New York Archives - Brookston Beer Bulletin

Historic Beer Birthday: Samuel Liebmann

November 12, 2019 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Today is the birthday of Samuel Bär Liebmann (November 12, 1799-November 21, 1872). He family owned a brewery in Germany but because of the German revolution, Samuel sent some of his sons to America in 1850, and he and the rest of the family soon followed. They settled in Brooklyn and initially ran the old Maasche Brewery, but later built a new brewery in Bushwick. Originally, it was called the Samuel Liebmann Brewery, but when his sons joined the brewery, it was called the S. Liebmann’s Sons Brewery. When Samuel died in 1872, his sons took over the family brewery. After prohibition ended, the brothers’ six sons re-opened the brewery as the simpler Liebmann Breweries, but in 1964 they changed the name again to Rheingold Breweries, after their most popular beer. The brewery closed in 1976.

Schmiedelfeld Castle

This biography of Liebmann is translated from his German Wikipedia page:

Samuel Liebmann was born in 1799 in Aufhausen, Württemberg, a district of the municipality Bopfingen [in Germany]. His parents were the merchant and religion teacher Joseph Liebmann and Berta Liebmann (nee Fröhlich). He had three brothers (Heinrich, David and Leopold) and two sisters (Johanna, Sarah) and attended elementary school in Aufhausen.

In June 1828 Liebmann married Sara Selz. When his father Joseph Liebmann died in 1832, Samuel Liebmann and his brother Heinrich left their hometown Aufhausen and bought the estate Schloss Schmiedelfeld. This they operated with economic success.

Liebmann moved to Ludwigsburg in 1840. There he acquired the inn “Zum Stern” with attached brewery, which he also successfully led. In the course of the German revolution he showed himself to be a supporter of the revolutionary movement. This meant that the royal soldiers, who belonged to this time to the regular clientele, the stop at Liebmann’s inn was prohibited by order. This ban and the failure of the German Revolution led to his decision to emigrate to America.

In 1850, he sent his son Joseph to America to build a new home there. Four years later, Samuel Liebmann followed with the rest of the family.

There, the family signed a lease for the Maasche Brewery on Meserole Street Williamsburg, which was renamed with the arrival of the family the S. Liebmann Brewery. After the lease expired, Samuel Liebmann set up a new brewery under the same name on the corner of Forest and Bremen Street in Bushwick.

Liebmann’s wife died in 1865. Three years later he retired from the brewery’s active business. Under his leadership, the company has grown steadily.

Samuel Liebmann died in 1872 at his home in Williamsburg. He is buried on the Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn. His sons took over the management of the brewery.

This is from “The Originators of Rheingold Beer: From Ludwigsburg to Brooklyn – A Dynasty of German-Jewish Brewers,” by Rolf Hofmann, originally published in Aufbau, June 21, 2001:

New Yorkers over the age of fifty will remember the brand name Rheingold Beer and the company’s brilliant publicity stunt in which a bevy of attractive young women competed annually for the privilege of being elected that year’s Miss Rheingold and appearing in ads on billboards and in the subways throughout the New York area.

The beer’s evocative name with its allusion to Germany’s great river, was the culmination of a German-Jewish family enterprise that had its beginnings in 1840 in the town of Ludwigsburg, north of Stuttgart, in what was then the Kingdom of Württemberg. One Samuel Liebmann, a member of a prominent Jewish family in the region, settled there and bought the inn and brewery “Zum Stern.” A liberal and staunch supporter of Republican ideals, Liebmann encouraged other like-minded citizens, including some soldiers from the garrison, to meet in his hospitable surroundings. The ideas fomented there contributed to the local revolution of 1848. It brought the opprobrium of the King down upon Liebmann’s enterprise, and “Zum Stern” was declared off limits to the soldiers. Soon thereafter, in 1850, Samuel Liebmann emigrated to the U.S.

The family settled in Brooklyn and Samuel, together with his three sons, Joseph, Henry, and Charles, opened a brewery once again at the corner of Forest and Bremen Streets. With the responsibilities divided among the family – Henry became the brewing expert, Charles. the engineer and architect, Joseph, finance manager – the company was already flourishing by the time of Samuel’s death in 1872. Success also led to a concern for the company’s Brooklyn surroundings, and the Liebmanns became involved in local welfare – focusing on housing and drainage systems.

Each of the three brothers had two sons, and when the older Liebmanns retired in 1903, the six members of the third generation took over. Other members of the family also contributed to the gradual expansion of the company. In 1895 Sadie Liebmann (Joseph’s daughter), married Samuel Simon Steiner, a trader in high quality hop, an essential ingredient for good beer. Steiner’s father had begun merchandising hop in Laupheim in 1845 and still today, S.S. Steiner, with its headquarters in New York, is one of the leading hop merchants. Under these fortuitous family circumstances, beer production grew constantly. In the early years, the brewery had produced 1000 barrels per year, by 1914 its output stood at 700,000 barrels.

The Liebmann family.

Unfortunately, political developments in the U.S. between 1914 and 1933 were extremely disadvantageous for the Liebmann brewery. The resentment against Germany and anything German during World War I led to an informal boycott of German beers. Following close upon the lean wartime years, was the implementation of Prohibition in 1920 forbidding the manufacturing and trading of alcohol. The Liebmann enterprise managed to survive by producing lemonade and a product they called “Near Beer.”

With the reinstatement of legal alcohol production under President Roosevelt in 1933, opportunities for the brewery opened up, abetted by the anti-Semitic policies of Hitler’s Germany. The pressures on Jewish businessmen there, brought Dr. Hermann Schülein, general manager of the world-renowned LšwenbrŠu brewery, to America. Schulein’s father, Joseph, had acquired two of Munich’s leading breweries at the end of the nineteenth century–Union and Münchner Kindl–and his son had managed the 1920 merger with Löwenbrau. Arriving in New York with this experience behind him, Hermann Schülein became one of the top managers of the Liebmann brewery and was instrumental in its spectacular growth after World War II.

Working with Philip Liebmann (great-grandson of Samuel), Schülein developed a dry lager beer with a European character to be marketed under the brand name “Rheingold.” According to company legend, the name was created in 1883 at a brewery dinner following a performance at the Metropolitan Opera. When the conductor took up his glass, he was so taken with the shade of the beer, that he declared it to be the color of “Rheingold.” For New Yorkers, however, the name Rheingold did not bring to mind the Nibelungen fables, but the pretty young ladies who participated in Schülein’s most brilliant marketing strategy – the selection of each year’s Miss Rheingold by the beer-drinking public of greater New York

At the height of the campaign’s success in the 1950’s and 60’s, the Liebmann Brewery had an output of beer ten times that of Löwenbrau at the same time in Munich.

For thirty years, Rheingold Beer reigned supreme in the New York area, but by 1976, as a local brewery, it could no longer compete with nationwide companies such as Anheuser & Busch, Miller, and Schlitz, and its doors were closed. Only recently, using the same brewmaster, Rheingold is once again being sold in the tri-state area.

Here’s an “Origin of Liebmann Brewery” posted by a relative on Ancestry.com:

On May 12 1833 (Sulzbach-Laufen Archive) Samuel and his older brother Heinrich bought a castle/inn Schmiedelfeld, Sulzbach-Laufen, Schwaebisch Hall District that dated from 1739. They renovated the place and created a prosperous farm/estate and in 1837 began a brewery in the cellar. In 1840, he moved to Ludwigsburg, near Stuttgart and purchased the gasthaus [guest house or inn] “Zum Stern” on Seestrasse 9 (later Zum Rebstock) which included a brewery. (source: Translation extract from Dr. Joacim Hahn’s book, History of the Jewish Community of Ludwigsburg)

After supporting a movement to oust King William I of Wurttemberg, and sensing the wavering tolerance of Jewish businessmen, Samuel sent his eldest son Joseph to the US in 1854 to scout out a location to establish a brewery.

Samuel retired in 1868 and turned the family business over to his sons Joseph, Charles, and Henry under the name S. Liebmann’s Sons Brewery.

S-Liebmanns-Sons-Cards-Trade-Cards-S-Liebmanns-Sons-Brewing-Company_17585-1

Historic Beer Birthday: Edmund Fitzgerald

November 1, 2019 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Today is the birthday of Edmund Fitzgerald (November 1, 1847-1911). He was born in Ireland. In 1866, he acquired the Troy, New York brewery that was founded in 1852 which was first known as Lundy & Ingram Brewery, but went through several name changes before it was changed to the Fitzgerald Bros. Brewery when Edmund and his brothers John and Michael joined the business. Michael left the business in 1870, but Edmund and John soldiered on and the family business, although they stopped brewing in 1963, continues to this day in New York. The brewery survived prohibition and continued brewing afterwards until 1963, when the family shut down the brewery and became a Pepsi bottler and distributor, among other products, and for 25 years was a Coors distributor. Today the company is known as Fitzgerald Brothers Beverages, Inc. – Glens Falls Bottler and Beverage Distributor. There isn’t much biographical information about Edmund Fitzgerald.

This account of the brewery is from “The City of Troy and Its Vicinity,” by Arthur James Weise, published in 1886:

This is the history presented on the current company’s website:

Fitzgerald Brothers Beverages, Inc. was founded in 1857 in Troy, New York. It is currently in its 6th generation of ownership.

The Company started out distributing various liqueurs, gins, whiskeys and brandies. A decade later, it began brewing it’s own brand of beer, Fitzgerald Beer and Ale. During the next 150+ years, the Company continued to adapt and change based upon the needs of it’s customers.

In 1961, Fitzgerald Brothers Beverages, Inc. purchased the Pepsi Bottler located on Dix Avenue in Glens Falls and continues to operate out of this location.

In 1986, as Coors Brewing Company expanded east of the Mississippi River for the first time, Fitzgerald Brothers Beverages, Inc. was awarded the distribution rights in the Albany Capital District for all Coors brands, which it serviced for 25 years until 2011.

In 1996 Fitzgerald Brothers Beverages, Inc. acquired two Full-Line Vending businesses to expand its services into Full-Line Vending. After 18 years, in April 2014 Fitzgerald Brothers Beverages, Inc. divested its Full-Line Vending business.

Today, Fitzgerald Brothers Beverages, Inc. continues to provide a full portfolio of beverages to nearly 1,750 customers in Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties.

And this is the history of the brewery ownership, since it’s a bit complicated:

James Lundy, North River Brewery 1852-1853
Lundy & Ingram Brewery 1853-1855
Lundy & Kennedy Brewery 1855-1857
Lundy, Dunn & Co. Brewery 1857-1859
Dunn & Kennedy Brewery 1859-1866
Fitzgerald Bros. Brewery 1866-1899
Fitzgerald Bros. Brewing Co. 1899-1920
Brewery operations shut down by National Prohibition in 1920
Issued U-Permit No. NY-U-221 allowing the operation of a brewery 1933
Fitzgerald Bros. Brewing Co. 1933-1963

Fitzgerald-Half--Half-Labels-Fitzgerald-Bros-Brewing-Company

Fitzgeralds-Garryowen-Ale-Labels-Fitzgerald-Bros-Brewing-Company

Historic Beer Birthday: Frederick Hinckel Sr.

October 29, 2019 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Today is the birthday of Frederick Hinckel Sr. (October 29, 1832-October 29, 1881). He was born in Prussia (Germany) and along with Johann Andreas Schinnerer founded the Cataract Brewery (a.k.a. the F. Hinckel & A. Schinnerer) in 1852. “Its premises occupied half a city block, bounded by Swan Street, Myrtle and Park Avenues.” Twelve years later, in 1864, Hinckel owned the brewery outright, and changed its name to the Hickel Brewery, which remained its name until closing in 1920 (or 1922) due to prohibition.

Here’s a biography of Hinckel from a “Bi-centennial History of Albany,” published in 1886:

A Hinckel Brewery beer wagon.

Although the brewery closed in 1920 because of prohibition, and never reopened afterwards, the build was preserved and today is an apartment complex.

Historic Beer Birthday: John D. McKechnie

October 21, 2019 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Today is the birthday of John D. McKechnie (October 21, 1849-February 14, 1906). He was the son of Alexander McKechnie, who along with Alexander’s brother James, the Scottish brothers founded the J. & A. McKechnie Brewing Co., d.b.a. the Canandaigua Brewery, in 1843, in Canandaigua, New York. In 1889, after the last brother passed away, John McKechnie became president of the brewery, and it was renamed the simpler McKechnie Brewing Co., but closed for good at the start of Prohibition.

Here’s the obituary for McKechnie from The Western Brewer:

And here’s a history of the brewery by Lynn Paulson, the City of Canandaigua Historian, from the Archives of the Ontario County Historical Society:

In 1830, the McKechnie family left Falkirk, Scotland and emigrated to Canada, and from there to Rochester, New York in 1837 where the elder McKechnie with his oldest son set up a brewery business. Two other sons, James and Alexander McKechnie, left Rochester in 1843 and purchased a small brewery in Canandaigua on the site of what is now the Daily Messenger building on Buffalo Street.

The Canandaigua Brewery grew steadily, producing a product that from its earliest days was noted for its excellence. In 1871, the major buildings of the brewery were rebuilt and by 1876, the brewery had become the largest employer in Canandaigua with about 100 workers. The buildings covered over five acres of land and consisted of the brewery and storage block, malt-houses, a cooper shop, woodsheds, a barn for stabling horses, and three ice houses, which had the capacity to store 2000 tons of ice. While the brewery had the capacity of producing 500 barrels of beer each year in its early years, the capacity had grown to 1,000 barrels of beer per week.

The McKechnies became involved in several other enterprises besides their brewery. In 1880 they founded the Canandaigua Lake Steam Navigation Company, which promoted shipping and tourism on Canandaigua Lake. The McKechnie Bank was organized in 1882 and later would become the Ontario Trust Bank. The McKechnies also invested in other businesses including the Canandaigua Gas and Light Company, the local ice houses, and area hops farms. Alexander’s son, John, purchased the Seneca Point Hotel on Canandaigua Lake and managed it until it burned in 1899.

After the death of Alexander McKechnie in 1883, the firm was incorporated as a stock company renamed the McKechnie Brewing Company under the management of James McKechnie. In the production of its ale, the company used only the choicest hops and high-grade malt made from barley grown in Western New York, much of which was grown in Bristol and South Bristol. The hops and barley were brought by steamboat to the Canandaigua City Pier.

With the death of James McKechnie in 1889, the business was managed by John D. McKechnie, the eldest son of Alexander McKechnie. The stock company was renamed the J. & A. McKechnie Brewery Company.

In 1904, the brewery was sold to Schopf Distributors located in Buffalo. The brewery was fully remodeled and concentrated on the production of its celebrated Canandaigua Ale. It had so excellent a reputation that shipments went as far west as Salt Lake City, Utah. The ale is said to have “such an excellent quality that it is widely recommended by physicians as a nourishing and healthful drink for invalids.” The yearly capacity of the brewery had reached 60,000 barrels.

The refurbished brewery had a cooperage where the kegs and barrels necessary for handling the product were manufactured, and a large cold storage warehouse where large quantities of the choice fruit, mostly apples, grown in the vicinity of Canandaigua could be stored. The old-fashioned wooden tanks formerly used to store the ale were discarded and replaced with glass enameled steel tanks that ensured the purity of the ale. Throughout all the processes of manufacture and in all departments of the plant, the strictest cleanliness and attention to sanitary detail were observed.

In 1916, with the advent of Prohibition in New York state, and in 1920, with the implementation of Prohibition nationwide, the J. & A. McKechnie Brewery was forced to close. In addition, the hops farms were hit with several blights in the early 1900s that effectively decimated the industry. For a brief period, the brewery attempted to survive on the production of pickles and vinegar. An attempt was made in 1933 by a Syracuse entrepreneur to reopen the McKechnie Brewery, but it never materialized.

The Canandaigua Cold Storage & Ice Company occupied the buildings of the old brewery until it was sold to the GLF bean processing and dog/pet food manufacturing plant in 1940. On Jan. 1, 1961, the GLF plant burned, leaving a few remaining buildings on the site. Ironically, the McKechnie home on North Main Street where the American Legion had located in 1945 burned in 1960. Any remaining structures of the old McKechnie brewery were removed in 1971 when The Daily Messenger built its new facility on Buffalo Street.

Beer Birthday: Kirby Shyer

October 11, 2019 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Today is the 62nd birthday of Kirby Shyer, who founded the Zip City Brewing Co. in New York City, the only brewpub in Manhattan when it opened in November of 1991, since both New Amsterdam and Manhattan Brewing has closed earlier. He was a pioneer in the industry, especially on the East Coast because his brewpub was in such a visible place in downtown Manhattan. Unfortunately, when the bottom fell out of craft beer in 1997, the brewery closed. I met Kirby a little later when he was working for another brewery and called on me at BevMo and we later attended a Cleveland Indians baseball game, along with Tom Dalldorf, when the Craft Brewers Conference was in Cleveland in 2002.

Kirby worked in the brewery industry for several years after Zip City closed, both for breweries and distributors. More recently, he’s left to work on a project outside beer and beverages.

All About Beer’s archive includes a great 2017 overview of Zip City and Shyer by Tom Acitelli entitled A Brewpub’s Collapse 20 Years Ago Sounds Familiar.

Zip-City-john-bloch-designs — The logo and merchandising materials for Zip City, created by John Bloch Designs.

Historic Beer Birthday: Walter Jerome Green

October 10, 2019 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Today is the birthday of Walter Jerome Green (October 10, 1842-January 27, 1885). He was the son of Charles Green, who founded an upstate New York hop merchant around 1840. After his son joined the business, it became known as Charles Green & Son. According to the Brewers’ Journal, he was “one of the earliest and most widely known hop merchants of Central New York.”

Here’s a portion of his obituary that mentions the hop business from Oneida County, NY Biographies:

Walter Jerome Green, who passed away in Utica on the 27th of January, 1885, was one of the city’s most prominent business men and respected residents. He was a leading factor in financial circles as a member of the banking house of Charles Green & Son, of Utica, and was also the president and owner of the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Halifax River Railroad of Florida. He is survived by his widow and one son. His birth occurred in Hubbardsville, Madison county, New York, on the 10th of October, 1842, his father being Charles Green, who was born at Sangerfield, Oneida county, on the 28th of May, 1811. The latter was prominently identified with financial interests in Utica for a number of years, being one of the oldest and best known bankers and business men of this part of the state. David Green, the paternal grandfather of our subject, was born at South East, Putnam county, New York, his ancestors, John Alden and Priscilla Nolines, coming to America in the Mayflower. He was related to General Nathaniel Green of Revolutionary fame. His mother, who in her maidenhood bore the name of Deliverance Hatch, was a native of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Her mother was a Sears, to which family David Green was likewise related.
The mother of Walter Jerome Green bore the maiden name of Mary Jane Hubbard and was a resident of Hubbardsville. Madison county, New York. She was a descendant of Lieutenant Joseph Kellogg, of Hadley, Massachusetts. Her parents, Oliver Kellogg and Mary (Meachem) Hubbard, were both natives of Connecticut, the former of Windsor and the latter of Simsbury, that state.
Walter Jerome Green received a liberal education in his youth, attending Cazenovia Seminary and Madison University. Desiring to become a member of the legal fraternity, he qualified for practice by an extensive course of study and was graduated from Albany University in 1864. At the end of two years, however, he abandoned a promising career as an attorney because the increasing importance of his father’s business made it desirable for him to come to his assistance. Soon afterward he was admitted to a partnership in the bank and the name of the firm became Charles Green & Son. Young though he was, his enterprising spirit soon made itself felt in the affairs of his father’s business, which gradually broadened its field, of operations and took a leading place among similar enterprises in the central part of the state. An important department in the business of the house was the trade in hops, which became so extensive as to place the firm among the largest dealers in this country. To meet the demand for reliable intelligence bearing on the hop trade, the firm published a journal known as Charles Green & Son’s Hop Paper, a large, handsomely printed, four page folio of twenty eight columns, of which an edition of about five thousand was issued, gratuitously, each quarter.

And here’s another account from Michael Brown Rare Books:

Charles Green’s son, Walter Jerome Green became one of Utica, New York
‘s most prominent business men and respected residents. He was a leading factor in financial circles as a member of his family’s banking house of Charles Green & Son, of Utica, and was also the president and owner of the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Halifax River Railroad of Florida. Walter’s birth occurred in Hubbardsville, Madison County, New York, on the 10th of October, 1842. He received a liberal education in his youth, attending Cazenovia Seminary and Madison University. Desiring to become a lawyer, he qualified for practice by an extensive course of study and was graduated from Albany University in 1864. At the end of two years, however, he abandoned a promising career as an attorney because the increasing importance of his father’s business made it desirable for him to come to his assistance. Soon afterward he was admitted to a partnership in the bank and the name of the firm became Charles Green & Son.
Young though he was, his enterprising spirit soon made itself felt in the affairs of his father’s business, which gradually broadened its field, of operations and took a leading place among similar enterprises in the central part of the state. An important department in the business of the house was the trade in hops, which became so extensive as to place the firm among the largest dealers in this country. To meet the demand for reliable intelligence bearing on the hop trade, the firm published a journal known as Charles Green & Son’s Hop Paper, a large, handsomely printed, four page folio of twenty eight columns, of which an edition of about five thousand was issued, gratuitously, each quarter.
On the 26th of June, 1867, Mr. Green was united in marriage to Miss Sarah L. Swartwout, a daughter of Henry Swartwout, of Troy, New York. They had one son Walter Jerome Green, Jr.
Seeking a new field for investment of his capital Green became interested in a railroad project in Florida. His attention was drawn to the lack of modern transportation facilities in the fruit growing section of that state. He put both energy and money into the scheme. The outcome of his effort was the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Halifax River Railroad, of which he was president and the entire owner. This road began at Jacksonville on the St. John’s River, in the northeastern corner of the state, extended southwardly and eastwardly to St. Augustine on the Atlantic coast and was thirty seven miles in length. The road connected with the Atlantic Coast Steamship Company, running outside to New Smyrna on the Halifax coast. Mr. Green’s intentions were to extend the road a distance of one hundred and six miles to New Smyrna. This would have afforded quick and cheap transportation between Jacksonville and the Halifax and Indian River country. The rail through a fertile and rapidly developing region had shortened the time of transport between the orange country of the east coast of Florida and New York by some eight days, a most important consideration under any circumstances, but more especially so in view of the perishable nature of the delicate fruit transported. While the possibilities of this section of Florida as a fruit growing country and health resort had long been known and to some extent developed, progress had been slow and uncertain owing to the lack of railroad facilities. Among the most notable results was the laying out of new towns between St. Augustine and Jacksonville.
Returning from active labors in Florida in the winter of 1884-5, he was passing some time at his home in Utica, when he was stricken with apoplexy and died on the 27th of January, 1885. He was survived by his widow and one son. On the death of Green the property was left to trustees for his son. In 1886 it was sold to H. M. Flagler of New York, who has carried out the plans and ideas of its previous owner.

The Michael Brown Rare Books site also had for sale a letter to and from Walter Jerome’s father, Charles Green, and his company which details some of the history of the company.

In 1838 Charles Green entered the store of Gideon Manchester, assignee of Hart & Hunt, Hubbardsville. He bought the stock and continued the business three years. Afterwards he got into the hop business eventually bringing into business his sons, Walter J. and Charles Germaine Green. Green first started in the hop business in 1850. In 1865 a partnership was formed with his son Walter Jerome Green, under the firm name of Charles Green & Son, with headquarters at Hubbardsville. The company later appears as Charles Green & Sons when Charles Germaine Green joined the firm.

NY-New-York-HUBBARDSVILLE-1940s — This postcard of Hubbardsville is from the 1940s.

Historic Beer Birthday: Joseph Fallert Jr.

October 1, 2019 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Today is the birthday of Joseph Fallert Jr. (October 1, 1867-March 23, 1919). He was the son of Joseph Fallert, who founded the Joseph Fallert Brewery in 1878. Incorporating in 1884, he renamed it the Joseph Fallert Brewing Co. Ltd. in Brooklyn, New York. Junior over the brewery in 1893, when his father died, but it closed in 1920 for good when prohibition began, the year after he passed away.

Like his father, there’s very little biographical information I could find, not even a photograph.

Take a look at this amazing newspaper ad from 1897, extolling the virtues of Fallert’s Alt-Bayerisch and especially its “family use.” “It’s a food.”

The Joseph Fallert Brewery at 52-66 Meserole Street in Brooklyn.

Beer Birthday: Jonathan Goldsmith

September 26, 2019 By Jay Brooks 2 Comments

Today is the birthday of Jonathan Goldsmith, who “is an American actor. He began his career on the New York stage, then started a career in film and television. He appeared in several TV shows from the 1960s to the 1990s.” And if that were all, he wouldn’t be here, but he’s probably best known now “for appearing in television commercials for Dos Equis beer, from 2006 to 2016, as the character ‘The Most Interesting Man in the World.'” I confess that I’ve never been a fan of the Dos Equis ad campaign and wrote a post against back when it began because I hated the “stay thirsty, my friends” tagline. I probably got more angry comments over the years about my negative reaction than any other post I wrote. And while I’ve never come around on that aspect of the campaign, I do have to admit it’s been very successful. It’s certainly not the first time I’ve been in the minority opinion on something. I briefly met Goldsmith at a comedy event in Napa a few years ago, and he was certainly an interesting person. Despite my protestations, his character has certainly become iconic in the decade Dos Equis ran with it.

Here’s his biography, from his Wikipedia page:

Goldsmith was born on September 26, 1938, in New York. His mother was a model and his father was a gym teacher. His parents were Jewish. Goldsmith graduated from Boston University in 1958, after which he pursued an acting career.

Jonathan has made over 350 television appearances in his career. Among them was the role of Marvin Palmer in the 1964 Perry Mason episode, “The Case of the Blonde Bonanza.” To advance his acting career, Goldsmith moved to California from New York in 1966.[6] Like many aspiring actors, he found it difficult to gain enough acting work to survive and wound up working various jobs, including driving a garbage truck and working in construction, to help make ends meet.

During his early years in film, Goldsmith performed as “Jonathan Lippe”, having taken the name of his stepfather at the age of six. He subsequently changed his professional name back to his birth name, later recalling, “It always made me feel bad for my father, who never caused me any grief about it…. As my career grew and my son was born, I changed my name back to my real name, Goldsmith, so my father could enjoy his son’s success and have a grandson to carry his name as well.”

Goldsmith first established himself as an actor in Western films, with 25 such appearances. In the 1976 film The Shootist, Goldsmith played a villain who was shot between the eyes by hero John Wayne, who fired blood capsules from a special pellet gun at point blank range into Goldsmith’s face for seven painful takes.

Goldsmith also made guest appearances on 45 television series, including Gunsmoke; Adam-12; Knight Rider; CHiPs; Eight Is Enough; The Rockford Files; Hawaii Five-O; Barnaby Jones; MacGyver; Murder, She Wrote; Charlie’s Angels; Petrocelli; Manimal; The Fall Guy; Dynasty; T.J. Hooker; Hardcastle and McCormick; Magnum, P.I.; Knots Landing; and The A-Team, as well as a few made-for-TV movies. His longest run in a television series was on Dallas, in which he appeared 17 times.

In the 1980s Goldsmith started network marketing businesses (waterless car wash products) Dri Wash & Guard, and also SPRINT which was successful enough to allow him to “retire” from the Hollywood scene; he purchased an estate in the Sierra. He taught theater at Adelphi University in Garden City, New York from 1999-2004. He moved onto a large sailboat moored in Marina del Rey. As of 2011 he and his wife Barbara (who was his agent when he obtained the Dos Equis role) are moving to a house in the area of Manchester, Vermont.

Starting in 2016 Goldsmith writes for True.Ink, a web site that “celebrates The Noble Pursuit, a mix of adventure, expertise, and kindness.”

Beginning in April 2007 and continuing through 2015, Goldsmith had been featured in a high-profile television ad campaign, promoting Dos Equis beer. The campaign, which transformed Goldsmith into “the most interesting man in the world”, has been credited for helping to fuel a 15.4 percent sales increase for the brand in the United States in 2009 and also made him into a very popular meme.

Goldsmith landed the Dos Equis gig by auditioning for the role. Auditioners were given the ending line “…and that’s how I arm wrestled Fidel Castro” and asked to improvise. Goldsmith began his audition by removing one sock and then improvised for 30 minutes before reaching the concluding line. The character was inspired by his deceased sailing partner and friend Fernando Lamas.

On March 9, 2016, Dos Equis announced that it would replace Goldsmith in the role as the “Most Interesting Man in the World”, saying that the brand hoped to “reboot (the character) in a way that’s relevant for today’s drinker so the brand doesn’t get stale.” In September 2016, French actor Augustin Legrand (who also speaks English and Spanish) became the new “Most Interesting Man in the World”.

In June, 2017, he returned to television advertising; he switched to tequila, and does ads for Astral Tequila.

And this is the Wikipedia entry for The Most Interesting Man in the World:

The Most Interesting Man in the World is an advertising campaign for the Dos Equis brand of beer. The ads feature “the world’s most interesting man,” a bearded, debonair gentleman, with voiceovers that are intended to be both humorous and outrageous. The advertisements first began appearing in the United States in 2006 and have since then become a popular Internet meme.

The advertisements first began appearing in the United States in 2006, with The Most Interesting Man in the World portrayed by American actor Jonathan Goldsmith, and Frontline narrator Will Lyman providing voiceovers. They were produced by the marketing firm Euro RSCG (now Havas Worldwide) for Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma Brewery.

Goldsmith landed the Dos Equis gig by auditioning for the role. Auditioners were given the ending line “…and that’s how I arm wrestled Fidel Castro” and asked to improvise. Goldsmith began his audition by removing one sock and then improvised for 30 minutes before reaching the concluding line. The character was inspired by his deceased sailing partner and friend Fernando Lamas.

In March 2016, Dos Equis announced Goldsmith’s retirement from the role, with a commercial sending him on a one-way journey to Mars amid much acclaim, and the narration: “His only regret is not knowing what regret feels like”. In September, they introduced French actor Augustin Legrand as Goldsmith’s replacement

The Goldsmith advertisements feature an older bearded, debonair gentleman. They also feature a montage (mostly in black and white) of daring exploits involving “the most interesting man” when he was younger, in which the character is played by actor Claudio Marangone.

The precise settings are never revealed, but he performs feats such as freeing an angry bear from a painful-looking bear trap, shooting a pool trick shot before an audience (by shooting the cue ball out of the mouth of a man lying on the pool table), catching a marlin while cavorting in a Hemingway-esque scene with a beautiful young woman, winning an arm-wrestling match in a South American setting, surfing a killer wave, and bench pressing two young women, each seated in a chair, in a casino setting. The voiceovers themselves are intended to be both humorous and outrageous, and include humorous undertones such as his giving his own father “the talk”, experiencing an awkward moment just to know how it felt, and finding the Fountain of Youth but not drinking from it, “because he wasn’t thirsty”. Other feats are more centered on his physical abilities and personality. These include his small talk changing foreign policies, parallel-parking a train, and slamming a revolving door.

At the end of the advertisement, the most interesting man, usually shown sitting in a night club or other social setting surrounded by several beautiful young women, says, “I don’t always drink beer. But when I do, I prefer Dos Equis.” Each commercial ends with him stating the signature sign-off: “Stay thirsty, my friends.”

There are secondary advertisements that are similar to the final part of the original advertisements. They feature the man sitting in a social setting, surrounded by beautiful young women, conveying a short opinion to the viewer on certain subjects, such as bar nuts, the two-party system, self-defense, trophy wives, and “bromance”. He then finishes the advertisement by holding a Dos Equis beer and saying, “Stay thirsty, my friends.”

The agency’s rationale for the brand strategy was defined as: “He is a man rich in stories and experiences, much the way the audience hopes to be in the future. Rather than an embodiment of the brand, The Most Interesting Man is a voluntary brand spokesperson: he and Dos Equis share a point of view on life that it should be lived interestingly.” According to the company, U.S. sales increased each year between 2006–2010 and tripled in Canada in 2008, although exact figures were not provided. Sales of Dos Equis are said to have increased by 22% at a time when sale of other imported beer fell 4% in the U.S.

Goldsmith said in an interview that he realized how successful the campaign had been when a man came up to him in a restaurant, telling Goldsmith that the man had asked his young son what he wanted to be when he grew up, and the son replied: “I want to be The Most Interesting Man In The World.”

Here’s a fun video from Business Insider about “How Jonathan Goldsmith Became ‘The Most Interesting Man In The World:'”

The ad campaign was successful enough that it also created a popular meme generator to make your own:

i-dont-always-drink-beer-oh-wait-yes-i-do

Historic Beer Birthday: John Bechtel

September 26, 2019 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Today is the birthday of John Bechtel (September 26, 1815-May 26, 1881). He was born in Weissenheim, Germany, in Bavaria, and came to the U.S. in 1840. In 1853, he founded a brewery on Staten Island, New York, which initially was known as the John Bechtel Brewery. In 1863, John Bechtel was elected as the second president of the Brewers Association, which he had helped to found. But in 1865, he sold the brewery to his son, George Bechtel, who renamed it the George Bechtel Brewery. His son continued to operate it until it closed for good in 1907.

This account is from “100 Years of Brewing,” published in 1903. The second part of the article is about John Moffat:

This early history of the brewery is from “History of Richmond County, from its discovery to the present time,” by Richard Mather Bayles, published in 1887:

Bechtel’s Brewery, perhaps the largest of these, was located at Stapleton, where it was founded by John Bechtel, in 1853. In 1865 he sold the concern to his son, George Bechtel, the present proprietor. The capital invested here amounts to well nigh half a million dollars. In 1865 the revenue tax of this brewery was $10,000, and ten years later it had increased to $60,000. It employs about fifty hands.

George Bechtel, was born in Germany in 1840. He came with his parents to America at the age of six months, and in 1851 entered the grammar school of ColumbiaCollege. After finishing his course at that institution he began an apprenticeship in the brewery which his father had established at Stapleton in 1853. From 1860 to 1865 he occupied the position of superintendent of the establishment, and while engaged in that capacity he established the first ice-house in the East. In 1865 he rented the property from his father, and in 1870 purchased his entire interest, becoming the sole proprietor.

The original building proving too small for his rapidly increasing business, Mr. Bechtel concluded to tear it down and in its place he built the present elegant structure, special attention being given to its equipment. So energetically was the work of erection pushed that in ten weeks after the first stone was laid brewing had recommenced. The continued increase of his business is due to the high quality of excellence which he maintains in all his productions. Mr. Bechtel has been foremost in all public and benevolent matters. During the riots in 1861 he sheltered large numbers of these homeless people in the woods and sent them nourishment daily till the trouble had subsided, a circumstance which the colored people on Staten Island have never forgotten and for which they have been ever grateful.

Mr. Bechtel’s benevolent qualities show themselves on all occasions, and many poor families on Staten Island have been the recipients of his charity. It is said of him that he is ever ready to help where it is needed. In 1879 the Japanese embassy, together with the secretary of state and several other gentlemen, paid a visit to Mr. Bechtel’ s brewery. As a result they ordered one hundred thousand bottles of beer to be sent to Japan. On their return they sent him several very flattering letters and a pair of costly vases as a token of their esteem.

Historic Beer Birthday: James Moffat

September 25, 2019 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Today is the birthday of James Moffat (September 25, 1808-April 4, 1863). He was the son of John Moffat, and helped his father in founding one of the earliest breweries in Buffalo, New York in 1833. It was later called the James Moffat Brewery, and after that the Moffat & Service Brewery. His son, who took over after James died, renamed it the Henry C. Moffat Brewery in 1890, which was closed by Prohibition in 1920. It briefly reopened after repeal, in 1934, as Moffat’s Ale Brewery, but closed for good the same year.

This account of his brewery is from “100 Years of Brewing,” published over 40 years after he died:

According to John & Dave’s Buffalo Brewing History, John Moffat, along with his son James, acquired what was Buffalo’s second brewery and named it the Moffat Brewery.

Kane, Peacock and Relay brewery was short lived however and a 1909 article in the Buffalo Evening Times indicates John Moffat and his son James purchased the brewing operation around 1833. Also, the 1836 Buffalo City Directory lists Moffat as a brewer at that location. The 1839 Directory lists James Moffat & Co. as a “Brewery, Soap and Candle Factory”. The Moffat Brewery continued in operation until son James died and it was sold to Arthur Fox and became the Fox and Williams Brewery. In 1876 it was sold back to the Moffat family and continued in operation at the same location until the advent of Prohibition forced their closure in 1920. After Prohibition the Phoenix Brewery continued brewing “Moffats Pale Ale” through an agreement with the Moffat family.

Moffats-Pale-Ale-Labels-Phoenix-Brewery-Corp

And “History of the City of Buffalo and Erie County, Volume 2,” published in 1884, has this to say about Buffalo’s earliest brewers, including Moffat:

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