining states, see Brewing Links: United States.

Beer In Ads #339: Baltimore Knows Boh

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Friday’s ad is another baseball-themed ad, this one for National Bohemian. I think it’s fairly contemporary, just retro in design, because isn’t that Camden Yards in the illustration? And that opened in 1992. I’ve only been there once, when GABF went on the road for the first, and only, time several years ago. When I was a kid it was Memorial Stadium. That was the Earl Weaver days when I was a big Orioles fan and saw them play a few times.

National_Beer

Beer In Ads #297: From Chesapeake Bay Land Of Pleasant Living …

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Wedneday’s ad is for Baltimore’s National Bohemian Light Beer. It ran in Life magazine in 1959. The tagline is a mouthfull: “From Chesapeake Bay land of pleasant we bring you this quality beer.” And from the insets at the bottom, the Chesapeake Bay area was also the “land of fun,” the “land of history,” and the “land of good food.”

bohemianLIFE1959