Today is the birthday of Leopold Nathan (July 30, 1864- December 24, 1937). He was born in Laupheim, in Württemberg, Germany, in 1864. “He studied chemistry in Frankfurt am Main and became a leading expert in wine and beer processing. In 1912 he founded the Nathan-Institut, or Nathan-Institute AG.” He developed the Nathan Brewing System, the closed system using conical-cylindrical fermenters that are ubiquitous today.
This is his biography, translated from Dutch, from his page on the BeerWiki:
Leopold Nathan (Laupheim, July 30, 1864 – Berlin-Dahlem , December 24, 1937) was a German scientist, brewer and inventor. He was born at Schloss Laupheim. This slot had the disposal of a brewery, so early did not only his interest in fermentation measure that also to nature in general. Due to poor health, after doctoral education he did not go to the gymnasium, but in the doctrine of an uncle, where he could transform his love for flowers and plants into the open air into theoretical knowledge. Before his 18th he studied fruit and wine studies at Geisenheim University College. For some time he had been the assistant of Hermann Müller, better known as Hermann Müller-Thurgau, the breeder of the Müller-Thurgau grape breeder.
Nathan dedicated himself to making wine from berries and paid close attention to the yeast types used. In winter of 1888, Nathan again contacted brewing when he studied the yeast reindeer culture for three months in the famous laboratory of the Carlsberg Brewery, where Emil Christian Hansen performed groundbreaking work for the brewing industry.
In the years thereafter he made more and more of fermentation, first of berries, later also the preparation of champagne and schaumwein and sekt – the German version of champagne.
Nathan Institute
Nathan develops a new way of producing and riping beer under substantially sterile conditions, the [Nathan_Brouwerij | Nathan System]. Around the turn of the century, Leopold Nathan came to Switzerland, where he would later receive citizenship. In 1912, in Zurich, together with Ing. Gille, Bonenblust and Einstein founded the Nathan Institute. From this institute, the process and components of the brewing facilities are further improved and the commercial activities supported. The chemical department of the Technical University of Munich, Nathan, awarded his title in 1923 the title ‘Doctor ing.’.
The Walkerville Co-operative Brewing Company Ltd of Adelaide signed an agreement with the Nathan Institute of Zurich in November 1925 for the installation of its plant at the company’s brewery at Southwark, and this became the first Nathan system to be installed in Australia. It was a major project for the brewery, requiring the erection of additional buildings to accommodate the new equipment. Beer production commenced in the Nathan plant late in 1927, and a formal opening ceremony was held in January 1928.
Nathan Bitter was the first beer brewed and was instantly popular, being sold around Australia. The South Australian Brewing Company was becoming the more dominant brewery in the 1930’s and by the end of the decade they had purchased the Walkerville Brewery. Since the Nathan Beers were so popular they continued to make the beer at the Southwark Brewery, the brewery wanted to remove the Walkerville branding so they renamed the brewery to the Nathan Brewery.
This is Nathan’s obituary, written by H. Lloyd Hind, from the Journal of the Institute of Brewing in March of 1938:
Members will have heard with regret of the sudden death of Dr. Leopold Nathan, at Berlin. To many he was personally known through his visit to Edinburgh and London in 1930, when he addressed both Sections. His name stood very high in the brewing world on account of the great technical advances he introduced. These may possibly have overshadowed his scientific attainments, which were of no mean order. Though he lived to the age of 73, he was rather delicate in his youth, but overcame this and developed the remarkable energy which characterised him in later years. He had a varied career. Engaged first at a distillery in Erfurt, he passed on to the study of viniculture and, finally worked under Hanson at Copenhagen. Returning to Germany he was engaged in the preservation of vegetables by drying and drew attention to the possibilities of canning.
During this early stage of his career he also worked on the manufacture of fruit juices and was the first to apply pure yeast culture to wines, and was one of the earliest protagonists of the collection of fermentation gas. This work led him to study brewing, and ultimately to the rapid brewing process, with which his name is associated. The object of the Nathan process is to produce a lager beer in much shorter time than is usual. It is based on the principle of pure yeast in sterile wort. In 1900, Nathan moved to Zurich, and in 1912 founded the Nathan Institute and from there directed many installations all over the world. The output of beer brewed by his process now amounts to more than 1,500,000 barrels a year. He drew attention many years ago to the necessity of using air-free CO, and to the advantages of bottling under CO2. The University of Munich recognized the value of his scientific and technical work by conferring on him the honorary degree of doctor.
The Nathan Brewery
But it’s his brewing system that he invented and improved upon throughout his life that he’s remembered for, so let’s take a look at the Nathan System.
This description is from the page on the Nathan Brewery, translated from Dutch, on the BeerWiki
In the early twentieth century, in climatic conditions, it was virtually impossible to brew a good beer in areas with a tropical climate. The German but Swiss resident Brewer and inventor Leopold Nathan developed a new type of brewery with a brewing method in that time. The method was aimed at not contacting the wort with direct outdoor air and significantly reducing the bearing time. Several breweries were already in use in Germany who used a Nathan installation and the results were hopeful. During this time, conventional fermenters used conventional breweries, and after a storage period of up to six months, the beer was suitable for consumption.
The tight, technically well-equipped interior of a Nathan brewery.
As with the classic method, the malt is scraped and mixed with water. This mixture is then heated in steps to convert the starch into sugars during the germination. The next step is filtering out the grain residues and the remaining liquid (the wort) is boiled and hops are added. In this process the wort becomes sterile.
With the method of Nathan, the wort is removed in a special barrel of all hop and malt residues and then cooled to 5 ° C as soon as possible by means of a surface cooler. This cooler is located in a space where filtered and sterile air is blown. The chilled wort goes slowly from below into the vessel and is pumped so until the liquid is clear.
Yeast
Unlike the usual open fermentation bins, aluminum barrels were used in a Nathan brewery. These cylinder conical tanks were an essential part of the Nathan Breweries. This type of tank was patented by Nathan in 1927 and are still used in many breweries. The tanks were fitted with a jacket that allowed cooling to the right temperature. The yeast – a cultured, clean culture – was added from below and kept in motion by sterile air or carbon dioxide so that the yeast process could be accurately controlled. In six to nine days, depending on the type of beer, the fermentation was completed. Because it was a closed system all carbon dioxide generated at the fermentation could be collected and reused after purification. Before use, the used material was sterilized with alcohol.
The Nathan Institute also provided “loose” yeast cultivation plants. Such an installation was placed at the Hürlimann brewery based in Zurich. At this brewery a lot of research was done on yeast and its functioning. Hürlimann brought “Birell” one of the first truly successful alcohol-free beers on the market.
The storage that took place in a classic brewery in those days was accelerated in the Nathan method by a few days a lot of small bubbles of carbonated acid (collected at the fermentation) by pumping the young beer.
Schematic drawing of a Nathan brewery on the back of a French-language brochure.
This is a report on a talk Nathan gave in Chicago at a meeting of the American Society of Brewing Technology in 1914:
This is one of his earlier patents.
And this history is from Ian Spencer Hornsey’s “A History of Beer and Brewing:”
Last year I decided to concentrate on Bock ads. Bock, of course, may have originated in Germany, in the town of Einbeck. Because many 19th century American breweries were founded by German immigrants, they offered a bock at certain times of the year, be it Spring, Easter, Lent, Christmas, or what have you. In a sense they were some of the first seasonal beers. “The style was later adopted in Bavaria by Munich brewers in the 17th century. Due to their Bavarian accent, citizens of Munich pronounced ‘Einbeck’ as ‘ein Bock’ (a billy goat), and thus the beer became known as ‘Bock.’ A goat often appears on bottle labels.” And presumably because they were special releases, many breweries went all out promoting them with beautiful artwork on posters and other advertising.
Monday’s poster is for Falken Schaffhauser’s Oster-Bock, and was published in 1929. This one was made for the Bierbrauerei Falken Schaffhausen, or Falcon Brewery, of Schaffhausen, Switzerland. The brewery was founded in 1799, and is still in business today, and is “considered the only independent brewery in the Schaffhausen region,” and is Switzerland’s 5th largest brewery. This one is for their Schaffhauser Oster-Bock (Easter Bock) and shows a man balancing on a wooden beer barrel while holding a mug full of beer and a pipe in his mouth. It was created by Swiss artist Arnold Oechslin.
Last year I decided to concentrate on Bock ads. Bock, of course, may have originated in Germany, in the town of Einbeck. Because many 19th century American breweries were founded by German immigrants, they offered a bock at certain times of the year, be it Spring, Easter, Lent, Christmas, or what have you. In a sense they were some of the first seasonal beers. “The style was later adopted in Bavaria by Munich brewers in the 17th century. Due to their Bavarian accent, citizens of Munich pronounced ‘Einbeck’ as ‘ein Bock’ (a billy goat), and thus the beer became known as ‘Bock.’ A goat often appears on bottle labels.” And presumably because they were special releases, many breweries went all out promoting them with beautiful artwork on posters and other advertising.
Thursday’s poster is for Falken Schaffhauser’s Weihnachts Bock Beer, and was published in 1928. This one was made for the Bierbrauerei Falken Schaffhausen, or Falcon Brewery, of Schaffhausen, Switzerland. The brewery was founded in 1799, and is still in business today, and is “considered the only independent brewery in the Schaffhausen region,” and is Switzerland’s 5th largest brewery. This one is for their Schaffhauser Weihnachts Bock (Winter Bock) and shows a pair of goats butting heads with a holday candle behind them. It was created by Swiss artist Arnold Oechslin.
Last year I decided to concentrate on Bock ads. Bock, of course, may have originated in Germany, in the town of Einbeck. Because many 19th century American breweries were founded by German immigrants, they offered a bock at certain times of the year, be it Spring, Easter, Lent, Christmas, or what have you. In a sense they were some of the first seasonal beers. “The style was later adopted in Bavaria by Munich brewers in the 17th century. Due to their Bavarian accent, citizens of Munich pronounced ‘Einbeck’ as ‘ein Bock’ (a billy goat), and thus the beer became known as ‘Bock.’ A goat often appears on bottle labels.” And presumably because they were special releases, many breweries went all out promoting them with beautiful artwork on posters and other advertising.
Wednesday’s poster is for Falken Schaffhauser’s Oster Bock Beer, and was published in 1928. This one was made for the Bierbrauerei Falken Schaffhausen, or Falcon Brewery, of Schaffhausen, Switzerland. The brewery was founded in 1799, and is still in business today, and is “considered the only independent brewery in the Schaffhausen region,” and is Switzerland’s 5th largest brewery. This one is for their Schaffhauser Bock and shows a stylized village being struck by lightning. It was created by Swiss artist Arnold Oechslin.
Last year I decided to concentrate on Bock ads. Bock, of course, may have originated in Germany, in the town of Einbeck. Because many 19th century American breweries were founded by German immigrants, they offered a bock at certain times of the year, be it Spring, Easter, Lent, Christmas, or what have you. In a sense they were some of the first seasonal beers. “The style was later adopted in Bavaria by Munich brewers in the 17th century. Due to their Bavarian accent, citizens of Munich pronounced ‘Einbeck’ as ‘ein Bock’ (a billy goat), and thus the beer became known as ‘Bock.’ A goat often appears on bottle labels.” And presumably because they were special releases, many breweries went all out promoting them with beautiful artwork on posters and other advertising.
Saturday’s poster is for Falken Schaffhauser Easter Bock Beer, and was published in 1926. This one was made for the Bierbrauerei Falken Schaffhausen, or Falcon Brewery, of Schaffhausen, Switzerland. The brewery was founded in 1799, and is still in business today, and is “considered the only independent brewery in the Schaffhausen region,” and is Switzerland’s 5th largest brewery. This one is for their Schaffhauser Bock and shows a very thirsty man who apparently shimmied up the town maypole to grab one of the bottles of beer tied to the wreath at the top. It was created by Swiss artist Arnold Oechslin.
Last year I decided to concentrate on Bock ads. Bock, of course, may have originated in Germany, in the town of Einbeck. Because many 19th century American breweries were founded by German immigrants, they offered a bock at certain times of the year, be it Spring, Easter, Lent, Christmas, or what have you. In a sense they were some of the first seasonal beers. “The style was later adopted in Bavaria by Munich brewers in the 17th century. Due to their Bavarian accent, citizens of Munich pronounced ‘Einbeck’ as ‘ein Bock’ (a billy goat), and thus the beer became known as ‘Bock.’ A goat often appears on bottle labels.” And presumably because they were special releases, many breweries went all out promoting them with beautiful artwork on posters and other advertising.
Friday’s poster is for Falken Schaffhauser Easter Bock Beer, and was published in 1930. This one was made for the Bierbrauerei Falken Schaffhausen, or Falcon Brewery, of Schaffhausen, Switzerland. The brewery was founded in 1799, and is still in business today, and is “considered the only independent brewery in the Schaffhausen region,” and is Switzerland’s 5th largest brewery. This one is for their Schaffhauser Bock and shows a very thirsty man who apparently shimmied up the town maypole to grab one of the bottles of beer tied to the wreath at the top. It was created by Swiss artist Arnold Oechslin.
Last year I decided to concentrate on Bock ads. Bock, of course, may have originated in Germany, in the town of Einbeck. Because many 19th century American breweries were founded by German immigrants, they offered a bock at certain times of the year, be it Spring, Easter, Lent, Christmas, or what have you. In a sense they were some of the first seasonal beers. “The style was later adopted in Bavaria by Munich brewers in the 17th century. Due to their Bavarian accent, citizens of Munich pronounced ‘Einbeck’ as ‘ein Bock’ (a billy goat), and thus the beer became known as ‘Bock.’ A goat often appears on bottle labels.” And presumably because they were special releases, many breweries went all out promoting them with beautiful artwork on posters and other advertising.
Wednesday’s poster is for Falken Schaffhauser Easter Bock Beer, and was published in 1930. This one was made for the Bierbrauerei Falken Schaffhausen, or Falcon Brewery, of Schaffhausen, Switzerland. The brewery was founded in 1799, and is still in business today, and is “considered the only independent brewery in the Schaffhausen region,” and is Switzerland’s 5th largest brewery. This one is for their Schaffhauser Bock and shows a very thirsty man who apparently shimmied up the town maypole to grab one of the bottles of beer tied to the wreath at the top. It was created by Swiss artist Arnold Oechslin.
Last year I decided to concentrate on Bock ads. Bock, of course, may have originated in Germany, in the town of Einbeck. Because many 19th century American breweries were founded by German immigrants, they offered a bock at certain times of the year, be it Spring, Easter, Lent, Christmas, or what have you. In a sense they were some of the first seasonal beers. “The style was later adopted in Bavaria by Munich brewers in the 17th century. Due to their Bavarian accent, citizens of Munich pronounced ‘Einbeck’ as ‘ein Bock’ (a billy goat), and thus the beer became known as ‘Bock.’ A goat often appears on bottle labels.” And presumably because they were special releases, many breweries went all out promoting them with beautiful artwork on posters and other advertising.
Sunday’s poster is for Falken Schaffhauser Bock Beer, and was published in 1934. This one was made for the Bierbrauerei Falken Schaffhausen, or Falcon Brewery, of Schaffhausen, Switzerland. The brewery was founded in 1799, and is still in business today, and is “considered the only independent brewery in the Schaffhausen region,” and is Switzerland’s 5th largest brewery. This one is for their Schaffhauser Bock and shows a very thirsty man who apparently shimmied up the town maypole to grab one of the bottles of beer tied to the wreath at the top. It was created by Swiss artist Arnold Oechslin.
Last year I decided to concentrate on Bock ads. Bock, of course, may have originated in Germany, in the town of Einbeck. Because many 19th century American breweries were founded by German immigrants, they offered a bock at certain times of the year, be it Spring, Easter, Lent, Christmas, or what have you. In a sense they were some of the first seasonal beers. “The style was later adopted in Bavaria by Munich brewers in the 17th century. Due to their Bavarian accent, citizens of Munich pronounced ‘Einbeck’ as ‘ein Bock’ (a billy goat), and thus the beer became known as ‘Bock.’ A goat often appears on bottle labels.” And presumably because they were special releases, many breweries went all out promoting them with beautiful artwork on posters and other advertising.
Saturday’s poster is for Falken Schaffhauser Bock Beer, and was published in 1935. This one was made for the Bierbrauerei Falken Schaffhausen, or Falcon Brewery, of Schaffhausen, Switzerland. The brewery was founded in 1799, and is still in business today, and is “considered the only independent brewery in the Schaffhausen region,” and is Switzerland’s 5th largest brewery. This one is for their Schaffhauser Bock and shows a very thirsty man who apparently shimmied up the town maypole to grab one of the bottles of beer tied to the wreath at the top. It was created by Swiss artist Arnold Oechslin.
Today is the birthday of August Schmid (June 4, 1843-June 4, 1889). He was born in Switzerland, emigrated to the U.S., and in 1850 with a partner, Emanuel Bernheimer, he founded the Constanz Brewery on East 4th Street near Avenue B, and a couple of years later, Bernheimer and a different partner, James Speyers, started the Lion Brewery on Columbus Ave, between 107th and 108th Streets in Manhattan, next door to the beer garden at the Lion Park, and indeed it is sometimes referred to as the Lion Park Brewery. The business was reorganized in 1868, and August Schmid also became a partner in the Lion Brewery, and by 1890 its official name was the Bernheimer & Schmid Brewery, though they continued to trade under the Lion Brewery name. In 1895, it was the sixth-largest brewery in the U.S. After 1903, it was called the Lion Brewery of New York, presumably to avoid confusion with the many other breweries with Lion in their name. Lion survived prohibition but closed for good in 1942.
This is the beginning of Schmid’s obituary from the New York Times, but it’s oddly only available to subscribers.
August Schmid of the firm of Bernheimer Schmid, proprietors of the Lion Brewery, died early Monday morning at the Hotel Royal after an illness of three days with pneumonia.
Shortly after immigrating to the United States, Swiss-German August Schmid and Emanuel Bernheimer founded the Costanz Brewery at East 4th Street near Avenue B in 1850. The brewery produced a lagered beer, a favorite among German immigrants. By 1852, they built a second Costanz Brewery at Four Corners in Staten Island, home to a large German community. Five years later, Bernheimer became the partner of another German immigrant, James Speyers and founded the Lion Brewery in 1857 in Manhattan Valley.
A group of Catholic Bavarians helped build the Lion Brewery. When it was built, they held masses in the Brewery on Sunday mornings.
At its peak, the Lion Brewery occupied about six square city blocks, from Central Park West to Amsterdam Avenue and from 107th to 109th Street. At the time Manhattan’s Upper West Side was an open area with inexpensive land housing, many public institutions and an insane asylum. There were about five to ten thousand living in shanties after being displaced by the creation of Central Park in 1859. Consequently, with the brewery and surrounding areas, the Upper West Side failed to increase its real estate value until the early twentieth century.
In 1862, a $1 tax on each barrel of beer hurt small brewers but not Lion. The anti-saloon movement in the late 19th and early 20th century encouraged Lion to clean up its own saloons. Lion Brewery got caught up in a wave of mergers and closings among some of the smaller New York Brewers in the early 1940s which continued until 1941, when the business closed. The brewery (including the canning facilities) was auctioned off on August 26, 1943. The plant was demolished in 1944 and more than 3,000 tons of steel were taken from the original brewery structure and recycled for the war effort.
After the Brewery was knocked down the lot was paved over with cinders. On Sundays, after the war, returning World War II Veterans formed a Softball League and played almost every Sunday afternoon. Home plate was located near 107th street and Columbus Avenue. Today, apartment houses occupy the Lion brewery’s former location.
Around 1860, the brewery published a pamphlet titled “Observations on Brewing and Beer: With an Analysis and Scientific Testimony Relative to the Lager Beer of the Speyers’ Lion Brewery.” The pamphlet had a short history of the different kinds of beer, and an analysis showing that their lager beer was pure. The pamphlet also included some great line drawings of the brewery complex.
In 1850 recent Swiss German immigrants August Schmid and Emanuel Bernheimer founded the Costanz Brewery at East 4th Street near Avenue B. The brewery specialized in lagered beer, a favorites among their fellow immigrants. By 1852, their success encouraged them to build a second Costanz Brewery at Four Corners in Staten Island, then home to a large German immigrant community. Eight years later, Bernheimer became the partner of another German immigrant, James Speyers, in his Lion Brewery, established in 1857.
The Lion Brewery, depicted here, occupied a site bounded by what are now Central Park West and Amsterdam Avenue and extending from 107th to 109th Streets. The background view includes Central Park, with a glimpse of the Blockhouse, a relic from the War of 1812. (The Church of the Ascension is there now, built with the brewery’s help in the 1890s). During this period Manhattan’s Upper West Side was a relatively open area offering inexpensive land and it accommodated numerous public institutions including an insane asylum. Also clustered in the neighborhood were the shanty homes of between 5-10,000 thousand people displaced by the formal opening of Central Park in 1859. The combination of shanties, public institutions, and such foul-smelling industries as breweries explains why the Upper West Side failed to develop the real estate value of other areas bordering Central Park until the early twentieth century.
Late in the life of the Lion Brewery, it became involved in a number of mergers and acquisitions, eventually becoming The Greater New York Brewery, Inc.:
Lion brewing got caught up in a wave of mergers and closing among some of the smaller New York Brewers in the early 1940s. In late 1940, the Fidelio Brewing Co., located at 1st Ave. between 29th and 30th Streets., closed. However, on November 15, 1940, it reopened business as the Greater New York Brewery, Inc. In December 1940, the Greater New York Brewery merged with the Horton Pilsener Brewing Co., which was located at Amsterdam Ave. and 128th Street. Horton Brewing President Alex White became a director of Greater New York Brewery and they continued producing previous Horton products. In January 1941, the Greater New York Brewery merged with City Brewing Corporation of Queens. In February of 1941, Horton, as part of Greater New York Brewery, closed its doors. On April 9, 1941, City Brewing Corporation, as part of Greater New York Brewery, temporarily had its license canceled because of illegal merchandising in the form of gifts to retailers. (It apparently reopened at a later date.)
In May of 1941, Greater New York Brewery, Inc. acquired the Lion Brewery. It was the only brewery of the four that merged that had facilities to package beer in flat top cans. But by February of 1942, the Lion Brewery was closed and put up for sale. There being no buyers, the brewery (including the canning facilities) was auctioned off on August 26, 1943. In 1944 over 3,000 tons of steel were taken from the original brewery structure and recycled for the war effort. In April, 1946, the Greater New York Brewery, Inc. became known as the Greater New York Industries. This entity remained in operation until 1950.
For its short lifetime the former Lion Brewery continued to produce beer in cans labeled as products of the Greater New York Brewery. The two flat tops produced are scarce, but not truly rare. However, during its short life span, the Greater New York Brewery also produced a very rare crowntainer and two rare quarts containing Lion beer and ale. There are only 3 of the Beer quarts known today and the Ale is not much more common. Another rare Lion can, a Lion Pilsner, was produced by Pilsner Brewing in New York in the 1940s, but I do not yet know this company’s relationship to the original Lion Brewing. Today, apartment houses occupy the Lion brewery’s former location.
