Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

  • Home
  • About
  • Editorial
  • Birthdays
  • Art & Beer

Socialize

  • Dribbble
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • GitHub
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Powered by Head Quarters Built on WordPress

Historic Beer Birthday: Christian Benjamin Feigenspan

August 15, 2022 By Jay Brooks

feigenspan
Today is the birthday of Christian Benjamin Feigenspan (August 15, 1844-April 10, 1899). He was born in Thuringia, Germany but moved his family to New Jersey and founded the C. Feigenspan Brewing Company of Newark in 1875, though at least one source says 1868. When he died in 1899, his son Christian William Feigenspan took over management of the brewery, which remained in business through prohibition, but was bought by Ballantine in 1943.

Christian-Benjamin-Feigenspan

There’s surprisingly little biographical information about Christian Benjamin Feigenspan, but here’s some history of his brewery:

In 1875 the Christian Feigenspan Brewing Company was founded at 49 Charlton St., at the former Laible brewery where he had previously been a superintendent. He would also marry Rachel Laible.

In 1878, he reportedly built a brewery on Belmont Street, and as late as 1886 a facility at 54 Belmont would be listed as the “Feigenspan Bottling Establishment”.

In 1880, Christian Feiganspan took over the Charles Kolb lager beer brewery (founded 1866) on Freeman Street. (Altho’, an 1873 map of Newark shows the property owned by a “Lenz Geyer Company”. There was a “Geyer” who was another Newark brewer who owned an “Enterprise Brewery” on Orange St.)

An 1884 fire would, reportedly, burn the brewery to the ground for a loss of $300,000.

By 1909, the firm would be advertising that “…Feigenspan Breweries are the largest producers of Ale in the United States!” (click on barrel above for text of ad) in an apparent dig at their much larger next door neighbor, P. Ballantine & Sons. Ballantine’s Lager Beer sales having by then accounted for 3/4 of their total production.

Possibly because of WWI era restrictions on the allowable alcohol level of beer (set at a mere 2.75%), Feigenspan entered into Prohibition with 4,000 barrels of aging ale in its cellar. In 1927, the ale would make the news as they tried to sell it. One story in July had it going to Heinz in Pittsburgh to be made into malt vinegar, but follow up articles say that in early November the ale was simply dumped into the sewer “…and thence into the Passaic River”.

Sadly, it would not be the first beer dumped by Feigenspan, which had one of the first four licenses to brew “medicinal beer” at the start of Prohibition. “Medicinal beer” was soon outlawed by the “Anti-Beer” law, and the brewery had to dump 600 cases of “real beer” (4.5% alcohol) in March of 1922.

Feigenspan-bock-1900

c-b-feigenspan

Christian-Feigenspan-Breweries-Tip-Trays-3-6-inches-Christian-Feigenspan-Inc--Pre-Prohibition

feigenspan-brewery

Feigenspan-PON-Beer--Labels-Christian-Feigenspan-Brewing-Co

Filed Under: Birthdays, Breweries, Just For Fun Tagged With: Germany, History, New Jersey

Beer Birthday: Gretchen Schmidhausler

August 8, 2022 By Jay Brooks

little-dog
Today is the birthday of Gretchen Schmidhausler. She owns and operates Little Dog Brewing in Neptune City, New Jersey. I first met Gretchen, I believe, when she was brewing at Basil T’s Brewery & Italian Grill, where she brewed for over a dozen years, although she’s been in the industry longer than that. Gretchen also is a beer writer, and wrote the book Making Craft Beer at Home, which was published in 2014. And more recently, she joined us for World Beer Award judging in D.C. Join me wishing Gretchen a very happy birthday.

Gretchen and I earlier this year at CBC in Minneapolis.

Gretchen-Schmidhausler
Gretchen with her little at her Little Dog Brewery.

gretchen-and-norm
Gretchen with George “Norm” Wendt.

[Note: last two photos purloined from Facebook and her brewery website.]

Filed Under: Birthdays, Just For Fun Tagged With: New Jersey

Beer Birthday: Tara Nurin

August 7, 2022 By Jay Brooks

Today is the 49th birthday of beer writer Tara Nurin. She’s originally from Annapolis, but now calls Camden, New Jersey her home, where she writes for Forbes, USA Today, Food & Wine, Wine Enthusiast, VinePair, and many others. She’s recently published a book about the history of women in beer, titled “A Woman’s Place Is in the Brewhouse: A Forgotten History of Alewives, Brewsters, Witches, and CEOs.” She also founded Beer for Babes (f.k.a. Barley’s Angels New Jersey). I don’t remember when I first met Tara, possibly at a North American Guild of Beer Writer events, but she’s been a great addition to the beer writer’s cadre, and last year I worked with Tara on her media panel for the Craft Brewers Conference. Join me in wishing Tara a very happy birthday.

Tara with a taster of beers.
With Herlinda Heras at the Hopland Tap during a recent trip to California.
With Samuel Adams brewer Megan Parisi.

NOTE: All photos purloined from Facebook.

Out Now!: A Woman’s Place Is in the Brewhouse.

Filed Under: Birthdays, Just For Fun Tagged With: Beer Writers Guild, Maryland, New Jersey, United States, Writing

Beer Birthday: Tony Forder

May 23, 2022 By Jay Brooks

asn-long
Today is the 67th birthday of Tony Forder, publisher of Ale Street News. Tony’s been putting out Ale Street News for over 20 years now, and was kind enough to give me a column when I first came back to freelancing when my son Porter was doing well enough so that I could return to work back in the early 2000s. I used to run into Tony at a variety of beer events throughout the year, but it’s been awhile now. He’s a great person to share a pint with or take a press junket with. Join me in wishing Tony a very happy birthday.

longshot09-4
After judging the finals for the 2009 Longshot Homebrew Competition in Boston. From left: Jason Alström, Tony, Bob Townsend, Jim Koch (founder of the Boston Beer Co.), yours truly, Julie Johnson (from All About Beer magazine), and Jason’s brother Todd Alström.

bamberg-09
Tony leading a toast at the end of the evening at Schlenkerla in Bamberg, thanking our host, Matthias Trum, and our guide, Horst Dornbusch, for a wonderful second day in Bavaria.

longshot09-2
Tony, Bob Townsend (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) and me at Longshot judging in 2009.

faust-39
During a trip to Bavaria in 2007, the gang of twelve plus three at the Faust Brauerei in Miltenberg, Germany. From left: Cornelius Faust, me, Lisa Morrison, Johannes Faust, Julie Bradford, Andy Crouch, Peter Reid, Horst Dornbusch, Jeannine Marois, Harry Schumacher, Tony Forder, Candice Alström, Don Russell, Jason and Todd Alström.

Filed Under: Birthdays, Just For Fun Tagged With: New Jersey

Historic Beer Birthday: John Hinchliffe

May 19, 2022 By Jay Brooks

hinchcliffe
Today is the birthday of John Hinchliffe (May 19, 1850-March 18, 1915). His father, also named John Hinchliffe, was born in Yorkshire, England but moved to New Jersey and founded the Hinchliffe Brewing & Malting Company in 1863. The brewery eventually employed his three sons, including John Hinchliffe Jr., who was later president. In 1890, it joined a consolidation of five local breweries in Paterson which became known as the Paterson Brewing & Malting Co. The brewery was closed by prohibition and never reopened.

john-hinchliffe

This obituary comes from the American Brewers Review in 1915:

john-hinchliffe-bio

HinchliffePortraits

This brewery history is from the Paterson Historic Preservation Society:

The Hinchliffe Brewing & Malting Company was one of at least a dozen of breweries to operate out of Paterson in the pre-Prohibition Era. Owned and operated by John Hinchliffe & sons, who had previously founded the Eagle Brewery in Paterson in 1861 (on the Eve of the Civil War), Hinchliffe Brewing built the impressive brick structure that still stands on Governor Street in 1899. Designed by Charles Stoll & Son, notable “brewer’s architects” from Brooklyn, New York, building lasted eight months and once completed she was the largest in the city. Advertising broadsides from the era feature products such as their “East India Ale,” Porters, and Brown Stouts. The Brewery had a three-story ice factory located behind it, and at full capacity could produce 75,000 barrels per year. In 1917, the Brewery was converted to cold storage for supplies headed to the battlefields of World War I.

Glassware and advertising from Hinchliffe Brewery are considered collectibles due to their pre-Prohibition origins. Unfortunately, the Brewery would not survive the 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act, as the Hinchliffe family closed operations to conform with the law of the land.

Hinchcliffe-Brewery

And this history is by Peter Blum:

Hinchliffe-Brewery-by-Blum

hinchcliffe-brewing-malting

And this is from the City of Paterson, New Jersey’s website:

The Hinchliffe Brewing and Malting Company was formed in 1890 by the well-known Hinchliffe brothers, the three sons of the English founder of the Eagle Brewery in 1861. The Eagle was likely the earliest medium-scale brewery in Paterson. John Hinchliffe began under the name Hinchliffe & Co., and was later changed to Shaw, Hinchliffe & Penrose in 1867 following association with those gentlemen. While business did well, in 1878 Penrose withdrew from the firm to which then the name changed to Shaw & Hinchliffe. Soon afterward in 1881, Shaw went abroad due to illness and died there, leaving the firm under its founder, John Hinchliffe, who again was alone in the endeavor until his death in 1886. His sons John, William and James inherited the property and the business, to which they put their minds and in 1890 set out together. They hired the well-known firm of Charles Stoll & Son of Brooklyn to draw up plans for the city’s largest and most modern brewing facility. The brew house stood five stories tall, built of brick and iron and trimmed with granite, and behind was a modern ice making facility three stories tall. A four-story cold storage facility was also constructed at the time fronting Governor Street.

The 1890s was the high time for the brewing industry in Paterson. The four main breweries in Paterson consolidated as the Paterson Consolidated Brewing Co. and in 1899 the Hinchliffe brothers also joined and became board leaders of the organization. John Hinchliffe died in 1915, the same year that more than 30 of Paterson’s saloons were closed due to the lack business. The brewing industry in Paterson was soon thereafter crippled and dissolved by the Temperance movement and prohibition era of the 1920-30s.

Hinchliffe-letterhead

On January 15, 1904, a fire broke out at the Hinchcliffe Brewery Malt House. One firefighter died when he fell from a ladder during efforts to put out the blaze, and at least three others were injured. The website Paterson Fire History has photographs and newspaper clippings from the fire.

Hinchliffe-Brewery-1904-fire

Hinchcliffe-pure-malt

Hinchcliffe-extra-lager-2

Hinchcliffe-EIPA

Filed Under: Birthdays, Breweries, Just For Fun Tagged With: England, Great Britain, History, New Jersey

Historic Beer Birthday: Henry Lembeck

April 8, 2022 By Jay Brooks

betz-lembeck-eagle
Today is the birthday of Henry B. Lembeck (April 8, 1826-July 26, 1904). He partner with John F. Betz (whose birthday is also today) to start The Lembeck and Betz Eagle Brewing Company in 1869, in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was originally known as the Henry Lembeck & John Betz Brewery, but changed its name to the Lembeck & Betz Eagle Brewing Co. in 1890. The brewery operated until prohibition in 1920. It was licensed in 1933 to begin brwong beer again, but never did so, effectively meaning it closed in 1920, or 1933, depending on how you want to look at it.

henry-lembeck-sig

This is his biography from his Wikipedia page:

Born in Osterwick, Germany near Münster, he became a cabinet maker like his father and an apprentice at the age of 13. He was drafted into the army at the age of 20, but deserted during the German Revolution of 1848 and immigrated to the United States in 1849. Living in New York City, he worked first as a carpenter and then as a grocery clerk. In a few years, Lembeck set up his own successful grocery business. It was then that he met a successful brewer, John F. Betz, selling his beer in his store.

In 1869, Lembeck moved across the river and established a brewery with Betz in downtown Jersey City, New Jersey. The Lembeck and Betz Eagle Brewing Company would develop into one of the most successful breweries in the eastern United States producing a quarter of a million barrels of beer a year. As Lembeck grew financially successful, he also helped establish banks and real estate companies in Jersey City. Lembeck was the founder of the Greenville Banking and Trust Company and a director of the Third National Bank. He helped develop the township of Greenville (today it’s a section of Jersey City) through real estate development of undeveloped land. Lembeck discontinued home building over a dispute with the city regarding the quality of water supplied to the Greenville area. After his retirement his son Gustav took over running the brewery. The brewery closed during Prohibition in 1920 and later went out of business. He lived in Greenville with his wife Emma and children in a mansion on Columbia Place, which has since been renamed Lembeck Avenue.

Lembeck died in Jersey City and is buried in Bayview – New York Bay Cemetery in Jersey City. The Lembeck mansion was later donated by his widow to St. Anne’s Home for the Aged.

henry-lembeck

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

Henry Lembeck was born near Münster, Germany. At the age of 20, he was drafted into the army, but deserted during the German Revolution of 1848 and immigrated to the United States in 1849. Living in New York City, he worked first as a carpenter and than as a grocery clerk. In a few years, Lembeck set up his own successful grocery business. It was then that he met a successful brewer, John F. Betz. In 1869, Lembeck moved across the river and established a brewery with Betz in downtown Jersey City. The Lembeck and Betz Eagle Brewing Company would develop into one of the most successful breweries in the eastern United States producing a quarter of a million barrels of beer a year. As Lembeck grew financially successful, he also helped establish banks and real estate companies in Jersey City. His son Gustav took over running the brewery. He lived in Greenville (now part of Jersey City) with his wife Emma and children in a mansion on Columbia Place, which has since been re-named Lembeck Avenue.

lembeck-and-betz-wagon

This is a second biography of Lembeck from Find-a-Grave:

Henry Lembeck is of German parentage, his father having resided in Osterwick, Munster, Germany, where he followed the trade of a cabinetmaker. He married Elizabeth Wenning, of the same town, and had children, Elizabeth, Catrina, Bernard (deceased), Henry and Joseph. Henry was born on the 8th of April, 1826, in Osterwick, where he remained until eighteen years of age. He received in youth a rudimentary education, and on the death of his father, when his son was fourteen years of age, became an apprentice to the cabinet-maker’s trade, serving three years in that capacity. For two and a half years he was employed as a journeyman, when, being drafted into the German army, he did duty as a soldier for two and a half years. His strong love of liberty, however, found expression in the revolutionary sentiments declared by him, which rendered his presence in his native land uncomfortable. He was therefore induced to emigrate to America, and on landing in New York at once resumed his trade, that of a cabinet-maker. Jersey City then became his place of residence,after which he became the agent for the sale of the ale made at the brewery of John F. Betz, of New York. This was continued until 1870, when, in connection with John Betz, he established the firm, of Lembeck & Betz,of which ale is the staple product. They speedily won an extended reputation for the excellence of their ale, and created a wide demand for it in New York City and the vicinity. He was for four years a member of the Board of Public Works of Jersey City, two years of which period he was its president. He is also a director of the E.B. Parsons Malting Company of Rochester, N.Y. He is in religion a Catholic, and identified with St. Paul’s Catholic Church of Greenville.

LembeckBetzBrewery-1910
The Lembeck and Betz Eagle Brewing Company in 1910.

And this is a history of his brewery from its Wikipedia page:

The Lembeck and Betz Eagle Brewing Company was founded in 1869 by Henry B. Lembeck and John F. Betz in Jersey City, in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. The brewery, bounded by 9th, 10th, Grove, and Henderson streets in downtown Jersey City, developed into one of the most famous, best-equipped, and financially successful breweries on the East Coast of the United States. In 1889, Lembeck started producing lager beer in addition to the traditional pale ale they had been brewing. The brewery grew through the later part of the 19th century, eventually occupying seventeen city lots. The company was incorporated in May 1890. Since 1869, the brewery grew to become the fourth-largest brewery in New Jersey.

American-Club-Beer-Labels-Lembeck--Betz-Eagle-Brewing-Co

Lembeck died in 1904 and his sons Gustav and Otto took over running the brewery. The brewery closed during Prohibition. The facility was later sold and converted into a refrigeration plant. In 1984, the area was designated the Lembeck and Betz Eagle Brewing Company District on the National Register of Historic Places. The brewery buildings were demolished in 1997.

Lembeck_Betz_1883

This history of the brewery is from Jersey City, Past and Present:

Business partners Henry Lembeck and John F. Betz founded one of the most famous, best-equipped, and financially successful breweries on the East Coast of the United States. By 1889, it manufactured fifty thousand barrels of ale and port and 250,000 barrels of beer per year in a state of the art facility valued at a million dollars and worth three million dollars in total assets.

Henry Lembeck was born at Osterwick, Mu[e]nster, Germany, on April 8, 1826. He adopted his father’s trade of cabinet making starting as an apprentice at age thirteen. He served four years as a journeyman and expected to complete his training in Paris, France, when he was drafted into the German army in 1846, a year prior to the revolution. A genealogical investigation by Lembeck’s descendants has documented that while serving in the military, Lembeck, dressed in civilian attire, frequently attended and participated at rallies of the insurgents. After a furlough granted in March 1849, he did not return to his regiment and seems to have immigrated to the United States. An investigation in 1850 was conducted and he was “declared a deserter.”

After working as a carpenter for the Herring Safe Company in New York City, Lembeck became the clerk to a grocer; and three years later he bought his own business that developed from a grocery store to a market-gardening firm. While his business flourished, Lembeck also became a sales agent for the brewery of John F. Betz of New York. In 1869, Lembeck moved to Jersey City and established with Betz a brewery to manufacture ale and porter on Ninth Street. The Betz family had already established a reputation as brewers both in the United States and Germany.

LembeckBetz_1870
The brewery in 1870.

With Lembeck’s newly acquired business savvy and Betz’s background in the production of ale and porter, the partnership was established on sound footing. The Jersey City brewing facility and operation expanded. Lembeck astutely noted the diminishing taste for ale in the United States, and in 1889 added the production of the more popular beverage of lager beer to the business. Lembeck became president of the company and incorporated the brewery into a cooperative stock company in May 1890. Betz was the vice president of the company.

A biography of Lembeck states, “[he] had the complete management of the business, assumed full responsibility of its direction, and consequently must receive the credit for its success and growth” (“Biography of Henry B. Lembeck,” 2). The brewery’s physical plant begun on Ninth Street was enlarged to accommodate the required refrigeration and storage of beer and eventually occupied seventeen city lots. A malt house, H.F. Lembeck & Company at Watkins, New York, at the head of Seneca Lake, complemented the brewing firm.

Extra-Brown-Stout-Labels-Lembeck--Betz-Eagle-Brewing-Co

Along with his business success, Lembeck took a strong interest in the Jersey City, his permanent residence. He was one of the founders the Greenville Banking and Trust Company, became vice president of the Third National Bank of Jersey City, and served with other corporations such as the Hudson Real Estate Company of which he was a director. In 1898 Lembeck built the Hudson Building at 13-15 Ocean Avenue. The stone Romanesque Revival structure at the corner of Lembeck and Ocean Avenues consecutively housed the Hudson Real Estate Company and the Greenville Bank and Trust Company with which he was associated. After a renovation in 1970, the Hudson Building became a 22-unit apartment.

Lembeck owned large tracks of land in Greenville and helped with its development. He donated property for the extension of Columbia Park (today Bartholdi Avenue). His earlier carpentry training prompted him to build a reported 32 to 43 houses in Jersey City prior to 1895 and to participate in their construction as both architect and supervising contractor. Lembeck discontinued home building over a dispute with the city regarding the quality of water supplied to the Greenville area and complained of the loss of tenants willing to rent his properties.

lembeck-and-betz-half-and-half

Lembeck lived in the home that he designed at 46 Columbia Place (today Lembeck Avenue) and Old Bergen Road. The modest-looking red brick structure has a decorative cornice painted gray with dentil molding and corner brackets. The center section of the house features a recessed gray wood and glass door reached from the concrete riser and has an open pediment supported by brackets over a double window with semicircular transom; the adjoining sections of building are topped by pyramids over the roofline. The Lembeck mansion was later donated by his widow to St. Anne’s Home for the Aged at 198 Old Bergen Road and serves as the administrative building; St. Ann’s became part of the York Street Project, run by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, in 1987.

Lembeck died at his residence on July 25, 1904; he was president of Lembeck and Betz at the time of his death. He is buried in the family plot in the Bayview-New York Bay Cemetery.

lembeck-and-betz-1910-poster
The tagline in this ad is great: “The beer that made Milwaukee jealous.”

lembeck-and-betz-sparkling-ale

Filed Under: Birthdays, Breweries, Just For Fun Tagged With: Germany, History, New Jersey

Scranton Media Family Buys Flying Fish

April 11, 2016 By Jay Brooks

flying-fish
I somehow missed this news, which seems to have come out without too much fanfare a few days ago. Maybe we’re becoming desensitized to brewery M&A? Certainly Twitter wasn’t abuzz with the news. Flying Fish Brewing, one of New Jersey’s earliest small brewers, was bought by the Lynett and Haggerty families, who own Times-Shamrock Communications. They own a dozen newspapers and eleven radio stations. On April 8, they announced that they’d bought a controlling interest in the Somerdale, New Jersey brewery, though the deal was quietly done a month earlier, on March 11.

Flying Fish was founded in 1995 by Gene Muller. They started in Cherry Hill, but moved to larger quarters in Sommerville four years ago.

According to the Scranton Times-Tribune (one of the papers owned by the family), this is how it went down.

The family’s expertise in marketing, events and promotions will help the brewery continue to grow and expand its footprint, said Bobby Lynett, manager of L&H Brewing Partners, the entity that now holds a majority interest in Flying Fish. They declined to disclose the cost of their acquisition.

“Flying Fish is a nice brewery with good people and a great product,” said Mr. Lynett, a publisher of The Times-Tribune. “We want to help it grow.”

Flying Fish currently employs 33 people who produce about 24,000 barrels of beer each year.

Gene Muller, founder of Flying Fish, said he began looking for new partners when some initial investors began to cash out on their investment in the company. He joked that the Scranton family emerged as a good fit “because they are Irish.”

Mr. Muller, 61, believes Flying Fish will benefit from events and other business interests of the Lynett-Haggerty families, whom he refers to as “The Scranton Guys.”

“There are obvious synergies,” he said. “We saw an opportunity to inject some enthusiasm into the company and take care of our initial investors. The Scranton Guys are part of a 100-year-old company. They understand the long-term horizon.”

The capital for L&H Brewing Partners came from some individual family members and Elk Lake Capital, set up by the family to invest in non-media companies to add diversity to the family’s holdings beyond Times-Shamrock’s media holdings of newspapers, radio stations and outdoor advertising. Elk Lake already owns a land-surveying company and water-testing company.

Toasting the Class of '96: Greg Koch, Mark Edelson, Bill Covaleski, Tom Kehoe, Gene Muller & Sam CalagioneAt a Philly Beer Week event celebrating the Class of '96: Greg Koch, Mark Edelson, Bill Covaleski, Tom Kehoe, Gene Muller & Sam Calagione.

Filed Under: Breweries, News Tagged With: Business, New Jersey, Pennsylvania

Class Action Suit Alleges ABI Watering Down Bud & Michelob

February 26, 2013 By Jay Brooks

ABI
Just when you think things can’t get any stranger, beer drinkers in three states — California, Pennsylvania and New Jersey — have filed a class action suit against Anheuser-Busch InBev. The L.A. Times is reporting in Beer drinkers accuse Anheuser-Busch of watering down brews, that the lawsuit alleges the following:

Ten Anheuser-Busch products were named in the lawsuits: Budweiser, Michelob, Michelob Ultra, Bud Ice, Bud Light Platinum, Hurricane High Gravity Lager, King Cobra, Busch Ice, Natural Ice and Bud Light Lime.

Former employees at the company’s 13 breweries — including some in high-level positions — are cooperating with the plaintiffs, said San Rafael, Calif., lawyer Josh Boxer, the lead attorney in the case.

“Our information comes from former employees at Anheuser-Busch, who have informed us that as a matter of corporate practice, all of their products [mentioned in the lawsuit] are watered down,” Boxer said, according to the Associated Press. “It’s a simple cost-saving measure, and it’s very significant.”

The excess water is added just before bottling and cuts the stated alcohol content by 3% to 8%, he said.

ABI, naturally, is calling the lawsuit “groundless,” but it will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

You_re_right__he_is_watering_down_the_beer
Cartoon by Tony Husband.

UPDATE: NBC News is also now reporting this story, in Budweiser waters down its beer, lawsuit alleges. Apparently, Bloomberg broke the story earlier today, and also the AP, the BBC and Business Day have all weighed in.

UPDATE 2: I’ve seen a lot of commentary on this story in the interwebs suggesting that since there appears to be no test results from the Plaintiffs in this case that perhaps they are simply confusing high-gravity brewing with actively lowering the final alcohol percentage, which is a reasonable assumption. But there may be another possibility. Thanks to Stan at Appellation Beer for pointing out a post from last October by Gary Spedding at his Alcohol Beverage Testing News. I’ve known Gary for a number of years. He runs a lab in Kentucky called Brewing and Distilling Analytical Services, LLC and also most years presents an orientation exercise for GABF judges the day before we start each year. It’s sort of a continuing education component of the judging experience. His presentations are always interesting and informative and, needless to say, Spedding’s expertise is unassailable.

Last October, he posted Gaining its airs and losing its graces — a Tale of Two Buds, which he wrote in response to a popular article last fall from Bloomberg Business Week entitled The Plot to Destroy America’s Beer. In addressing the suggestion in the article that Budweiser beer had changed after InBev took control of Anheuser-Busch, noted the following experiences he’d had with the beer in recent months.

Bud has been our control beer in our laboratory … for calibrating our alcohol instruments Bud goes in after calibration to see hopefully 5.00% abv. pretty much on the nose. Not so recently. Now as low as 4.94% after slipping from 4.98% earlier in the year. Losing it graces by higher airs it may be toppling from its top spot and is no longer our control beer of choice. But it is changing. A tale of two Buds (early and late) would reveal much more. Over the years the international bitterness content has declined from about 12 in the late 90’s to 7-8 today — another parameter to watch.

That original post also included a discussion of increasing oxygen levels, but Spedding had a lengthy discussion with Paul Cobet, who’s the Director of the Technical Center for ABI in St. Louis. The oxygen question is apparently now less of a concern and appears to be instrument-driven, and Gary updated that with a newer post, Regaining its Graces — Driving Oxygen Down — Good for Budweiser. So while the plaintiffs may not have tested the beer — still odd, admittedly — there is apparently some reason to think their case may hold water after all.

Filed Under: Breweries, News, Politics & Law Tagged With: Anheuser-Busch InBev, Business, California, Law, New Jersey, Pennsylvania

Beer In Ads #745: Feigenspan’s Bock Beer

November 26, 2012 By Jay Brooks


Monday’s ad is for a Newark, New Jersey brewery, Feigenspan’s Brewing. The ad is most likely from the late 1800s (with one source claiming 1900), especially since the brewery itself was in business from 1875 to 1943. It’s a really beautiful illustration for the P.O.N. — “Pride of Newark.”

Feigenspan-bock-1900

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, History, New Jersey

New Jersey Beer

December 18, 2011 By Jay Brooks

new_jersey
Today in 1787, New Jersey became the 3rd state.

New Jersey
State_NewJersey

New Jersey Breweries

  • Anheuser-Busch InBev: Newark
  • Artisan’s Brewery & Italian Grill
  • Blackthorn Brewing
  • Boak Beverage
  • Brew Circus Brewing
  • Brewer’s Apprentice
  • Cape May Brewing
  • Carton Brewing
  • Cellar Lounge & Microbrewery
  • Climax Brewing
  • Cricket Hill Brewing
  • East Coast Brewing
  • Egan & Sons
  • Flounder Brewing
  • Flying Fish Brewing
  • Gaslight Brewery
  • Great Blue Brewing
  • Harvest Moon Brewery
  • Haskell Brewing
  • High Point Wheat Beer Co.
  • Hometown Beverages
  • Iron Hill Brewery and Restaurant: Maple Shade
  • Jersey Brew
  • JJ Bitting Brewing
  • Kane Brewing
  • Krogh’s Restaurant and Brewpub
  • Long Valley Pub & Brewery
  • New Jersey Beer Co.
  • Original Basil T’s
  • Pizzeria Uno Chicago Grill & Brewery
  • River Horse Brewery
  • Ship Inn Brewpub
  • Trap Rock Restaurant and Brewery
  • Triumph Brewing of Princeton
  • Tuckahoe Brewing Co.
  • Tun Tavern Brewing
  • Turtle Stone Brewing
  • Wiedenmayer Beer Co.

New Jersey Brewery Guides

  • Beer Advocate
  • Beer Me
  • Rate Beer

Guild: Garden State Craft Brewers Guild

State Agency: New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control

maps-nj

  • Capital: Trenton
  • Largest Cities: Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, Elizabeth, Edison Township
  • Population: 8,414,350; 9th
  • Area: 8722 sq.mi., 47th
  • Nickname: Garden State
  • Statehood: 3rd, December 18, 1787

m-new-jersey

  • Alcohol Legalized: December 5, 1933
  • Number of Breweries: 20
  • Rank: 27th
  • Beer Production: 4,775,387
  • Production Rank: 11th
  • Beer Per Capita: 17 Gallons

new-jersey

Package Mix:

  • Bottles: 48.1%
  • Cans: 39.4%
  • Kegs: 12.1%

Beer Taxes:

  • Per Gallon: $0.12
  • Per Case: $0.27
  • Tax Per Barrel (24/12 Case): $3.72
  • Draught Tax Per Barrel (in Kegs): $3.72

Economic Impact (2010):

  • From Brewing: $891,637,336
  • Direct Impact: $2,485,802,018
  • Supplier Impact: $1,719,620,711
  • Induced Economic Impact: $2,086,724,154
  • Total Impact: $6,292,146,882

Legal Restrictions:

  • Control State: No
  • Sale Hours: On Premises: Varies by municipality. Most municipalities have a last call of 2 a.m. Larger cities such as Newark, Hoboken, and Jersey City set their closing time at 3 a.m. Atlantic City and Brigantine serves 24 hours. Some dry towns in the southern part of the state, including Ocean City.
    Off Premises: 9 a.m.-10 p.m., unless bar/restaurant has license to permit Beer/Wine off-premises, then hours must be the same as on-premises hours
  • Grocery Store Sales: Rarely
  • Notes: Some dry communities in historically Methodist and Quaker communities in the southern part of the state.

    Though there is not a ban on selling alcoholic beverages at grocery stores, New Jersey limits each chain to two licenses, so except for a few exceptions, most supermarkets/convenience stores/gas stations/pharmacies do not sell alcoholic beverages. In addition, liquor sales are only permitted in a separate department or attached sister store. Bars are allowed to off-sale packaged goods.

    With the exception of Jersey City and Newark, all municipalities MUST allow off-sales of beer and wine at any time on-sales are permitted. However, since alcoholic beverages are generally only found in package stores, this right is rarely exercised. Alcoholic beverages by the drink as well as off-sales of beer and wine are permitted 24 hours a day in Atlantic City and Brigantine.

new-jersey-map

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.

Filed Under: Beers, Breweries Tagged With: New Jersey

« Previous Page
Next Page »

Find Something

Northern California Breweries

Please consider purchasing my latest book, California Breweries North, available from Amazon, or ask for it at your local bookstore.

Beer Bulletin Email

Enter your email address to receive daily digests:

Recent Comments

  • Lucy Corne on Beer Birthday: Lucy Corne-Duthie
  • Kendall Staggs on Beer In Ads #4341: Miss Rheingold 1955 Filling Yuletide Requests
  • Historic Beer Birthday: Robert Burns » Brookston Beer Bulletin on John Barleycorn
  • Susan Appel on Historic Beer Birthday: John Roehm
  • S. Pavelka on Beer Birthday: Rich Norgrove

Recent Posts

  • Historic Beer Birthday: Maximilian Schaefer March 23, 2023
  • Beer In Ads #4388: Miss Rheingold 1957 Finalists In A Circle March 22, 2023
  • Historic Beer Birthday: Joseph A. Straub March 22, 2023
  • Beer Birthday: Steve Wellington March 22, 2023
  • Beer In Ads #4387: Miss Rheingold 1957 Finalists Framed March 21, 2023

Tag Cloud

Advertising Anheuser-Busch Announcements Bay Area Belgium Brewers Association Brewing Equipment Budweiser Business California Christmas Europe France Germany Guinness Health & Beer History Holidays Hops Humor Infographics Kegs Law Mainstream Coverage Miller Brewing Northern California Pabst Packaging Patent Pennsylvania Press Release Prohibitionists Rheingold San Francisco Schlitz Science Science of Brewing Sports Statistics The Netherlands UK Uncategorized United States Video Washington

The Sessions

session_logo_all_text_1500

Next Session: Dec. 7, 2018
#142: One More for the Road
Previous Sessions
  • #141: Future of Beer Blogging
  • #140: Pivo
  • #139: Beer & the Good Life
  • #138: The Good in Wood
  • #137: German Wheat
Archive, History & Hosting

Typology Tuesday

Typology-png
Next Typology:
On or Before March 29, 2016
#3: Irish-Style Dry Stout
Previous Typologies
  • #2: Bock Feb. 2016
  • #1: Barley Wine Jan. 2016
Archive & History

This month’s posts

March 2023
S M T W T F S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031  
« Feb    

BBB Archives